In a familiar recital hall in Memphis, Tenn., 30-year-old University opera singer Chauncey Packer prepared for his last performance in the Metropolitan Opera’s regional young artist auditions — an event he had become quite familiar with after a seven-year run of receiving honorable mentions and third-place marks.
Meanwhile, Lisette Oropesa nervously waited for her first performance at the regional audition in New Orleans. At 21, the senior in vocal performance became eligible for the 21-to-30-age-group competition, just one week before the audition.
And to their surprise, both opera students won first place last week in their respective regional Metropolitan Opera auditions. They will travel to the finals in New York City to vie for top spots and an apprenticeship with the famous opera company. School of Music officials say it is almost unheard of for two students from the same college to win.
Packer and Oropesa had to win their regional competitions in order to advance to the finals in New York, where they will stand among the best 21 young opera stars in the country.
Packer, a Ph.D. candidate in vocal performance, described the win as “a very big deal.”
He said just getting this far will give him and Oropesa the chance to be exposed to opera agents and company scouts from around the world.
Professional voice coaches will work with the 21 finalists in New York, and after the first round of competition judges will select the top 10 to sing on stage with the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra. Judges will then name the five best, who will win $15,000 each and could secure contract offers with professional companies.
“If this goes well, maybe I won’t have to go to grad school after all,” Oropesa said.
Oropesa, a senior in vocal performance, said although the money is nice — she won $10,000 from the regional competition — the opportunities this experience will offer are worth far more than the cash.
Metropolitan judges also will chose one student for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, which provides the winner with a one-year apprenticeship at the Metropolitan Opera Company.
“It’s a pretty sweet deal,” Packer said. “You get a one-year stipend to live in New York, coaching, all lessons, get to meet international opera singers and get small roles in Met shows.”
And this year, Packer thinks he just may win.
“I feel like this may be my year,” Packer said.
But if it is not, Packer’s fallback plan is to continue studying languages — he speaks Spanish, French and a little German and Italian — and to teach vocal performance at a university when he is finished with his doctoral degree.
Packer said understanding the language the opera is written in makes learning the piece much easier.
“It just helps that you’re fluent in the language you are singing,” he said. “You have to know what you’re singing.”
Speaking more than one language has helped Oropesa, too. She is a first-generation American and speaks Spanish at home.
Because of the similarities among Spanish, French and Italian, Oropesa said her Spanish fluency helps her understand operas written in the other Romance languages.
“Being fluent in Spanish is such an advantage, especially with pronunciation and translation,” Oropesa said.
Oropesa’s mother, Rebeca Oropesa, said she moved with her parents to New Orleans from Cuba when she was 7 years old to escape the Communist regime of Fidel Castro. Rebeca said that before Castro, club owners would ask her father, who had a “beautiful tenor” voice, to sing at night spots all around Havana.
Rebeca also got her music degree in opera from LSU.
“I used to bring Lisette to the opera at LSU when she was 3,” she said. “Some of the same faculty that would see her then teach her now. We knew she had the talent.”