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Soprano Alyson Cambridge '02 Wins Metropolitan
Opera National Audition
by Marci
Janas '91
 Alyson with her father, Richard Cambridge Photo courtesy of Joedy Cambridge |
Soprano Alyson Cambridge '02 has won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for 2003, held Sunday, April 6, during a Grand Finals Concert at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York. Four winners were chosen from nine finalists, who in turn were selected from more than 2,000 singers who auditioned at the district and regional levels. At 23, Cambridge is the youngest singer to win this year; her prize is the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award. Each of the four winners have received $15,000 to further their education and careers. They are also eligible to return to the Met during the next three years to audition for up to $5,000 from the Met National Council's Education Fund.
Classical music critic Bernard Holland, writing in The New York Times, says Cambridge "showed the big sound and technical muscle for today's large-opera-house heroines."
Accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by Julius Rudel, Cambridge sang "Obèissons quand leur voix appelle" from Massenet's opera Manon and "Oh! Quante volte" from Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. The acclaimed bass-baritone Samuel Ramey served as master of ceremonies for the event, which also included a special tribute to mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens.
"It was a wonderful honor and pleasure to sing with the Met orchestra under Julius Rudel," says Cambridge.
 Cambridge with opera star Samuel Ramey Photo courtesy of Joedy Cambridge |
"It is the best opera orchestra in the world; arguably the best orchestra in the world. Coachings with the maestro were exciting. He has conducted Beverly Sills and Renée Fleming as Manon, so I knew I was working with the 'master' of Manon. One of the Met vocal coaches warned me: 'No one knows the score and leads an orchestra in Manon like Rudel.'"
Cambridge and the other winners will be featured on the A & E Network's Breakfast with the Arts, hosted by Elliott Forrest. The two-hour television program, which will include interviews and performances, will air Sunday, April 13, at 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Cambridge's odyssey began in earnest in March, when she won the Metropolitan Opera's Middle Atlantic Regional Auditions, held in Washington, D.C., singing the same arias she performed at the finals. Elizabeth (Elly) Dehn '02, now a student at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, won third place at this preliminary round.
Cambridge is a double-degree graduate of Oberlin, with degrees in sociology and voice. In the Conservatory, she studied with Professor of Singing Daune Mahy.
"Alyson has an absolutely stunning voice which she uses with great skill, nuance, and feeling," says Mahy.
"She is completely in tune with the text and its musical ambiance. I am thrilled at her success and expect we will hear a great deal more about her in the future!"
Cambridge, who is now working on a master's degree in opera at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she is studying with Marlena Malas, says she is thankful for the education she received at Oberlin.
"The musical academic background at Oberlin prepared me so well for all the things I'm doing now at Curtis," says Cambridge. "And I have Miss Mahy to thank for my success with the Met. Everything she taught me in the past five years has meshed well with all I'm learning now from Marlena Malas at Curtis."
Cambridge is the second Oberlin
alumna in a row to win the Met Nationals. Last year soprano Carolyn Betty
'99 was chosen as one of four singers out of a field of 2,000 to win the
Metropolitan Opera Nationals. Betty also studied with Mahy and went on
to study at the Curtis Institute of Music.
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