Pianist, Soprano Win Classical 'Idol'

Pianist, Soprano Win Classical 'Idol'

AP

Posted: 2007-06-24 20:53:32

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A weeklong competition that introduced features of "American Idol" to the world of classical music ended with cash awards totaling $268,000.

Rufus Choi of Los Angeles won the piano competition and a $50,000 check, and soprano Karen Slack of Philadelphia took home her own 50 grand Saturday night for winning the vocal category in the inaugural Jose Iturbi International Music Competition.

The contest at the University of California, Los Angeles, featured pianists and singers from 14 countries and was among the richest in the world. Taking a cue from "Idol," the public was invited to attend the competition for free and vote for its favorite.

Choi, 30, was given the People's Choice award and an additional $10,000. Choi graduated from the Juilliard School and has performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Slack, 31, recently made her Carnegie Hall debut in Tchaikovsky's "Maid of Orleans," a role she performed last summer with the San Francisco Opera.

Anastasia Markina of Russia was second in the piano competition, and David Lomeli of Mexico was second in the vocal competition. Both won $25,000.

Lomeli won the vocal People's Choice award and another $10,000.

The competition's sponsor, the Jose Iturbi Foundation, is named for the renowned concert pianist who appeared in several MGM musicals in the 1940s.

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06/24/07 20:52 EDT

 

Karen Slack, soprano
January 22, 2006 at 3:00 p.m.

As a winner of Astral Artistic Services’ 2001 National Auditions, soprano Karen Slack joined the Astral roster in April of that year. A Philadelphia native, she received both a Master and Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied voice with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. A 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions finalist, she was also awarded a prestigious Adler Fellowship by the San Francisco Opera Center as a member of its 2002 Merola Opera Program; the Center recently presented her Schwabacher Debut Recital. Ms. Slack made her San Francisco Opera debut in the role of Henrietta Moore in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, and returned to sing both Fauna Bo-Pibulum in Lewis Spratlan’s Earthrise and Irina Arkadina in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Seagull. SFO features her in 2006 in the role of Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans. Ms. Slack has appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Manila, Philippines, a role she has also performed for Curtis Opera Theatre. She recently appeared as Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Opera Company of Philadelphia; also for OCP she has sung Lily in Porgy and Bess, Guadalena in La Périchole, and appeared in its intern casts as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Mimi in La bohème. For Curtis Opera Theatre she has performed the Countess, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, the Princess in L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and appeared in the title role in its production of L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has also appeared with the Santa Fe Opera. In August 2005 she performs the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello with the Melbourne Symphony.

At the invitation of the San Francisco Symphony, Ms. Slack sang Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She recently gave concert performances of Weill’s Street Scene and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with the Phoenix Symphony, gave the west coast première of Earl Kim’s Illumination with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and was presented in recital under Astral’s auspices; Astral recently featured her on its Philadelphia concert series in a performance with Astral graduate bass Eric Owens. She has also appeared as soprano soloist in Brahms’ Requiem with both the Mendelssohn Club and the Lancaster Symphony, as well as in Messiah with the Haddonfield Symphony.

Ms. Slack made her Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall in a concert performance of La bohème and has performed in concert in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Prague, and Vienna. She has received numerous prizes, including those from the Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition, the Rosa Ponselle International Competition for the Vocal Arts, the National Arts Club Vocal Competition, the Mario Lanza Vocal Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Connecticut Opera, and the Marian Anderson Historical Society. Karen Slack is the recipient of both a George London Foundation Award and a Liederkranz Foundation Award.