{"id":75146,"date":"2022-05-02T10:49:15","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=75146"},"modified":"2022-05-02T10:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:49:15","slug":"scoop-toronto-tenor-matthew-cairns-snags-met-opera-eric-dominique-laffont-competition-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/05\/02\/scoop-toronto-tenor-matthew-cairns-snags-met-opera-eric-dominique-laffont-competition-win\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Toronto Tenor Matthew Cairns Snags Met Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_75148\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75148\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75148\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/Matthew-Cairns-NEWS.jpg\" alt=\"Matthew Cairns (Image courtesy of the artist)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Cairns (Image courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Toronto tenor Matthew Cairns has emerged as a winner in the 2022 Met Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.<\/p>\n<p>Announced May 1, six singers in total were declared winners after a series of competitions that have run all season long at the district, regional, and national levels.<\/p>\n<p>All the winners receive a $20,000 cash prize along with the international exposure. Here\u2019s the full winner\u2019s list, along with the district they represent.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matthew Cairns, 27, tenor (Great Lakes Region: Toronto, Canada)<\/li>\n<li>Le Bu, 26, bass-baritone (Midwest Region: Yan Cheng, China)<\/li>\n<li>Alexandra Razskazoff, 30, soprano (Southeast Region: New Brighton, Minnesota)<\/li>\n<li>Julie Roset, 25, soprano (Central Region: Avignon, France)<\/li>\n<li>Anne Marie Stanley, 30, mezzo-soprano (Upper Midwest Region: Princeton, New Jersey)<\/li>\n<li>Esther Tonea, 28, soprano (Western Region: Buford, Georgia)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The final competition included ten finalists. Along with the six winners, the remaining four finalists receive a $10,000 cash prize.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rachel Blaustein, 30, soprano (Eastern Region: Olney, Maryland)<\/li>\n<li>Jonas Jud, 25, bass (New England Region: Trogen, Switzerland)<\/li>\n<li>Daniel O\u2019Hearn, 26, tenor (Rocky Mountain Region: Chicago, Illinois)<\/li>\n<li>Maggie Rene\u00e9, 23, mezzo-soprano (Eastern Region: New York, New York)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The winners were culled from a field of more than 1,100 applicants who auditioned. That number was reduced to 800 who qualified for the 39 district auditions, five of which were held in a virtual format. From 126 regional winners, 21 became semifinalists, cut to the ten who sang in the final competition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75149\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75149\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75149\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/Winners-Met-Laffont-Competition.jpg\" alt=\"Winners of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, L to R: Esther Tonea, Alexandra Razskazoff, Matthew Cairns, Le Bu, Julie Roset, Anne Marie Stanley (Photo: Natalie Powers \/ Met Opera)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75149\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winners of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, L to R: Esther Tonea, Alexandra Razskazoff, Matthew Cairns, Le Bu, Julie Roset, Anne Marie Stanley (Photo: Natalie Powers \/ Met Opera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><strong>The Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, formerly known as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was founded in 1954 as a career-building opportunity for aspiring singers. Including prizes given out at the district and regional level, the competition doles out nearly $500,000 to young opera singers.<\/p>\n<p>Former winners have included opera world luminaries such as Ren\u00e9e Fleming, Susan Graham, Eric Owens, Stephanie Blythe, Hei-Kyung Hong, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Fabiano, Latonia Moore, Lisette Oropesa, Jamie Barton, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, and Nadine Sierra.<\/p>\n<p>The competition was showcased in the 2008 feature-length documentary The Audition, directed by filmmaker Susan Froemke.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>About Matthew Cairns<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A current member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, tenor Matthew Cairn has been steadily building a reputation in the opera world since earning his master&#8217;s degree in opera performance from the University of Toronto. Here&#8217;s a look at some of his career highlights so far.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First Prize winner of the 2018 Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Competition;<\/li>\n<li>Winner of the CBC Music Young Artist Development Prize;<\/li>\n<li>Sang the role of Detlef in Romberg\u2019s<em> The Student Prince<\/em> at Chautauqua Institution, where he placed first in its Sigma Alpha Iota Competition;<\/li>\n<li>He was a finalist in the 2022 Neue Stimmen Competition;<\/li>\n<li>Recent roles include the Prince of Persia in <em>Turandot<\/em>, the Witch in <em>H\u00e4nsel und Gretel<\/em>, and the Gamekeeper in <em>Rusalka<\/em>, and covers Alfredo in <em>La Traviata<\/em>;<\/li>\n<li>Other appearances include Don Ottavio in<em> Don Giovanni<\/em> and Gherardo in <em>Gianni Schicchi<\/em> with the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and Liberto in Monteverdi\u2019s <em>L\u2019Incoronazione di Poppea<\/em> at Opera Theatre of St. Louis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bravo to Matthew and all the winners.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ludwig-van.us9.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4f785cb3f9058f2393ccad035&amp;id=57cdb68eac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto tenor Matthew Cairns has emerged as a winner in the 2022 Met Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":75148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39907,5,39,43,63],"tags":[5923,24038],"yst_prominent_words":[6871,7781,24025,6886,38935,24029],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/Matthew-Cairns-NEWS.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-jy2","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75150,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75146\/revisions\/75150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75146"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=75146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}