Nine amazingly gifted young singers wowed a large, appreciative audience as they performed during the Season Finale Concert of the Vero Beach Opera’s 2025 Rising Stars Vocal Competition, held at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center.
The vocalists had each brought their ‘A’ game during the semifinal and final rounds earlier in the week and now, free from the pressure of the intense competition, they performed while awaiting the results that would come at the conclusion of the Friday evening concert.
The four jurists had studied every note, every nuance, every breath, every movement of the four sopranos, two mezzo sopranos, two bass-baritones and one tenor, before selecting the best of the best.
Roman Ortega-Cowan, VBO artistic advisor and jury president, explains that rather than holding an in-person preliminary competition, the jury “selects participants based on their already acquired experience in their career pursuits.”
Those selected then compete in the semifinals and finals in Vero Beach. Although 10 singers were initially chosen this year, one had to drop out due to illness. One even flew back to the United States from Paris to compete.
Each of the jurists, well prepared with what Ortega-Cowan describes as “years of performing, teaching experience, academic credentials and professional career paths,” were tasked with making some very challenging decisions.
Jurists included Ortega-Cowan, an operatic baritone; Gregory Buchalter, VBO music director, Metropolitan Opera assistant conductor, and music director/conductor for Varna International; Scott Guzielek, president/artistic director, Academy of Vocal Arts; and opera soprano Susan Neves, who is currently singing with Gulfshore Opera as Alisa in “Lucia di Lammermoor” but took time off from rehearsals to join the jury.
As a seasoned professional and renowned international soprano, Neves has experienced the same highs and lows as the young Rising Stars competitors. Neves began her association with Vero Beach Opera in 2007, when she performed a recital of arias at a local church. During that same period, she was performing throughout Italy, at the Metropolitan Opera, the Arena di Verona, the Edinburgh Festival and in Chile.
“I knew then that this was a company I would be happy to return to. VBO was smaller, but no less important to me, and in the ensuing years I returned for several concerts as well as ‘Il Tabarro’ and ‘The Barber of Seville,’” says Neves.
“There are few companies that treat singers so well and have such support from the community; not just financial, but through hard work as volunteers, providing housing in their homes, supporting singers emotionally when needed. The leadership of Joan [Ortega-Cowen] and Roman is unique. They treat singers as members of their own family, which makes the experience of getting to the stage such a happy journey,” she adds.
“Rising Stars brings together the best of young talent, and this year is no exception. There are several standouts who are certain to have major careers if they get the breaks they need. But every one of them has the capacity to succeed in this highly competitive profession,” says Neves.
Based on her own rich experience, her advice to young singers is to work, work and work.
“Voices grow over time, and vocal exercise is essential if one is to succeed. The voice must be exercised daily. The greatest singers I worked with throughout my career always did vocal exercises in addition to performing. The instrument must be maintained and kept in shape.
There is no time to coast. Careers are earned,” Neves explains.
Anna Fateeva, an exceptional pianist with the impressive ability to anticipate and precisely sync with each artist’s unique timing, accompanied the gifted young singers during the competition and the exciting awards concert.
The vocalists brought some of opera’s most beloved works to life, filling the auditorium with the gorgeous music of Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Handel, Rossini, Wagner, Bizet, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff and more, to robust applause and a multitude of “Bravos!” and “Bravas!”
The concert was followed by the eagerly awaited awards ceremony.
Encouragement Awards of $1,000 were presented to tenor Matthew Goodheart, in memory of Henri Lemoine; soprano Lauren Carroll, in memory of Sophia Blanchard; soprano Laura Elena Fernandez, in memory of Sophia Blanchard; bass-baritone Dylan Gregg, in memory of Sophia Blanchard; mezzo soprano Hannah Shea, from the Windsor Charitable Foundation; and soprano Tessa McQueen, from the Louis L. Lawson Legacy Fund.
The Kleinschmidt Family Foundation provided the top three awards.
The $3,000 third-place award went to soprano Alissa Goretsky, a Los Angeles native, and the second-place award of $5,000 went to Ben Strong, a bass-baritone from Pennsylvania.
Taking the 2025 Rising Stars Vocal Competition’s $10,000 first-place prize was Sadie Cheslak, a mezzo soprano from Duluth, Minn. For the Friday concert, Cheslak showcased her power, range, depth and dramatic skills in the role of Ulrica, a fortune teller accused of being a witch in Verdi’s opera “Un Ballo in Maschera,” about the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden.
The powerful mezzo has recently garnered the American-Scandinavian Foundation Birgit Nilsson Award as a winner in the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. There, while waiting to go on stage at the Met for the very first time, Cheslak recorded a charming little video.
Asked what advice she’d give herself as a younger singer, she replied, “I’d tell myself don’t rush the process. Sometimes your voice has to grow, develop, before it can do things you want it to do. Commit to your practice, just let your voice settle in on its own.”
She also shared what was going through her mind in that tense, exciting moment on the Met stage, saying that she was thrilled, honored, mind-blown and incredibly excited.
The 2026 VBO season includes Verdi’s “Rigoletto” on Jan. 11, a ‘Love Theme for Valentine’s Day’ Opera Showcase Concert on Feb. 14, Mozart’s “The Impresario” and Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” on March 29, and the 2026 Rising Stars Competition April 15-17.
For more information, visit VeroBeachOpera.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
