The Laffont Competition, Florida District has enjoyed a decades-long history serving and raising funds for emerging opera singers with an annual competition in Central Florida. Currently lead by Co-Directors Sarah Purser and Joan Travis and presented by Opera Orlando and its Education Department, our District leadership team also includes Emily DeNardo as Treasurer, and Opera Orlando's Gabriel Preisser and Grant Preisser as Competition Advisors.
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.
General information and donor contact: Sarah Purser, floridalaffont@operaorlando.org
Singer contact: Joan Travis, floridalaffont@gmail.com
The Laffont Competition, Florida District takes place in the Performing Arts Auditorium at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, FL on Saturday, November 7, 2026 beginning at 10AM.
The competition is open to the public, free of charge, and usually lasts until about 4:30 or 5:00PM, with a lunch break at about 12:30PM. The audience is welcome to come and go throughout the day (entering and leaving only between singer performances), and ample parking is available on the campus. Please note that no food or drink, except water, is allowed in the auditorium.
This season's distinguished judges will be Melissa Wegner, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the Laffont Competition, Christopher McBeth, Artistic Director of Utah Opera, and Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Emily Pulley.
We invite donors who would like to support our efforts to fund the Florida District competition in collaboration with the Opera Orlando Education Department to connect with Sarah Purser, Co-Director, Florida District and Education Director of Opera Orlando, at floridalaffont@operaorlando.org or with Gabriel Preisser, Competition Advisor and General Manager of Opera Orlando, at gpreisser@operaorlando.org.
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 application fee to reserve your spot. The Florida District competition is limited to about 25 singers. Please see https://www.metopera.org/competitionapp for more information.
General information and donor contact: Sarah Purser, floridalaffont@operaorlando.org
Singer contact: Joan Travis, floridalaffont@gmail.com
