CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two rising stars in the world of opera, who also are students in the School of Music at the University of Illinois, recently sang their way to the top prizes in a recent vocal competition in Chicago, a contest that their voice instructor won more than 20 years ago.
SeiHee Lee, a graduate student who lives in Urbana, won the first prize and the grand prize in the young artist division of the Bel Canto Foundation's annual Opera Contest, held April 17. Lee's performances of "Il Bacio" and a selection from "La Traviata" earned her the grand prize of $7,500. Last year, Lee won second place in the competition.
Jacqueline Piccolino, a freshman from Palatine, Ill., won second place and $2,000 in the Bel Canto Opera Contest with her performances of "Per pietà, bell'idol mio" and "Nel suo amore."
Lee and Piccolino are students of U. of I. faculty member Cynthia Haymon-Coleman, a soprano who won the grand prize in the Bel Canto Contest in 1983.
The prizes are the latest in a string of wins for Piccolino and Lee.
Earlier this month, Piccolino won Division 3 of the National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition, held in Chicago on April 10.
And in March, she aced the first round of the Classical Singer Competition, sponsored by Classical Singer Magazine. Piccolino will proceed to the second round of the competition to be held May 28 in New York City.
A soprano, Piccolino is majoring in vocal performance at the U. of I. and is a recipient of the Thomas J. Smith full-tuition scholarship.
Prior to winning the 2010 Bel Canto Contest, Lee won first prize in Division 2 of the New York Lyric Opera Theatre's Vocal Competition, held March 20 in New York City.
A soprano in the doctor of musical arts degree program at Illinois, Lee holds a full-tuition Howard A. Stotler Graduate Fellowship. Lee performed the role of Susanna in the U. of I. opera's November 2009 production of "Le Nozze di Figaro" and the role of Juliette in its November 2008 production of "Romeo et Julliette."
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