Columbia native among rising opera stars

There may be a few similarities between “American Idol” and the Metropolitan Opera’s national auditions. Both are held in front of an audience in cities around the country, and both come with a panel of judges. But after that, they have little else in common.

“People call it the opera version of that show,” said Ashley Briggs, who competed in the Met’s district competition held at Columbia College Saturday. “But the judges don’t give any out-loud comments. Thank goodness.”

A Columbia native, the 24-year-old soprano was the only South Carolinian to be selected as one of three finalists who will compete in Atlanta for the chance to sing ultimately in New York City.

“It’s great to come home and win,” said Briggs, who has been working on a master’s in opera performance at the University of Maryland. Briggs’ fellow winners were also sopranos — Krista Monique McClellan of Virginia and Melinda Whittington of North Carolina.

“I felt like I did a performance worthy of a winning performance, but you never know how these things are going to go,” she said.

Viewed as one of the most prestigious performing-arts competitions in the world, the annual auditions provide a venue for up-and-coming young opera singers to test their mettle and a way for the Met — the country’s most prestigious stage — to discover promising new talent. Now in their 59th year, the auditions have been responsible for launching the careers of such opera greats as Renee Fleming, Jessye Norman and Thomas Hampson. Saturday’s auditions included 32 vocalists from across the United States; 10, including Briggs, were from South Carolina.

The performances, free and open to the public, are also a “must-see” event among opera lovers.

Reece Williams, who attended Saturday’s event with his wife, Nancy, said Columbia had a “pretty good” audience for classical music. “But the audience for opera is much more limited,” said the past president of the S.C. Philharmonic. “So this is marvelous.”

For singers, the competition provides important feedback. Judges meet privately with each vocalist to critique the performance.

“That is really, really meaningful,” said Briggs, who had competed in the competition once before. “You rarely ever get feedback ... so that was a great thing for me to hear.”

For 18-year-old Emma Tingle, who watched from the front row of the college’s R. Wright Spears Center for the Arts, it was a chance to see talent. “They were all very good,” she said.

Tingle, who was attending the event with a small group of music and voice students from Anderson University, had her favorites. Chief among them was Octavia Hall, another South Carolinian. Twenty-one-year old Hall, who was not one of the finalists, was given an “encouragement award” meant to single out those young stars judges feel are on the right track.

“She was very expressive,” Tingle said. “She hit her high notes very well and she owned both songs she sang.”