Opera Theatre announces new Artists in Training

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2013-2014 Monsanto Artists-in-Training class is the largest class in the history of the program.

The program offers nine months of college-level voice lessons on university campuses to 24 high school students in the St. Louis community. The program was recognized as one of ten outstanding programs for youth in the nation by the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Chosen through a highly competitive audition process (with a 30 percent increase in auditions this year), these students will engage in weekly college-level vocal coaching from faculty at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Washington University, Webster University and University of Missouri–St. Louis.

The program culminates on Sunday, April 27 in a recital and scholarship competition which will lead to awards of $11,000 in scholarship money.

The 24 students accepted into the program for the 2013-2014 year are:

McLaine Beeman, Junior, Triad High School

Melvin Bozeman, Jr., Junior, McCluer North High School

Ian Brinkley, Junior, McCluer North High School

Monet Britts, Junior, McCluer North High School

Michael Cogshell, Jr., Senior, McCluer North High School

Kelsey Degardin, Junior, Ritenour High School

Ben Diamond, Senior, Clayton High School

Maire Gador, Junior, McCluer High School

Christina Goetz, Senior, Westminster Christian Academy

Brandi Harris-Stokes, Senior, Central Visual & Performing Arts High School

Michael Hawkins, Junior, Belleville East High School

Natalie Hunt, Senior, Nerinx Hall High School

Quntisha Jenkins, Senior, Normandy High School

Caleb Johnson, Sophomore, Central Visual & Performing Arts High School

Sam Krausz, Senior, St. Louis University High School

Sarah Lally, Senior, Visitation Academy

Lauren Lundy, Sophomore, Notre Dame High School

Aileen Markovitz, Junior, Eureka High School

Anna Nielsen, Senior, Providence Christian Academy

Julia Pottinger, Junior, Cor Jesu Academy

Abigail Powers, Junior, Mehlville High School

Angel Riley, Senior, Belleville West High School

Adam Voelker, Senior, Belleville West High School

Marq Williams, Senior, McCluer North High School.

Four alumni of the AIT program are in the midst of professional singing careers which have taken them to performing venues throughout the U.S. and overseas.  They include tenor Jermaine Smith (1991), mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen (1994), baritone Robert McNichols (1995), and soprano Jennifer Sheehan (2003). 

In 2012, alumna Kendall Gladen made OTSL history by being the first AIT graduate to sing a title role on Opera Theatre’s main stage in a production of Carmen. In 2013, AIT graduate Derrell Acon, also a member of Opera Theatre’s Gerdine Young Artist Program, received a Fulbright award to pursue both performance and research in Italy.  

The Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of Monsanto Company, has been the principal underwriter of the program since its inception. In 2013, the fund gave a combined gift of $90,000 to support both the Artists-in-Training program and an opera for young people, The Very Last Green Thing.