2020 SPRING/SUMMER
LINDSEY REYNOLDS Honorable mention (2015-2016) at the Donald W. Wood Sr. Vocal Competition as well as the recipient of the 2020 Spring/Summer Wood Operatic Grant provided by the New Orleans Opera Association. Lindsey currently is a Senior at the Curtis Institute of Music where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance under the tutelage of Julia Falkner. As a versatile young artist, Lindsey’s favorite roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring) and Monica (The Medium). Lindsey is the recipient of many awards and accolades, including first place in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition: Tier 2, Junior Division of the Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition, Hal Leonard Vocal Competition, and the National Association of Negro Musicians Vocal Competition. This summer, Lindsey has been selected as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre Saint Louis where she will be debuting the role of Lily in the world premiere of Awakenings by Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman. She is also planning on competing in the Pendine International Voice of the Future Competition in Wales, United Kingdom, and, in doing so, she will work directly with the Royal Opera House coaching staff. Lindsey’s looking forward to making European connections in the world of opera.
EMILY TREIGLE First place female winner at the very first Donald W. Wood Sr. Vocal Competition (2015-2016) as well as the recipient of the 2020 Spring/Summer Wood Operatic Advancement Grant provided by the New Orleans Opera Association. With a 3.5 grade point average, Emily is a Senior at Rice University in Houston, Texas where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She will graduate from Rice University in May, 2020. She is currently auditioning at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as Rice University. She has been chosen as the Studio Artist with the Wolf Trap Opera in Vienna, Virginia where she will perform in the summer of 2020 the role of Filippyevna in Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky.
2019 FALL/WINTER
DADE DUFRENE First male place winner (2018-2019) at the Donald W. Wood Sr. Vocal Competition as well as the 2019 Fall/Winter recipient of the Wood Operatic Advancement Grant provided by the New Orleans Opera Association. He is a Freshman at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in vocal performance under the vocal coaching of Ms. Karen Bradshaw in an effort to expand his vocal talents in classical and modern music genres. Dade hopes to raise enough money to go to THROGA in Las Vegas in July of 2020, for a week-long vocal training retreat. At THROGA, Dade will be taught by professionals, have the use of a top-of-the-line recording studio, and is looking forward to the release of his first music video.
IMANI FRANCIS Second place female winner of the Donald W. Wood Sr. Vocal Competition (2015-2016) also the 2019 Fall/Winter recipient of the Wood Operatic Advancement Grant provided by the New Orleans Opera Association. Imani is currently a Senior at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music graduating with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance in May of 2020. Imani has been very active in recitals and performances in New Orleans, Boston, and New York, as well at Boston Conservatory. She has performed and attended workshops and masterclasses with internationally renowned artists such as Robert Sims, Curtis Rayam, George Shirley, and Roderick Dixon while at the National Association of Negro Musicians conventions in New Orleans, and recently for the Centennial Convention held in Chicago, Illinois. In the summer of 2019, Imani made her operatic debut as Gloria Davenport, with MassOpera in their premier production of Freedom Ride by Dan Shore in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She also had the opportunity to sing for the National Baptist Convention held in New Orleans in July of 2019. In 2017, she was a guest recitalist with Canto Lirico International Competition in Trujillo, Peru, and guest vocalist in the B–Sharp Concert Series, as well as First “Singer Spotlight” duo-performance with her mother, Dr. Valerie Anne Jones Francis on the Harry Connick, Jr. TV Show in New York. Imani is a Life member of the Patriotic Project Statewide Youth Chorus, Boston Conservatory Opera Ensemble in Dialogues of the Carmelites; Co-Founder of the Robert Honeysucker Negro Spiritual Concert Series, Boston Conservatory at Berklee; Black Student Alliance, Boston Conservatory at Berklee; recording secretary and vice president, soloist and member of Boston Conservatory at Berklee Concert Choir; recitalist, Boston Conservatory at Berklee Voice Department and is the vocal student of Ms. Patty Thom. Imani will apply to several universities for graduate school as well as numerous 2020 summer music programs.
SARAH KATHERINE McCALLUM Second place female winner twice (2016-2017 and 2018-2019) at the Donald W. Wood Sr. Vocal Competition as well as the 2019 Fall/Winter recipient of the Wood Operatic Advancement Grant provided by the New Orleans Opera Association. Sarah is currently a Freshman at LSU and is a vocal performance student of Dr. Loraine Sims. Sarah sings with the LSU A Cappella Choir but outside of the practice room, she is a sorority member of Delta Delta Delta, is a Greek Ambassador, is an active member of the LSU Student Government, and is involved in The Refuge campus ministry.