Try your hand at opera trivia

Question:

Which Chicago native, who is making their Lyric Opera debut this season, won Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition and The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the same year (2012)?

Hint: The artist also debuted in the role they are performing at Lyric this season at The Metropolitan Opera in 2012.

Answer:

Soprano Janai Brugger.

Janai makes her Lyric Opera debut this season as Liù in Turandot, which runs December 5, 2017 through January 27, 2018. Lyric audiences were treated to a sneak peek of her Liù this September when she performed “Tu, che di gel sei cinta” at the Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park concert. Considered one of opera’s rising stars, Ms. Brugger, a Chicago native, is a former winner of Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition and of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, both in 2012. The same year, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Liù in Turandot. She is also a recipient of the 2016 Marian Anderson Vocal Award. Recent operatic highlights include the role of Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Helena (The Enchanted Island) at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. She is also known for her Micaëla (Carmen), High Priestess (Aida), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Musetta (La bohème), to name a few!

Ms. Brugger appears frequently in concert and in recital. She has performed at the Peter Dvorský Festival in the Czech Republic, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Conlon, at Ravinia Festival with Chicago Symphony Orchestra as First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), and at Grant Park Music Festival’s Fourth of July open air concert for an audience of 10,000 people.

Ms. Brugger received a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with the late Shirley Verrett, and earned a Bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, where she studied with Elsa Charlston. In 2010, Ms. Brugger participated in The Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera and went on to become a Young Artist at Los Angeles Opera for two seasons.