Three with Luther ties advance to Metropolitan Opera regional tryouts

One current Luther College student and two Luther alumni have advanced to the Metropolitan Opera's Upper Midwest Region Finals competition Saturday, February 6th, at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul.

Jill Phillips from Pocahontas, Iowa; Andrew Stenson from Rochester, Minnesota; and Emily Fons from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will be three of the 12 opera singers at the February 6th Regionals.

Phillips is a senior majoring in music at Luther. Stenson is a 2008 graduate of Luther now studying at the University of Cincinnati. Fons is a 2006 graduate of Luther who earned a master's degree in music from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and will join the Ryan Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in April.

At Luther, the three finalists studied under music professors Karen Kanakis and Jessica Paul. Fons also studied with professor Edwin Andereck.

Three of the 12 Region finalists will be selected to advance to the National semi-finals in New York on Sunday, March 7th. The Met auditions, a national competition designed to discover the best young opera talent, are open to singers between the ages of 20-30.

1999 Luther College graduate Eric Cutler won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1998. He has since become an internationally-known tenor, winning the Richard Tucker Award in 2005.