Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera

Alek Shrader ’07 has a great response handy if he’s asked what he did over spring break. The tenor, a master’s degree student in opera theater at the Conservatory, won the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007 National Council Auditions and with it, a $15,000 cash prize. He was one of six winners selected from 11 finalists who performed arias with the Met Orchestra, conducted by Marco Armiliato, at the Grand Finals Concert, held at the Met on April 1. Shrader performed “Il mio tesoro intanto” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and “Ah! mes amis” from Donizetti’s La Fille Du Regiment.

The Grand Finals Concert was recorded for broadcast at a later date on public radio stations across the United States. Check local listings for air times.

A student of Associate Professor of Singing Salvatore Champagne, Shrader is the third Oberlin-trained singer in the last six years to win the prestigious Met competition. Soprano Alyson Cambridge ’02 won in 2003; soprano Carolyn Betty ’99 won in 2002.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Shrader, 25, is expected to receive both a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and a master’s degree in opera theater from Oberlin in May 2007. He began his Oberlin studies with Emeritus Professor of Singing Richard Miller, and last October participated in a master class with Distinguished Professor of Voice Marilyn Horne. His recent Oberlin Opera Theater roles include Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, Fenton in Merry Wives of Windsor, the Chevalier in Dialogues des Carmèlites, and Tony in West Side Story.

As Fenton in the March 2006 Oberlin Opera Theater production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Photo credit: Roger Mastroianni

Shrader made his professional debut last summer as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and last January sang Florville in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino with New York’s Gotham Chamber Opera. Of his debut at St. Louis, Opera News wrote: “Alek Shrader … sang the role of Almaviva with great skill and sensitivity, plus plenty of comic wit of his own.” Last month he attended Renata Scotto’s Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Opera Studio in Rome. Upcoming is Ramiro in La Cenerentola with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program. This fall he joins the Juilliard Opera Center.

Oberlin audiences can hear Shrader when he presents his senior recital on Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m. in Kulas Recital Hall. His program will include Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39, Joaquín Turina’s Poema en forma de canciones, Op. 19, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ I, and a Rossini aria. Kulas Hall is located in the Conservatory at 77 West College Street on the Oberlin campus. The recital is free and open to the public.

The Met Opera made its selection of 11 finalists from nearly 1,500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 45 districts and 15 regions throughout the United States and Canada, sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council. Given the reach of the auditions, the number of applicants, and the long tradition associated with them, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions are considered the most prestigious in North America for singers seeking to launch an operatic career. Some winners are invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Past winners of the Met auditions include many of today’s leading operatic artists such as Renée Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, Deborah Voigt, Grace Bumbry, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Nathan Gunn, Ben Heppner, Thomas Hampson, and Samuel Ramey. During a typical opera season, more than 100 alumni of the auditions sing in Met performances.