Tenor Atalla Ayan has won the 2018 Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Emerging Stars Competition at the San Francisco Opera.
The Brazilian-born Ayan, who made his company debut in this past season’s La Traviata, won the popular vote of the online competition and receives a $10,000 prize.
“It was on the stage of the San Francisco Opera House that I had one of the happiest moments of my career so far,” Ayan said in a statement. “A special thanks to Maria Manetti Shrem and Jan Shrem for their wonderful support of the initiative and for those all who believed in me and in my talent. I appreciate this award as a beautiful incentive for my development as an artist and for my career with hopefully many years yet to come.”
The other nominees were soprano Aurelia Florian (La Traviata); soprano Ellie Dehn and baritone David Pershall (Manon); sopranos Hye Jung Lee and Julia Bullock, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Paul Appleby, baritones Ryan McKinny and Elliot Madore and bass-baritone Davóne Tines (Girls of the Golden West); bass Soloman Howard (Turandot); and mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller (Der Ring des Nibelungen).