Cultural Cocktail Hour
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions: Western Region
All Photography and Text © 2011 Leticia Marie Sanchez
All Rights Reserved.
Passionate singers, heavenly arias, storm clouds, and an adorable Jack Russell Terrier!
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/dark-stormy-day.webp)
It was a dark and stormy night.
Or day, rather.
(Yes, there will be a canine featured in this operatic tale. No, it’s neither Snoopy nor the Red Baron).
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/met-opera-national-council-auditions.webp)
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions!
Where contestants sing their hearts out for a chance to sing on the Met stage in New York..
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/dscf0704.webp)
Zipper Concert Hall,
Colburn School of Music, Downtown Los Angeles:
Ten talented singers wait in the wings for their chance to shine…
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/zipper-concert-hall.webp)
Audience-favorite, Narine Ojakhyan’s voice was heavenly as she sang “Regnava nel Silenzio” from Lucia Di Lammermoor, for which she received thunderous applause.
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/the-contestants.webp)
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/dscf0716.webp)
Winners:
Joseph Lim – 1st place and going to New York
Marina Boudart Harris – 2nd place
Narine Ojakhyan – 3rd place
Peabody Southwell – Special Encouragement Award
ADDENDUM:
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/dscf0706.webp)
Wandering upstairs at the Colburn School Of Music, I bump into a familiar-looking sculpture.
Could it be Nipper?
The Jack Russell Terrier who illustrates the RCA Gramophone’s with the painting “His Master’s Voice?”
![](https://culturalcocktailhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/nipper.webp)
Indeed it was.
Here’s Nipper on a Duke Ellington Record.