Recipients of the Sullivan Award engage in a five-year initiative involving grants to prepare for upcoming roles.
The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation awarded $85,000 to 13 early career opera singers who auditioned for the Foundation in New York on Oct. 29 and 30, 2023. Sullivan Award winners participate in a five-year program of grants for preparing new roles, a unique feature of the Foundation's professional development support.
The seven winners of $10,000 Sullivan Awards and five years of role preparation assistance are sopranos Amber R. Manroe, Murrella Parton, and Teresa Perrotta; mezzo-sopranos Meridian Prall and Michelle Mariposa; tenor Moises Salazar; and bass-baritone Le Bu.
The panel also awarded $2,500 Career Development Grants to six singers: sopranos Mary Evelyn Hangley and Kathleen O’Mara; countertenor Kyle Tingzon; tenors Lawrence Barasa and Thomas Cilluffo; and baritone Sankara Harouna.
Audition judges were Sullivan trustees Susanne Mentzer, Evans Mirageas, and George Shirley, joined by Khori Dastoor, General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera. Application judges were Sullivan trustees Erie Mills and Marietta Simpson, along with past Sullivan grant recipient Patrick Carfizzi. The audition pianists were Adam Nielsen and Jinhee Park.
Awards designated in memory of distinguished Sullivan Foundation board members are Meridian Prall’s award for soprano Rose Bampton; Murrella Parton’s award for soprano Gail Robinson, director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and National Council Auditions; Amber R. Monroe’s award for mezzo-soprano Betty Allen, the second president of the Harlem School for the Arts; Moisés Salazar’s award for tenor David Lloyd, executive director of the Sullivan Foundation and director of the Juilliard American Opera Center; and Le Bu’s award for baritone Theodor Uppman.
