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Countertenor from Moscow wins Metropolitan Opera competition

Nemzer and the four other winners won cash prizes of $15,000

NEW YORK, March 19 (Itar-Tass) — Countertenor from Moscow Andrey Nemzer won the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in New York City on Sunday.

Nemzer who graduated with distinction from Moscow Choir College named after A.V.Sveshnikov and Moscow Academy of Choral Art named after V.S. Popov became the first Russian to win this prestigious competition.

Among other winners are young opera singers from America – Janai Brugger, soprano from Darien, Ill., Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano from Euclid, Ohio, Matthew Grills, tenor from Newton, Conn. and Anthony Clark Evans, baritone from Owensboro, Ky.

Nemzer and the four other winners won cash prizes of $15,000.

Andrey Nemzer was one of 1,500 students aged between 20 to 30, who entered in the auditions.

He began his career with Moscow’s Novaya Opera and Gelikon Opera musical theaters and toured in Europe and the United States.

American critics called Nemzer as one of the most talented young Russian opera singers who has a voice with wonderful timbre and deep musical culture.

He won several Russian and international vocal competitions. He is also the main soloist of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.

According to the Metropolitan Opera, the victory of the countertenor from Moscow in this prestigious contest proves high-quality education in Russia’s opera schools. It’s not accidental that from year to year the Met invites more opera singers from Russia.

One of them is Russian opera diva Anna Netrebko, who will launch the next season at New York’s Metropolitan Opera for the second year in a row.

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