GRAND PRIZE
WINNERS
2019
Amy Broadbent
soprano
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2018
Nola Richardson
soprano
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2016
soprano
2015
soprano
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2014
Marie-France Duclos
soprano
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2013
Elizabeth Toy
soprano
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2012
Abigail Santos-Villalobos
soprano
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2011
Eric Jurenas
counter-tenor
ENCOURAGEMENT
PRIZE WINNERS
2018
Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa
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2016
Rebecca Castillo
Julius Miller
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2014
Julie Lyn Barber
Emma Gage
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2013
Jessica Beeb
Lauren Walker
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2012
Ryne Cherry
2011
Conor Angell
AUDIENCE CHOICE
AWARDS
Congratulations to Amy Broadbent!
Grand Prize winner of the
2019 Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 1, 2019
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LEXINGTON, KY - Ten juried singers competed in a live vocal competition on Saturday, April 13 at the First Presbyterian Church in the sixth Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition of the Kentucky Bach Choir. The ten finalists were selected from an application pool of 22 singers who competed for a Grand Prize of $2,000, an Audience Choice Award of $750, and two Encouragement Awards of $500 each. Additionally, prize winners are afforded the opportunity to return as guest soloists in future concerts of the Kentucky Bach Choir.
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This year’s Grand Prize winner is soprano Amy Broadbent of Washington, D.C. Ms. Broadbent has been a previous prize winner of the New York Oratorio Society Competition at Carnegie Hall, the Annapolis Opera Competition, the Bethlehem Bach Choir Competition, and the Franco-American Grand Concours Vocal Competition. She holds degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Broadbent also received the Audience Choice Award.
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Encouragement awards were presented to Zimbabwe-born soprano Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa, Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Kentucky and student of Dr. Everett McCorvey, and countertenor Joseph Kingsbury, a junior at the University of Kentucky and student of Dr. Elizabeth Arnold.
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The other finalists included Canjingjing Cui, soprano, University of Georgia; Dena Goodman, soprano, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; Christopher Hochstuhl, tenor, graduate of Westminster Choir College; Cierra James, soprano, Marshall University; Emily Redden, soprano, University of Kentucky; Sandra Sharis, mezzo-soprano, The Ohio State University; and Lloyd White V, tenor, University of Kentucky.
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The purpose of the Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition is to encourage exceptional young singers in the study and presentation of the solo repertoire of J. S. Bach and the sacred solo repertoire of Franz Joseph Haydn and W. A. Mozart. Singers are selected for the live competition by submitting recordings to Kentucky Bach Choir Artistic Director, Marlon Hurst. From the recordings Hurst and competition benefactor Audrey Rooney select up to ten singers for the live competition.
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Adjudicators were Mr. Hurst, Ms. Kayleen Sánchez, voice professor at the College of Charleston (SC) and a member of the early music ensemble BEDLAM, and Dr. Zach Klobnak, Director of Music at The Presbyterian Church in Danville, Kentucky, College Organist and Instructor of Organ, Harpsichord and Piano at Centre College, and accompanist for the Kentucky Bach Choir. Ms. Nan McSwain, Vocal Coach and Lecturer in Opera with the University of Kentucky Opera Theater, accompanied all singers.
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In 2013, Ms. Audrey Heyman Rooney became the sponsor of the competition. A member of the Kentucky Bach Choir Board of Directors, Ms. Rooney has been a longtime advocate for the arts and, in particular, for the encouragement of young artists, making significant contributions towards these ends in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky.
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Audrey Rooney
2018: Pictured L-R: Audrey Rooney,
Miguel Bañales, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Nola Richardson and Marlon Hurst
2018: Pictured L-R, Miguel Bañales, Audrey Rooney, Lloyd White V, Emily Redden, Amanda Oleo, Madeline Jentsch, Vidita Kanniks, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Nola Richardson, William Ottow, Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, Zach Klobnak and Marlon Hurst
Erica Intilangelo, soprano, who in 2016 completed her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She now lives in Connecticut and commutes to New York for auditions. Her recent roles include La Fée in Massenet's Cendrillon, Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo, and Carolina in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto (Cincinnati Chamber Opera). In 2017 she attended the Crested Butte Music Festival and sang the roles of Alexis in Offenbach's L'île de Tulipatan and Nella in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. She will be an Apprentice Artist at Sarasota Opera in Florida from January through the end of March 2018.
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Eric Jurenas, counter-tenor, also a graduate of CCM, has just completed a season in Europe with performances at the Komische Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House - Covent Garden, and Theater an der Wien. This season he will appear in New York City on Broadway as the 'Voice of Farinelli' in Farinelli and the King alongside Sir Mark Rylance, after which he will return to Europe for additional opera productions, a solo recital at the Palace of Versailles, and a world-premiere concert with Daniel Barenboim. Mr. Jurenas had previously participated in NATS competitions as a baritone, but made his public debut as a counter-tenor at the Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition.
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Angela Carr, soprano, received her Doctor of Arts degree in Voice Performance from Ball State University in 2015. Now a resident of Nashville, she teaches voice at both Belmont University and Lipscomb University. She also regularly performs with Music City Baroque and in the annual BACHanalia concerts in Nashville. Ms. Carr is a member of NATS and volunteered during the Mid-South NATS Regional auditions at Belmont in 2017.
Soprano Julie Lyn Barber holds the Doctor of Arts from Ball State University and is currently Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. In December 2015, Barber and mezzo-soprano Lauren Walker, another 2013 encouragement prize winner, performed Vivaldi’s "Gloria" with the Marion, Indiana Philharmonic. Barber is currently directing the musical 9 to 5 at WKU and will sing “The Witch” in the Nettle Creek Players (Hagerstown, IN) summer stock production of Stephen Sondheim’s "Into the Woods."
Born in Ireland, baritone Conor Angell is currently a member of the music faculty at Taylor University. He has also taught at Houghton College and Wabash College. Award winner in numerous vocal competitions, he completed his doctoral degree at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Andreas Poulimenos. Before his studies at IU, Angell was a studio artist at Kentucky Opera and Opera North. He completed his master's degree at UNC-Greensboro and his undergraduate degree at Taylor University. He is an active performer in operas, recitals, and orchestral concerts. He is featured regularly on studio recordings, and has been artistic director, stage director or music director for productions including: The Magic Flute, Oklahoma!, The Marriage of Figaro, Working, Gianni Schicchi, I Love a Piano, Dido and Aeneas, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Pirates of Penzance.
April 9, 2016
from left: Zackery Morris, Emily Yocum Black, Julius Cruse Miller, Rebecca Castillo
Audrey Rooney, Marlon Hurst.
