CCM announces the winners of its 2021 Opera Scholarship Competition

Since its inauguration in 1976, this annual competition welcomes current and incoming CCM voice students to compete for scholarships and cash prizes. A panel of judges composed of opera industry professionals selects each year’s class of prizewinners.

Six students won awards in this year’s competition, which was conducted virtually on Friday, March 5, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heidi Miller, soprano, first-year Doctor of Musical Arts student from Akron, Ohio; studying at CCM with Gwendolyn Coleman
Prize: Full-tuition scholarship and the Corbett Award ($15,000)
The Corbett Award is supported by the Corbett Foundation in cooperation with CCM.

Victor Cardamone, tenor, first-year Artist Diploma student from Pittsburgh, PA; studying at CCM with Tom Baresel
Prize: Full-tuition scholarship and the Andrew White Memorial Award ($10,000)
This award is supported by the Andrew White Memorial Scholarship Fund in cooperation with CCM.

Emma Marhefka, soprano, incoming Master of Music student from Allentown, PA; currently studying at SUNY Potsdam
Prize: Full-tuition scholarship and the John Alexander Memorial Award ($10,000)
This award is supported by the John Alexander Memorial Scholarship Fund in cooperation with CCM.

Brittany Olivia Logan, soprano, first year Artist Diploma student from Garden Grove, CA studying at CCM with Gwendolyn Coleman
Prize: Full-tuition scholarship and the Seybold-Russell Award ($8,000)
This award is supported by the Seybold-Russell Scholarship Fund in cooperation with CCM.

Kendra Faith Beasley, mezzo-soprano, incoming Artist Diploma student
Prize: Full-tuition scholarship and the Italo Tajo/Newburger Memorial Award ($7,000)
This award is supported by the Italo Tajo Memorial Scholarship Fund (established by Mr. Tajo’s wife Inelda Tajo) in cooperation with CCM.

Lauren Carroll, soprano, incoming Master of Music student from Bettendorf, IA; currently studying at Drake University in Des Moines.
Prize: Norman Treigle Award ($3,000)
This award is supported by the Norman Treigle Opera Scholarship Competition Award Fund in cooperation with CCM.

The judges panel for CCM’s 2021 Opera Scholarship Competition included:

• Adrienne Danrich, an Emmy Award-winning soprano and CCM alumna (MM Voice, 1995)
• Louis Langrée, music director and Louise Dieterle Nippert & Louis Nippert Chair of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
• Ken Weiss, assistant conductor, coach and pianist for the Washington National Opera

Declared a top college vocal program by Backstage Magazine and described as “one of the continent’s major music schools,” by the Toronto Star, CCM’s Departments of Opera and Voice provide one of the most comprehensive training programs for opera singers, coaches and directors in the United States. CCM offers an international faculty of dedicated educators who are also celebrated professionals in their own right, widely and currently active in their respective fields.

CCM sends its students out into the profession. Several national opera companies now hold auditions at the conservatory, and the Opera Department also hosts a series of informational talks by nationally renowned professionals working both in America and in Europe. CCM students frequently advance to the final rounds of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and CCM graduates have performed on the stages of the world’s greatest opera companies, including Cincinnati Opera, Metropolitan Opera (New York), Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera (London), La Scala (Italy) and more.

Featured image at top: The Dieterle Vocal Arts Center, which is part of the CCM Village on UC's campus. Photo/UC Creative + Brand.