metropolitan opera national council auditions

Not everyone was impressed with Hoskins’ voice, though. “It was helpful to have that outside view.” “It made me realize that some people were excited about my voice even though I personally felt like it wasn’t that great,” he said. Though he didn’t win, Hoskins was awarded a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York. Up to that point, he had planned to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become a math teacher.īut at 16, he entered a high school music competition called Classical Singer. But it wasn’t until he was 16 that the Saratoga Springs native began to seriously consider a music career.

The tenor grew up singing in the Salt Lake Children’s Choir. Hoskins can’t think about this win without remembering the moment he first thought it could even be possible. This was, after all, a career-defining moment for the budding tenor. But his family insisted on taking him to a nice Italian restaurant. To celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime moment, the tenor would’ve been fine eating takeout with his family at Manhattan’s historic Hudson Hotel - about a half-mile from the New York City opera house - where he was staying during the competition. Hoskins’ confusion shifted to excitement as he started processing that he’d just won $20,000 and was about to receive major exposure in the opera world. “It was actually after they called out the third person that I asked (soprano Alexandria Shiner), who was standing next to me, ‘So what are they announcing right now?’ She said, ‘Winners! We won!’ And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, great!’” “I couldn’t hear what they were saying very well backstage,” a laughing Hoskins told the Deseret News. He was one of five winners, but it took him a while to figure that out. He thought maybe all of the singers had been invited out for a final bow. Sporting a new Brooks Brothers tuxedo, the Brigham Young University student walked onto the Metropolitan Opera stage. Could this BYU singer be next?Īfter the final round Sunday night, the singer’s name was the second one to be called. It helped launch Renee Fleming’s career.

Metropolitan opera national council auditions