Winners: CONDUCTORS (opera division), 2021

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, chief judge, is honored to announce the winners and runners-up of The American Prize in Conducting, 2021, in the opera division. Congratulations!

Complete listings of finalists and semi-finalists in The American Prize competitions may be found elsewhere on this blog. Please use the chronological tool in the right-hand column to find specific results.

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The American Prize in Conducting—opera division, 2021

The American Prize winner:

Ho-Yin Kwok  

University of Minnesota  

Minneapolis   MN     

La Tragedie de Carmen / La Boheme

Ho-Yin Kwok

Described by Classical Voice of North Carolina (CVNC) as an “impressive conductor…outstanding in his attention to detail and his command of the big picture”, Hong Kong-born conductor Ho-Yin Kwok is the winner of 2017-2018 Vincent C. LaGuardia, Jr. Conducting Competition. He cocurrently serves as artistic director and conductor of the Mississippi Valley Orchestra in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, assistant conductor of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and director of the Duluth Superior Youth Symphony, and visiting director of orchestra at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Previously, Ho-Yin served as visiting director of orchestra at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a DMA candidate at the University of Minnesota. Ho-Yin has previously studied with Gerard Schwarz, Cristian Măcelaru and Colin Metters. Ho-Yin obtained a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa. His principal conducting teachers are Mark Russell Smith and William LaRue Jones.   

2nd Place:

Paul Mauffray    

Hungarian State Opera

Cluj-Napoca   Romania

Bluebeard’s Castle

Paul Mauffray

Paul Mauffray made 2019 conducting debuts in New York and Argentina, and in 2018 led the New Orleans Opera / Louisiana Philharmonic in Chadwick's opera “Tabasco” which he reconstructed from the 1894 manuscript. He has conducted Janacek and Dvorak at the Mariinsky Theatre in Russia and recorded excerpts from “The Scarlet Letter” with the Brno Philharmonic.  He conducted at the Bucharest National Opera, Slovak National Opera, Schleswig-Holstein Landestheater, Opéra Louisiane, and Mobile Opera.  Mauffray won 2nd Prize in the Bartok International Opera Conducting Competition and has 20 years conducting experience with European orchestras and operas in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Lyon, Salzburg, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. After studies in Germany and the Czech Republic, he earned his master's degree in conducting at Indiana University. He works frequently with Czech orchestras, in Hainburg and at Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna, and has often performed as conductor with soloists from the Vienna Philharmonic. 

3rd Place: 

Michael Moore 

Bob Jones University     

Greenville    SC     

Cosi fan Tutte 

Michael Moore

Dr. Michael W. Moore is Professor and Chair of the Division of Music at Bob Jones University where he conducts the University Symphony Orchestra. Moore’s conducting career includes Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Little Women: The Musical, Titanic: The Musical, Verdi’s Aïda (cover for conductor Steven White of The Metropolitan Opera) and Il Trovatore (cover), and Gounod’s Faust (cover) in addition to a wide range of symphonic, choral, and pops repertoire. He has served as clinician and adjudicator in various music festivals and camps throughout the US and in Germany and Switzerland, and has been recognized by both The American Prize and the National Opera Association. Moore holds degrees in music education and instrumental conducting from the University of South Carolina.

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Congratulations!

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, founder and chief judge, is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the musical and theater arts. The American Prize is nonprofit, unique in scope and structure, and is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, composers, conductors, ensembles and directors in the United States, at professional, college/university, community and school levels, based on submitted recordings. There is no live competition. 

Founded in 2010 and now celebrating its eleventh year, The American Prize has awarded nearly $100,000 in prizes in all categories since its creation. Thousands of artists representing all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of  The American Prize. 

The American Prize will accept applications for the 2021-22 contest season through September 14, 2021 or with extension request.  www.theamericanprize.org