April 04--Two singers from Lyric Opera's Ryan Opera Center young artists development program, along with a leading American soprano who has been featured in conductor James Conlon's Mozart opera cycles at Ravinia, have won prestigious awards from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. The awards were announced on Monday.
Mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges, a recent alumna of the Ryan center, is one of three American singers to receive Tucker foundation career grants of $10,000 each. Grants are given to young singers who have already performed with professional opera companies.
Soprano Laura Wilde, currently in her final year of Ryan apprenticeship, received a Sara Tucker study grant of $5,000 as one of five young singers displaying exceptional promise at the start of their professional careers.
Winner of the $50,000 Richard Tucker Award for 2016 is soprano Tamara Wilson, an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio who is singing the biggest Verdi soprano roles with opera companies throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera.
Although Wilson has yet to appear at Lyric Opera, she is known to Chicago-area audiences for her impressive performances as Mozart's Donna Anna (in "Don Giovanni") and Mozart's Elettra (in "Idomeneo"), in Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert performances that Conlon conducted at Ravinia in 2014 and 2012, respectively.
