Ever wonder how an opera singer gets the big gig? Here’s your chance to find out. Enjoy a continental breakfast and cash bar in the Ordway’s Balcony Lobby, while listening to our two panelists share their experiences as a Met finalist and Opera critic. Moderated by Minnesota Public Radio Classical Music and New Classical Tracks Host, Julie Amacher. Then take your seats inside the theater and judge the official Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for yourself!

To purchase tickets over the phone, call the Minnesota Opera Ticket Office at 612-333-6669, M-F, 9am-6pm.

Julie Amacher
Moderator
Host, Classical Music, New Classical Tracks Minnesota Public Radio

 
Julie Amacher's desire to introduce others to great music is what led her to radio. She began her professional broadcast career at a station in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She went from rock 'n' roll to the Rocky Mountains, where she found her niche in public radio at KUNC in Greeley, Colo. Julie spent 13 years at KUNC, where she managed the announcers and their eclectic music format. During that time, she earned four national awards for best announcer. She joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1997 as an on-air host and also produces New Classical Tracks, a weekly podcast critiquing a new release each week. It airs locally at 7:15 a.m. Wednesdays and 5:15 p.m. Fridays. Favorite classical music quote: "Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you."

Seth Keeton
Panelist
Metropolitan Opera National Council Finalist

Bass-baritone, Seth Keeton’s performances have been described by The New York Times as “driven” and “emotionally pointed.”  He has performed roles on the stages of The Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Central City Opera, Arizona Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Austin Lyric Opera and Opera Omaha, Chautauqua Opera and Theater Bremen in Bremen, Germany. A passionate recitalist and oratorio performer, Mr. Keeton has been seen on the concert stage as the bass soloist in Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew Passion, Haydn’s Creation and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols.  He has recently sung the Fauré Requiem and Bach’s St. John Passion, and he frequently appears with the Rochester Aria Group and the St. Catherine Choral Society.  In 2006, he was a national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has received awards from the Sullivan Foundation and the Eleanor McCollum Competition.  Mr. Keeton received his Bachelor of Music from Illinois Wesleyan University, his Master of Music from Indiana University, and his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota.

John De Haan
Panelist
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota School of Music
Former Judge, Met Council Auditions 

In the past two decades, John David De Haan has sung lyric and heroic tenor roles in leading opera companies throughout North America and Europe. He can be heard on the Decca, Sony and Naxos record labels, for the last of these taking the title role in Willie the Weeper by Jerome Moross (8.559086), and continues to perform extensively in opera, concert and recitals in a wide-ranging repertoire. He recently sang the role of Caliban in Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest to critical acclaim. Having expanded his activities to teaching in 1995, he is on the faculty of the University of Minnesota’s School of Music in Minneapolis.