The Met’s Laffont Competition—previously known as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions—is designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers and is sponsored by hundreds of donors and volunteers from across North and South America. Some of today’s greatest singers got their starts in the competition, including Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Emily D’Angelo, Michael Fabiano, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ryan Speedo Green, Lisette Oropesa, Eric Owens, and Nadine Sierra.
The Competition will begin at 11:00 AM and run throughout the afternoon.
The public is invited to attend! Suggested donation $20; Students free with ID.
We invite you to join us for part of the day or all day. Winners of the competition moving on to the New England Regional Competition will be announced late afternoon.
Address:
Millard Auditorium
The Hartt School/University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave.
West Hartford, CT 06117
Welcome to our 46th season! We are thrilled to be at The Hartt School and hope you will join us for an exciting day of singing! Past Connecticut District finalists who went on to win at the National Grand Finals include soprano Nadine Sierra, countertenor Jakub Josef Orlinski, bass Christan Van Horn, tenor Kenneth Tarver, soprano Lynette Tapia, baritone Thomas Woodman, and recent Grand Finals Winner, tenor Daniel Espinal!
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
● The National Council was formed in 1952 with the Competition rounds beginning officially in
1. These succeeded the Auditions of the Air, a radio competition which began in 1935.
● In May 2021, the National Council Auditions were retitled in recognition of a generous gift by
the Laffont family to now officially be the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition
● There are 5 rounds of the competition: Qualifying, District, Region, Semifinals, Grand Finals
● There are 37 Districts and 12 Regions. District competitions take place throughout the continental United States, in addition to one
District in Canada, one in Mexico and one District in Puerto Rico.
● Last season, 1,500 singers applied for the Qualifying video round of the Met Competition
● Approximately 20-25 Region first place winners are brought to New York City as Semifinalists.
● Approximately 9-12 Semifinalists advance to the Grand Finals Concert.
● Approximately 4-6 Finalists are selected as Laffont Competition Winners.
● Semifinalists receive $5,000, Finalists receive $10,000 and Winners receive $20,000.
● The Semifinals take place on the Met stage with piano and are closed to the general public.
● The Grand Finals Concert is a public, ticketed event at the Met, and singers are accompanied by
the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
● Over 100 former Met Competition singers are on the Met’s roster annually.
Singers that have advanced to the District Round will receive a notification regarding the opening of registration. You will be prompted to log in to your Dashboard, select a District, and pay the $30 application fee to reserve your spot. Districts are limited to 25 singers and will operate on a first come, first served basis.
