Performances + Events
NEC students and alumni won at the district level of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition in December and will appear in a regional round later this month.
NEC Concert Artist Josie Larsen ’23 MM, ’25 AD (soprano), student Ricky Lee Owens ’26 GD (countertenor), alumna Alexandra Henderson ’23 MM (soprano), and NEC Prep alumna Kerrigan Bigelow (soprano) were winners in the Boston District. Alumni Ruoxi Peng ’21, ’23 MM, ’24 GD (soprano) and Yihe Wang ’22 MM, ’23 GD (baritone) were winners in the Michigan District.
Larsen, Owens, Henderson, and Bigelow will participate in the New England Region portion of the competition, which will take place on Jan. 26 in NEC’s Jordan Hall. Peng and Wang will participate in the Great Lakes Region on Jan. 25 in Detroit.
The National Semifinals will be held on March 9 at the Metropolitan Opera, and the Grand Finals Concert, in which the advancing singers will perform at the legendary venue with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, will take place on March 16.
The Laffont Competition, formerly the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, is among a handful that can launch a singer’s career, NEC Voice Department chair Bradley Williams said, explaining, “This is for the elite singers of the day.”
Throughout the competition, participants sing opera arias with piano. “We have to guide them toward repertoire that is appropriate,” Williams said, explaining that each singer’s voice and the Metropolitan Opera’s auditorium itself, which seats more than 3,800 operagoers, inform those repertoire choices.
In addition to generous cash prizes, the Laffont Competition offers participants networking opportunities starting at the district level. Audiences at each round typically include industry professionals.
Several NEC students and alumni have had success at the Laffont Competition recently. Tenor Anthony León ’21 MM was a winner and tenor Yuntong Han ’21 was a finalist in 2023, and soprano Erica Petrocelli ’14, ’16 MM, ’18 AD was a semifinalist in 2018 and a finalist in 2021.
“The Laffont Competition is undeniably one of the most important and prestigious competitions in which a young opera singer can compete,” Petrocelli said. “As a semifinalist, I was granted my first opportunity to sing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera — an experience I will never forget. I was also judged that year by Joshua Winograde, who went on to hire me the following season as a Young Artist at the Los Angeles Opera and has been an invaluable contributor to the growth of my opera career. As a grand finalist in 2021, despite it being a virtual competition because of COVID, I was able to sing for many very important people in our industry.”
Petrocelli credits Williams, with whom she studied at NEC, for her successes beyond the Laffont Competition. “Without Bradley Williams,” she said, “I would have no opera career. He shaped my voice and my technique … he gave me the tools and the confidence to be able to sing on the world’s great stages. … I continue to rely on his technique and guidance to this day.”
Pictured: Josie Larsen, left, and Ricky Lee Owens.
