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Disappointed that she couldn’t stay for the award ceremony after the competition, Baldwin explained that she had to catch a plane back to Indianapolis. “I would have loved to be there,” she said, “but that’s the life of a singer. You are constantly trying to get from one performance to another, and you sometimes miss out on the best parts of life.”

Tenor Eric Margiore, a native of Long Island New York, enjoyed dinner at Applebee’s with his girlfriend, Rachele Gilmore, after the competition, and both had plenty to talk about. She, with top honors, and he with “The Judith Bardi Rosenthal Award,” and a check for $2,500. He chose to sing, “Questa o quella” for his first aria because “it's the first aria that Il Duca sings in Rigoletto, and it has great rhythmic intensity to it, ascending to a high Bb at the end.”

Margiore, like so many others, sang in the Guild’s competition before and was even a prize winner a couple years ago. A third place finish this year, however, was a pleasant surprise sine it was the first competition he performed in as a tenor. He used to sing baritone. On being named for this award, he said he was both excited and a little nervous. “Since I received Third place,” he said [twelve singers were named before him] I was waiting in the audience for a while since there were numerous prizes being awarded before mine. I was very nervous while waiting, but having done competitions before [I know] they are very subjective, so you just never know the outcome and you cannot put a lot of stake in them. Sometimes you will sing great and not win and other times you will sing just okay and get great feedback. It’s always nice to win, however,” he added parenthetically.

For Margiore, singing was not in his game plan when in college at Duke University where he studied to be a doctor. “However, while I was there,” he said, “the passion of my music became too strong and I decided to move back to New York and attend New York University and pursue music and opera full time.” He thanks his choir teacher in high school for giving him the impetus to sing and for introducing him to the voice of Mario Lanza. “From then on I knew opera would be important in my life.”

These are just three of the thirty singers that competed and just a small sampling of the lucky fifrteen who won awards for their efforts. They are the future of opera.

The Connecticut Opera Guild’s annual competition is fast becoming one of the major competitions for young singers. It draws from around the country, and highlights the very best in a new generation of future “world class” performers. “I am always astonished by the caliber of these young artists,” said Connecticut Opera’s Artistic Director, Willie Anthony Waters, who was also one of this year’s judges.

Also winning awards this year were:

Matthew Worth, baritone: winner of the “Andrew & Anne Pinto Award” and a check for $1,500.
Kelli Butler, soprano: winner of the “Sylvia E. & Martin A. Rothman Award,” and a check for $1,000.
Melissa Garvey, mezzo-soprano: winner of the “Sue M. Wiesen Award,” and a check for $1,000.
David Korn, male soprano: winner of the “Ziemian Award,” and a check for $1,000.
Jin Hwan Byun, tenor: winner of the “Carmela D’Esopo & Rose D’Esposo Award,” and check for $1000.
Allen Pinkney Jr., tenor: winner of the “Micki Savin Award,” and a check for $1,000.
Deborah Selig, soprano: winner of the “Connie Maffei Award,” and a check for $1,000.
Brandy Lynn Hawkins, soprano: winner of the “Julie Miller Rosenblatt Award,” and check for $750.
John Zukermann, tenor: winner of the Samuel & Norma Eli Miller & Charlotte Miller Sutter Award,” and check for $750.
Katrina Thurman, soprano: winner of the “Dr. Jerome Evans Award,” and a check for $500.
Samantha Jeffreys, soprano: winner of the “Ilene D. Kaplan Award,” and a check for $500.

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The writer would like to thank Ms. Christen Eure, Marketing Director of Connecticut Opera for her assistance in gathering the facts for this article. Without her contributions this article would not have been possible.