Application Process for 2024 / 2025 Season

ALL singers who wish to participate in the Laffont Competition
MUST submit an audition video between July 1-31, 2024.
The audition videos MUST be recorded between January 1 - July 31, 2024.
This submission process is free of charge.

Singers will be notified early September 2024, if they have qualified.
They may then register for available slots at the district of their choice,
confirming their place with the application fee.

After the qualifying singers have registered,
singers who participated but did not qualify may register
for available slots at any open district, including the Nebraska District.

Full information including the submission platform "Resonance,"
eligibility, repertoire requirements & technical instructions
can be found at the Metropolitan Opera
Laffont Competition site [Application link below].

Dates for the 2024/2025 Season should be updated there later this spring.



The Nebraska District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition 2024-2025 will take place
on Saturday, January 18, 2025,
at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln.

Our Judges will be:

John Keene,
Chorus Director, San Francisco Opera

Blair Salter,
Head Coach, Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, LA Opera

Mark Schnaible,
Voice Faculty, Manhattan School of Music & Curtis Institute of Music

and our accompanist will again be
the intrepid Hal France!


Registration for Qualifying Singers
began September 6, 2024!
We are now fully registered with 25 singers!

LAST SEASON:
Our thanks and gratitude to our haven in the storm, Eastmont Living, who took us in during the blizzard of MLK Weekend, 2024!

A HUGE thank you to our wonderful Judges, who braved the weather to make those auditions successful: 
  • Gareth Morrell, Conductor, The Metropolitan Opera, New York, NY
  • Lee Anne Myslewski, Vice President-Opera & Classical Programming, Wolf Trap Foundation, Vienna, VA
  • and our dedicated accompanist:  Hal France!
Congratulations to our award winners for 2023-2024:
  • District Winners:  Katherine Holobinko & Lauren Paul (Lauren Paul won an Encouragement Award at the Upper Midwest Regionals in February!)
  • Opera Omaha Guild Award: Callie Meikrantz
  • Friends of Opera Award: Geoffrey Schmelzer
  • Ky Rohman District Encouragement Awards: Gwendolyn Delaney, Reagan Hinze & Malinda Wagstaff
And a huge thank you to all 18 singers who battled icy roads
and cancelled flights to sing for a very appreciative audience!
Lincoln Journal Star Article on
the 2015 Auditions

All photographs by Kim Fogle (2014) & Talea Bloch (2015-2024)