CCM announces 2024 Opera Scholarship Competition winners

Soprano Janai Brugger made her highly anticipated Houston Grand Opera debut this season in the premiere of Intelligence by Jake Heggie. Her other engagements include Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Glauce in the revival of Cherubini’s Medea with the Canadian Opera Company and her debut this summer at Glyndebourne as Micaëla in Carmen. Miss Brugger’s recent engagements include the role of Glauce in Medea at the Metropolitan Opera, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Los Angeles Opera, Liù in Turandot at Opera Colorado, her role debut in the title role of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Tanglewood Festival and the Ravinia Festival. Last season, Miss Brugger was heard on HBO’s renowned series "Lovecraft Country" in a specially-written requiem composed by Laura Karpman for an episode commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Miss Brugger recently sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and with Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia under the baton of Marin Alsop, Poulenc’s Gloria with Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Her many appearances at the Metropolitan Opera include her house debut as Liù in Turandot, Jemmy in a new production of Guillaume Tell, Micaëla in Carmen, Helena in The Enchanted Island, Marzelline in Fidelio and Clara in Porgy and Bess. In 2012 Miss Brugger won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as well as all three First Prizes at Operalia—the Opera Prize, the Song Prize and the Audience Prize. She participated in the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and was a young artist at Los Angeles Opera for two seasons.

Martin Katz has been dubbed “the gold standard of accompanists” by The New York Times. His 45-year career has taken him to 5 continents, collaborating with the world’s most celebrated singers in recital and recording. Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Kathleen Battle, Karita Mattila, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Jose Carreras, Piotr Baczala and Joseph Calleja have been among his regular partners, and he has recorded for RCA, CBS, BMG, EMI and Decca labels.

Also active as a conductor, Mr. Katz has led opera productions for San Francisco’s Merola program, the BBC, Tokyo’s NHK, as well as innumerable performances for the University of Michigan. His editions of baroque and bel canto operas have been performed in Houston Ottawa and at the Metropolitan Opera. For more than 3 decades, Mr. Katz has led the University of Michigan’s program in collaborative piano. He has been a pivotal figure in the training of countless young artists, singers and pianists alike, and is a regular guest at Songfest, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Opera, Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, Canadian Operatic Arts Academy and the Music Academy of the West. Mr. Katz is the author of a comprehensive guide to accompanying, The Complete Collaborator, published by Oxford University Press.

Dean Williamson, music director of Nashville Opera, is widely known for his perceptive and commanding conducting in various repertoires. He was the co-founder and first music director of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program and later became the artistic director of Opera Cleveland.

He has conducted at many companies including Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Lyric Opera of Boston, Opera Colorado, Opera Cleveland, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga, Arizona Opera, Kentucky Opera and Manitoba Opera.

With Nashville Opera, he has recently released studio opera recordings by Michael Nyman (Naxos), the world premiere recording of Robert Patterson’s "3 Way" (AMR Recordings). A new recording of Carly Simon’s opera Romulus Hunt was released in 2022. His video recording of Le Comte Ory with Des Moines Metro Opera earned an Emmy nomination.

He is a regular judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council and has conducted and given master classes at the University of Southern California, the New England Conservatory, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and Northwestern University. In addition, he has taught at the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti in Lucca, Italy. As a pianist, he has accompanied artists in concerts all around the world and studied with Randolph Hokanson and Lee Luvisi.