FINALS CONCERT AND AWARDS DINNER 
OPERA BIRMINGHAM VOCAL COMPETITION 2022

 Saturday, March 19, 2022, 4:00 p.m.

Finals Concert
Cocktails
Seating for the Awards Dinner

 1^st Prize - $3,500
The Martha Dick McClung Award
given by Nanci Chazen

-with-
an invitation to return for a role in a future production

2^nd Prize - $2,500
given by Michael J. & MaryAnne Freeman

3^rd Prize - $2,000
given by Martha Pezrow

4^th Prize - $1,500
given by Dr. Chandler & Mrs. Jane Paris Smith

5^th Prize - $1,000
given by Tonie Bone
In Honor of Gene Bone

Dinner is Served

 The Audience Favorite Award - $1,000

Goodbye Until Next Year

Please silence your cell phones. 

The artist will choose their first selection. The judges will confer and then choose the second selection.

Sarah Cambidge, soprano
Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?, Fidelio, Beethoven
Ich kann nicht sitzen, Elektra, Strauss
Vissi d’arte, Tosca, Puccini
Mild und leise, Tristan und Isolde, Wagner
Ain't it a pretty night, Susannah, Floyd

Adia Evans, soprano
Come Scoglio, Così fan tutte, Mozart
I am Moses, the Liberator, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom,
Nkeiru Okoye
Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante, Carmen, Bizet
Klänge der Heimat, Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss
I Want Magic!, A Streetcar Named Desire, A. Previn

Jessica Faselt, soprano
Tacea la notte placida...Di tale amor, Il Trovatore, Verdi
Dich, teure Halle, Tannhäuser, Wagner
Es gibt ein Reich, Ariadne auf Naxos, Strauss
Or sai chi l'onore, Don Giovanni, Mozart
Embroidery Aria, Peter Grimes, Britten

Zachary Hugo, baritone
Si puo?, I Pagliacci, Leoncavallo
Cortigiani, vil razzo donnata, Rigoletto, Verdi
Pierrot’s Tazlied, Die Tode Stadt, Korngold
Avant de quitter ces lieux, Faust, Gounod
Batter My Heart, Doctor Atomic, Adams

Sophia Hunt, soprano
Non mi dir, Don Giovanni, Mozart
Per pieta, Cosi fan tutte, Mozart
Ah, forse lui…Sempre libera, La Traviata, Verdi
Sombre foret, Guillaume Tell, Rossini
You May Not Remember, Empty the House, Renee Orth

Samson McCrady, baritone
Largo al factotum, The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Hai gia vinta la causa, The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Per me giunto…Io morrò, Don Carlo, Verdi
Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen, Die tote Stadt, Korngold
Look! Through the port, Billy Budd, Britten

Quinn Middleman, mezzo-soprano
Crude furie degl’orridi abissi, Serse, Handel
Dans son regard, Hamlet, Thomas
Midnight is the loneliest hour, JFK, David T. Little
Da vspomnila, Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky
Lorsqu’on a plu de vingt quartiers, Cinderella, Massenet

Lisa Marie Rogali, mezzo-soprano
Enfin, je suis ici, Cendrillon, Massenet
Una voce poco fa, The Barber of Seville, Rossini
Must the winter come so soon?, Vanessa, Barber
Va pure ad altri in braccio, La finta giardiniera, Mozart
Violin Aria, The Tales of Hoffmann, Offenbach

Alicia Russell Tagert, soprano
Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata, Don Giovanni, Mozart
Quando men vo, La bohème, Puccini
No Word From Tom, The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky
Poison Aria, Romeo and Juliet, Gounod
Meine Lippen sie kussen so heiss, Giuditta, Lehar

Jason Zacher, bass-baritone
Aprite un po' quegli occhi, The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart
Aleko's Cavatina, Aleko, Rachmaninoff
Bottom’s Dream, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten
Riez, allez, riez du pauvre idéologue, Don Quixote, Massenet
Sorge infausta una procella, Orlando, Handel

The Southern Regional Opera
W. Cassell Stewart Vocal Competition

 May 2018

By Jerry Levin
Former Vice-President of Southern Regional Opera
Former Chairman of Opera Birmingham

Ah yes, I remember it well: Birmingham’s first operatic vocal competition. How could I not? I was its first Master of Ceremonies, and two weeks earlier my wife, Sis, and I became engaged. Now we and the Vocal Competition are celebrating fortieth anniversaries. But somewhere along the way its origins and original title, the Southern Regional Opera W. Cassell Stewart Vocal Competition, have gotten lost along a merger path that joined young financially struggling SRO with the descendant of decades old but equally struggling Birmingham Civic Opera.

It began this way. Early in 1978, SRO founder-President Cassell Stewart urgently asked me to brainstorm a “something different for Birmingham” fundraising idea that would promote SRO’s mission of encouraging young singers and mounting operas in English. Anxiously pondering the problem, I experienced the “ah ha” notion that Birmingham should become the site of an annual operatic vocal competition and that it deservedly should be named in honor of Cassell. Putting his personal funds where his passion for opera lay, he had already founded and backed Augusta, Georgia’s opera company and been a past President of Birmingham Civic Opera.

Immediately taking the ball, Cassell ran it elegantly over the goal line on a beautiful May evening in the glamorous setting of local attorney Jack and Diane Hall’s Red Mountaintop Valhalla. Since then the now nationally appreciated event has outgrown several venues and the original prize structure. The first winner took home $500.

The Birmingham News’ Peggy Treschsel commenting said, “It was a very good party and that’s rarer than you think.”