Airs Saturday, July 20, 2019, AT 1: 30 P.M. following immediately after the Opera. Five singers named winners of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. After a months-long series of auditions involving more than 1,000 singers at the district, regional, and national levels, nine finalists performed on the Met stage in the Grand Finals Concert, the final phase of the competition, hosted by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, a 2009 National Council Auditions winner. Each finalist sang two arias with the Met Orchestra, led by Carlo Rizzi, followed by a special guest performance by bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, who won the 2003 Auditions. The judges for the Grand Finals Concert were Jonathan Friend, Paul Hopper, Melissa Wegner, and Diane Zola from the Met’s artistic staff, as well as guest judge Alexander Neef, representing the Canadian Opera Company and Santa Fe Opera. This panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize. The 2019 winners, the regions they represent in the competition, and their hometowns are:
- Thomas Glass, 28, baritone (Rocky Mountain Region: Edina, Minnesota)
- Miles Mykkanen, 27, tenor (Upper Midwest Region: Bessemer, Michigan)
- William Guanbo Su, 24, bass (Eastern Region: Beijing, China)
- Elena Villalón, 21, soprano (Central Region: Austin, Texas)
- Michaela Wolz, 24, mezzo-soprano (Midwest Region: Eureka, Missouri)