The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music has named the ten exceptional singing actors who will compete for a top prize of $25,000 in the final round of the 26th annual Lenya Competition, the internationally renowned theatrical singing contest. The finals are set to take place on Saturday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall. The group of finalists represents a remarkable array of talent, including contestants with Broadway and Metropolitan Opera credits. Kim Kowalke, President of the Kurt Weill Foundation and Founder of the Competition, said of the finalists: “The amazing level of talent and the diversity of these ten young artists promise an intensely competitive contest this year.”
With its focus on both acting and vocal skills, the Lenya Competition celebrates talented singing actors of all nationalities who can “do it all” across the dynamic landscape of music theater. The ten finalists emerged from the Competition’s semifinal round, which features a unique judging-coaching format. Previously selected from an initial pool of 286 applicants representing 25 countries and 37 U.S. states, twenty semifinalists each performed a continuous fifteen-minute program of four contrasting numbers, including one by Kurt Weill. Leading Broadway music director and conductor Andy Einhorn and eminent soprano and vocal teacher Harolyn Blackwell served as coach-adjudicators. Reflecting on her first-ever foray into this role, Blackwell commented, “The Lenya Competition is unique and truly special in its discovery of those rare performers who communicate text and character so truthfully that they transfix and transport us.”
The final round will be judged by a second panel of esteemed artists whose careers mirror the values of the Competition: world-renowned soprano and Assistant Professor of Voice at Eastman Nicole Cabell, two-time Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori, and internationally acclaimed director-writer Tazewell Thompson. Tesori and Thompson’s emotionally compelling opera Blue has just been nominated for a 2024 Olivier Award in the New Opera Production category. Cabell, an award winner in the 2002 Competition, went on to win the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and now commands a broad repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary, performing on opera and concert stages worldwide.
The final round performances take place on the afternoon of Saturday, May 4, with contestants competing for top prizes of $25,000, $20,000 and $15,000. That same evening, at 8:00 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall, four Competition alumni prizewinners return to Kilbourn Hall for a performance of highlights from their illustrious careers ranging from musical theater to opera: Eastman alum Analisa Leaming ’07E, who has starred on Broadway in The King and I and Hello, Dolly; Michael Maliakel, now in his third year as Aladdin on Broadway; Jacob Keith Watson, currently appearing in Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along; and Rebecca Jo Loeb, on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and Susan in the German premiere of Kurt Weill’s Love Life. Ted Chapin, longtime President and CEO of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and co-founder of the Encores! series at City Center, will emcee. The 2024 Competition awards presentation will follow. All events will stream live online and on demand afterwards at www.kwf.org.
Ranging in age from 26 to 33, the Finalists in the 2024 Lenya Competition are:
- Kendra Dyck (Toronto, Ontario)
- Christian Mark Gibbs (New York, NY)
- Ta’Nika Gibson (Springfield, MA) — studied at Eastman
- Queen Hezumuryango (Bujumbura, Burundi)
- Rebekah Howell (Nashville, TN)
- Ana Karneža (Ptujska Gora, Slovenia)
- Kaileigh Riess (Foxborough, MA)
- Joseph Sacchi (Salem, OR)
- Logan Wagner (Villa Hills, KY)
- Jason Zacher (Livingston, NJ)
Media only:
Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Brady Sansone, bsansone@kwf.org
Eastman School of Music, Lauren Sageer, (585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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About the Lotte Lenya Competition:
More than a vocal competition, the Lotte Lenya Competition recognizes talented young singer/actors who are dramatically and musically convincing in repertoire ranging from opera/operetta to contemporary Broadway scores, with a focus on the works of Kurt Weill. Since its inception in 1998, the Lotte Lenya Competition has grown into an internationally recognized leader in identifying and nurturing the next generation of “total-package talents” (Opera News) and rising stars in both the opera and musical theater worlds. In awarding more than $1.6 million in prize money since the Competition began, the Kurt Weill Foundation has celebrated the talent and supported the careers of hundreds of singing actors worldwide.
About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.