Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Florida District
The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition
Formerly known as the Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) Auditions, The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition is designed to discover exceptional young talent and provide a venue for young opera singers across North America to be heard by representatives of the Metropolitan Opera and assist those with the greatest potential for operatic careers.
The competition is held annually in 11 Regions representing the United States, Canada, and Mexico. There are 36 Districts within these Regions, each providing an opportunity for talented singers to enter the auditions at the local level. The competitions are administered by local Met volunteers in each area.
Many of the world’s foremost singers, among them Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick, have received awards from the MONC, and approximately 100 former Met Competition auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions each season.
Structure of the Competition
The Florida District, like other Districts of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, will welcome approximately 25 singers per season, following a Qualifying Round during which singers submit their initial online applications to the Metropolitan Opera.
Winners of the Districts advance to their Region Finals (with Florida winners advancing to Atlanta’s Southeast Region), where they compete to win a trip to New York to participate in the National Semi-Finals, a competition held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
Approximately 9 to 12 of the Semi-Finalists are selected as National Finalists, and compete the following Sunday in a public concert, the Grand Finals Concert, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The judges award approximately 4 to 6 Winners prize awards of $20,000 each, and the concert is broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network. The remaining National Finalists also receive substantial prizes, and those singers who were Semi-Finalists, but did not advance to the National Finals, receive monetary awards as well.
Visit the Met Laffont Competition website at metopera.org/competition.