Irene Dalis Competition returns to San Jose
Opera lovers can watch as rising young singers take the stage to vie for prizes
The stakes will be high — and the voices gorgeous — when the Irene Dalis Vocal Competition returns this weekend at Opera San Jose.
For the first time in eight years, the celebrated sing-off is back. Launched in 2006, and named for the acclaimed mezzo-soprano who founded Opera San Jose, the company under general director Shawna Lucey is reviving the event, bringing together a lineup featuring a dozen of the opera world's fast-rising stars.
Culled from hundreds of entrants, and following the semifinal round slated for earlier this week, these singers will compete, and opera lovers are invited to view, the finals round at 3 p.m. Saturday at the California Theatre in San Jose.
There's a lot at stake in the competition: The finalists, who will perform with the Opera San Jose Orchestra, are competing for cash prizes totaling nearly $10,000: first prize is $5,000, second prize $3,000 and third prize $1,500. The remaining finalists will receive $300 “Encouragement Awards.”
But the competition is about more than awards. For singers like tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven, it's a welcome opportunity to return to the stage.
“It's an incredibly talented group of artists,” said Schoonhoven, calling from his home in New York, “and an invaluable opportunity to establish that you're still here.”
Coming after two years of cancellations, postponements and insecurity due to COVID-19, Schoonhoven says he's thrilled to be participating in the competition.
“Post-pandemic, everyone's been affected,” he said. “This business is built on momentum, and a competition like this keeps you singing and helps you along to the next step. It can prove that you're one step further along in your career — to yourself, as well as to the opera world.”
For Cameroonian American mezzo-soprano Veena AkamaMakia, originally from Arkansas and now based in Chicago, the competition is significant on several fronts — a welcome return to in-person singing, and a chance to see the Bay Area for the first time.
“For young artists like me, coming to this company — and coming to the West Coast to explore the opera community — is very exciting, in the most positive way,” she said. “As a young artist in the opera industry, it can feel like we're in the background, but having this competition helps me feel seen.”
In addition to Schoonhoven and Akama-Makia, the contestants heading into Wednesday's semifinals included sopranos Susanne Burgess, Emily Michiko Jensen, Anastasia Malliaras and Nina Mutalifu; mezzo-sopranos Chantelle Grant and Shanley Horvitz; baritones Andres Cascante, Samson McCrady and Sejin Park; and bass-baritone Ben Brady.
Adjudicating the events is an esteemed list of opera artists, directors and administrators: judges for the semifinals include mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges, Houston Grand Opera general director Khori Dastoor (formerly the general director of Opera San Jose) and Opera San Jose music director Joseph Marcheso. The competition's finals will be judged by Lucey, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and San Francisco Opera Center artistic director Carrie-Ann Matheson.
Both Schoonhoven and AkamaMakia say that the pandemic shutdowns came at a crucial point in their careers. But both continued to advance, learning new roles and performing whenever possible. Akama-Makia covered the roles of Carmen and Mercedes in a Chicago Opera Theater production. She also spent part of the last two years in Boston, making recordings and giving virtual performances.
For the semifinals she was set to perform Adalgisa's “Va crudele” from Act I of Bellini's “Norma.” (Music for the finals round won't be announced until Saturday.)
Adalgisa is a role she adores. “`Va crudele' comes right after Norma's `Casta Diva,' ” she said, “and I just love it — where it's placed, the vulnerability of it. It's the first time we meet Adalgisa, and she's kind of unraveling. She's a very stoic woman, but for her to be flustered, confused — and then to turn to God — is very human.”
Schoonhoven, a former Adler fellow at San Francisco Opera who sang the role of A Young Servant in the company's 2017 mainstage production of “Elektra” — and was an elegant Lensky in Livermore Valley Opera's 2019 “Eugene Onegin” — agrees that the last few years have been tough. But he's also continued to move forward in his career, covering roles at the Metropolitan Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera; most recently, he sang the role of Laca in Janacek's “Jenufa” at France's Opera de Rouen.
His scheduled semifinal performance was Herman's Act 1 aria from Tchaikovsky's “The Queen of Spades.” He called it a chance to demonstrate what he could offer in a full staging of the opera.
“Competitions tend to highlight things that are very different,” he said, “really letting you show what you're made of.
“Especially in a great house like San Jose, it gives you affirmation that you're still going, still singing. It's a great landing place — an opportunity to sing, and to be the best version of yourself.”