The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation awarded ten $10,000 grants to young artists who auditioned for the Foundation in New York on November 16 & 17, 2009. In addition to these cash awards, winners will participate in the five-year program of continued financial aid for coaching in new roles which is one of the unique features of the Sullivan awards. Judges for the auditions were acclaimed soprano Christine Brewer, Santa Fe Opera general director Charles MacKay, and famed tenor George Shirley, now professor emeritus at the University of Michigan.

Winners of $10,000 awards and continuing assistance starting in 2010 are: sopranos Emily Hindrichs and Jeanette Vecchione; mezzo-soprano Margaret Gawrysiak and Nicole Piccolomini; tenor Diego Torre; and baritones Christopher Bolduc, Christopher Magiera, Kelly Markgraf and Nicholas Pallesen; and bass Harold Wilson.

Emily Hindrichs’s award is named for the late soprano Gail Robinson, a beloved teacher and Sullivan Board member who ran the Met’s young artist program; Christopher Magiera’s award is named for Theodor Uppman, the famed baritone who was a longtime member of the Board of the Foundation, Margaret Gawrysiak’s is named for soprano Rose Bampton and Nicole Piccolomini’s honors mezzo-soprano Betty Allen, both also longtime members of the Foundation’s board.

These winners now join the current roster of artists who have won Sullivan awards in previous years, all of whom may apply to the Foundation for grants for preparing new roles in opera or other works with full orchestra.

The panel also awarded $2000 encouragement grants to five singers: sopranos Kearstin Piper Brown, Valentina Fleer, and Aundi Marie Moore; baritone Jonathan Beyer; and bass Kenneth Kellogg.

THE WILLIAM MATHEUS SULLIVAN MUSICAL FOUNDATION, INC.
Phone (860) 927-1320 Fax (860) 927-1680
P.O. BOX 189 Kent, CT. 06757
E-Mail info@sullivanfoundation.org
Site design and hosting by: keaneis.com