Past Winners Include: Alicia Berneche, soprano; Hanchien Lee, piano; Grace Kim, piano; Washington Garcia, piano; Elizabeth Racheva, soprano; Carla Dirlikov, mezzo-soprano; Amy Keesun Kwon, soprano; Hyunah Yu, soprano; John Wickelgren, piano
Wonderlic Competition
About the Competition
Wonderlic Vocal Competition Winners Announced
Sopranos Jennifer Holbrook, Brooke Evers, and Emile J. Hodgin-Aovare took top honors in the 2009 Russell C. Wonderlic Memorial Competition held on April 19.
Twelve vocalists entered this year's competition, which is open to singers between the ages of 18 and 35 residing in Maryland and Washington, D.C., or non-residents attending schools in Maryland or D.C. Winners shared cash awards totaling $3,000.
Jennifer Holbrook
First place winner Jennifer Holbrook teaches voice, piano, and musical theater at the Maryland Conservatory of Music. Recent solo performances include Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Violetta in La Traviata for the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. She received her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Central Arkansas and her master of music degree from Peabody, studying with Martha Antolik and Phyllis Bryn-Julson, respectively.
Brooke Evers
Second prize winner Brooke Evers studied as a Fulbright Scholar in Austria, performing in Vienna, Berlin, and Milan before returning to Washington, D.C., where she has sung as a soloist at the Kennedy Center, the Embassy of Austria, the National Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the Strathmore Mansion. She sings with the Washington Bach Consort and has appeared as a soloist with director J. Reilly Lewis. Evers earned bachelor’s degrees in Voice and German from Indiana University and a master of music degree from the University of Maryland.
Emilie Hodgin-Aovare
Third prize winner Emilie Hodgin-Aovare has studied with Ruth Drucker, Marianna Busching, Mary Kay Schmidt, James McKeel and David Neal. She earned her bachelor of music degree in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 2000, and her master of music degree in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory in 2005.
Hodgin-Aovare's opera roles include Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, The Donkey in Aesop’s Fables, and Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti.
A Baltimore native, Hodgin-Aovare currently teaches in her private studio in Baltimore and at the Maryland Academy of Music in Columbia, and performs locally.
The distinguished judges in this year's competition were acclaimed dramatic mezzo-soprano Barbara Dever, who marked her 15th season on the Metropolitan Opera roster this year; Vincent Don-Stringer, founder and artistic director of The National Spiritual Ensemble and director of Opera at Morgan State University; and Philip A. Olsen, director of the Upper School choirs at McDonogh School and music director at the Second Presbyterian Church of Baltimore.
The Russell C. Wonderlic Memorial Competition was established through a bequest in 1990. It alternates annually between voice and piano, and has allowed many young artists the opportunity to launch international music careers. Soprano Hyunah Yu and pianists Awadagin Pratt and Eric Zuber are prominent past winners.