Los Angeles tenor, Peter Jeon, was selected as the first place winner at the Metropolitan Opera Western Regional Auditions, held on Nov. 4 at the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium. Jeon, 28, received $4,300 and will represent the Western Region at the national finals competition at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City next spring.
Soprano Lillian Roberts, 23, of Las Vegas (San Bernardino district) and baritone Gregorio Gonzalez, 27, of San Diego, shared second place honors, each receiving cash awards of $3850. Bass "Wojciech Piotr Bukalski, 33, of Santa Barbara (Los Angeles district) was selected as the third place winner and was awarded $2,650. The final competition was among nine finalists from the five districts of the Western Region: Arizona, San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Others in the competition were mezzo-soprano Katja Nicolai, 30, and soprano Kristin Peterson, 31, from Orange County; soprano Yoo Ri Clark, 25, from Arizona, bass-baritone Zeffin Quinn Hollis, 30, and tenor Robert J. Mac Neil, 31, from Los Angeles.
Judging the competition was Gayletha Nichols, executive director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, in consultation with preliminary judges tenor Vinson Cole, soprano Ruth Golden and Nicholas Russell, director of artistic administration for Glimmerglass Opera.