Contest Application and Criteria

FIRST PLACE and AUDIENCE FAVORITE

ABIGAIL RAIFORD (Lyric Coloratura Soprano) Abigail was noted for her “powerful, luxurious soprano voice, as well her wonderfully comic way of weeping as the woebegone Elvira in Tulsa Opera’s production of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. Most recently, she made her debut with the Glacier Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, won 1st place in the artist division of the Camille Coloratura Awards, received the Opera Index Prize in the Opera Index Vocal Competition and was named a district winner of the New York District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Earlier this season, she covered the role of Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Teatro Nuovo, sang the role of Narcissa in Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth with the little OPERA theatre of New York, appeared with the York Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and made her Lincoln Center debut as the soprano soloist in Fauré’s Requiem.

SECOND PLACE

JOHN MBURU (Bass) John is a Kenyan-American from Warwick, R.I. Mburu has performed a variety of genres around the U.S. including opera, oratorio and concert works. He has been praised for his “notable” portrayal of the Duke of Verona from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in the 2023 Glimmerglass Festival and his “authoritative bass” as Lord Capulet" in Minnesota Opera's 2024 production of Roméo et Juliette. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he studied under Kenneth Shaw. He is currently residing in Minneapolis where he is 2024-25 Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera.

THIRD PLACE

ANNA KELLY (Mezzo-Soprano) Anna is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and a first-year Artist Diploma student at the Juilliard School where she holds the Tatiana Troyanos Scholarship. Recent performances include Dorabella in Opera Saratoga’s Così fan tutte and Federica in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at Sarasota Opera, where she also covered the title role in Carmen. In spring 2025, Anna will debut as Mère Marie in Juilliard Opera’s Dialogues des Carmélites under conductor Matthew Aucoin, before joining Santa Fe Opera as a 2025 Apprentice Artist. During her time at Santa Fe, Anna will cover Waltraute in Die Walküre and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. An accomplished competitor, Anna was a semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the 2024 Houston Grand Opera McCollum Competition and the 2024 Loren L. Zachary Competition. She also won first place in the 2024 National Opera Association Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition, the Young Patronesses of the Opera competitions (junior division 2022, senior division 2024) and the 2023 James Toland Vocal Competition. She has also received top awards from the 2023 Opera INDEX Competition and the 2023 Gerda Lissner Art Song Competition and has been recognized by the Giulio Gari Foundation, the National Association of Teacher of Singing, and the Presser Foundation. No stranger to the concert stage, Anna’s concert schedule includes excerpts of Octavian from Der Rosenkavelier and Komponist from Ariadne auf Naxos. Past seasons have seen her appear as a guest artist in concert and recital with the Waterbury Symphony, the Mid Atlantic Symphony and the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C.