Nebraska District

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 Nebraska District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition 2025-2026 took place on Saturday, January 17, 2026, at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln.

O'Donnell Auditorium, Rogers Fine Arts Building

NE corner of Huntington Avenue & North 50th Street

Lincoln, NE 68504

Judges

• Beth Clayton, Performance Coach, Mezzo Soprano, Santa Fe, NM
• Jason Ferrante, Voice Faculty, Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta & Brevard Music Centre, Brevard, NC
• Mark Gibson, Director of Orchestral Studies, University of Cincinnati & Head, Conducting Institute, Miami Music Festival



Accompanist: the incomparable Hal France!

Nebraska District winners, who will proceed to the Upper Midwest Regional competition.

• Kristine Overman
• Joley Seitz
• Jessica Gu

Two District encouragement awards:

• Ruoxuan Nola Tan ("Ky Rohman" award)
• Zhihui Pang ("Hewitts" award)

In addition, the judges selected recipients of two awards given by local opera support groups:

• Lauren Paul (Friends of Opera Lincoln)
• Zhihui Pang (Opera Omaha Guild)

For more info on the Nebraska District, please visit our website: http://www.nebraskametauditions.org/

Laura Franz and Adrienne Dickson, Co-Chairs