Awards for 2012-2013

The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation awarded nine $12,000grants to young artists who auditioned for the Foundation at the National Opera Center in New York on November 5 & 6, 2012. In addition to these cash awards, for the next five years winners receive Preparation Grants for new roles which are one of the unique features of the Sullivan program.

Winners of $15,000 awards and continuing assistance starting in 2014 are: sopranos Alexandra LoBianco and Ying Fang, counter-tenors Eric Jurenas and Christopher Lowrey, baritones Will Liverman and Jamez McCorkle, and bass-baritone Joseph Barron. Will Liverman’s award is named for Theodor Uppman, the famed baritone who was a longtime member of the Board of the Foundation; Jamez McCorkle’s award is named for mezzo Betty Allen, also a longtime member of the Foundation’s board. Alexandra LoBianco and Ying Fang received awards honoring former board members Gail Robinson and Rose Bampton.

Six singers received $7500 Career Development Awards: soprano Ashley Emerson, Baritones Dan Kempson and Wes Mason, and basses Matthew Anchel, Ryan Green, and Adam Lau.

Judges for 2013 were well-known soprano Christine Brewer, Charles MacKay, general director of the Santa Fe Opera, Craig Rutenberg, director of Music Administration at the Metropolitan Opera, and Anthony Fogg, Artistic Administrator of the Boston Symphony.

Will Liverman’s award is named for Theodor Uppman, the famed baritone who was a longtime member of the Board of the Foundation; Jamez McCorkle’s award is named for mezzo Betty Allen, also a longtime member of the Foundation’s board. Alexandra LoBianco and Ying Fang received awards honoring former board members Gail Robinson and Rose Bampton.

These winners join the current roster of Sullivan artists who have won awards since 2010, all of whom may receive grants from the Foundation for preparing new roles in opera or other works with full orchestra. The William Matheus Sullivan Foundation was established in 1956 by a well-known New York lawyer who represented many opera singers and whose interest in music was extensive, to aid young singers at that crucial point after their training is completed but before they are established. For more than fifty years the Foundation has supported the careers of literally hundreds of young artists.