Nicholas Brownlee Wins 2025 Richard Tucker Award, Career & Study Grant Recipients also Named

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Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
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Richard Tucker Music Foundation Announces
2025 Richard Tucker Award, 
Richard Tucker Career Grant and
Sara Tucker Study Grant Recipients

Nicholas Brownlee Named Recipient of 2025 Richard Tucker Award

2025 Richard Tucker Career Grant Recipients are
Meridian Prall, Nikola Printz, and Ricardo José Rivera

2025 Sara Tucker Study Grant Recipients are
Daniel Luis Espinal, Ben Reisinger, and Finn Sagal

www.RichardTucker.org

New York, NY (May 8, 2025) — The Richard Tucker Music Foundation today announces the recipients of its prestigious Richard Tucker Award, Richard Tucker Career Grant, and Sara Tucker Study Grant. 

Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone, has been named the winner of the 2025 Richard Tucker Award. The award comes with a $50,000 cash prize as well as the ongoing support of the Tucker family and foundation. It is hoped that the award acts as a well-timed catalyst to elevate the selected artist’s career to even greater heights. The Richard Tucker Award is selected by conferral, rather than audition. Brownlee is a previous recipient of a 2017 Richard Tucker Career Grant and a 2016 Sara Tucker Study Grant.

“The Tucker Foundation, and namely Richard Tucker, helped turn opera into a real, homegrown American thing. It makes me proud as an American how he helped change the way that American schooling became the best schooling for voice,” remarks Nicholas Brownlee.

“Going through the Sara Tucker Study Grant, the Richard Tucker Career Grant, and now the big Richard Tucker Award, it’s hard to put into words how much each one of those stages has progressed my career. To be added to the list of previous award winners who have championed American opera singers is incredibly overwhelming, but it’s the biggest ‘attaboy’ that you could ever have — as an artist, you never really know the effect you’re making. You go out on stage every night, you give everything that you have, but you wonder, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ And when you get an award like this, it says you’re on the right path and to keep going, that what you’re doing matters as it’s affecting and touching people. It makes me proud to carry the Tucker name.”

He concludes, “I also stand on the shoulders of every single educator and supporter of mine who saw talent in me when I didn’t see it in myself. Also, my wife, Jennifer, is my biggest supporter in the world. I am incredibly grateful.”

Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee has been described as “charismatic and charming” (New York Times) with a “commanding presence” and “rich tone” (Musical America). He is a first prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela prize at Operalia, and a grand prize winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Nicholas begins the 24/25 season with a return to the Bayerische Staatsoper for a new Tobias Kratzer production of Das Rheingold (Wotan) followed by a return to Oper Frankfurt for new productions of Macbeth (title role), Parsifal (Amfortas), and a revival of Aida (Amonasro). Additional performances include debuts with Opéra national de Paris for the new Calixto Bieito production of Das Rheingold (Wotan), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía for Der fliegende Holländer (Title Role), Oper Leipzig for Das Rheingold (Wotan), and a return to the Bayreuther Festspiele for Das Rheingold (Donner). On the concert stage, he debuts with the Cesis Art Festival in a concert performance of Parsifal (Amfortas) and Prague Philharmonia Orchestra for a mixed program with Emmanuel Villaume.

Past winners of the Richard Tucker Award include Clay Hilley, Angel Blue, Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Isabel Leonard, Lisette Oropesa, Matthew Polenzani, Nadine Sierra, and Deborah Voigt.

Meridian Prall, mezzo-soprano, Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano, and Ricardo José Rivera, baritone, have been selected recipients of the 2025 Richard Tucker Career Grant. Recipients receive unrestricted grants of $10,000 each.

Past Career Grant recipients include Anthony Léon, Luke Sutliff, Elena Villalón, Leah Hawkins, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Sean Michael Plumb, Benjamin Bliss, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, Samantha Hankey, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Quinn Kelsey, Will Liverman, Erin Morley, Susanna Phillips, and Rachel Willis-Sørensen.

Daniel Luis Espinal, tenor, Ben Reisinger, tenor, and Finn Sagal, baritone, have been selected recipients of the 2025 Sara Tucker Study Grant. Recipients receive unrestricted grants of $5,000 each. Study Grant recipients typically are in the transition from student to professional singer, and should have recently completed a graduate degree program or work in a young artist or Apprentice program at a regional company.

Past Study Grant Recipients include Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha, Kathleen O’Mara, Emily Sierra, Katerina Burton, Blake Denson, Stefan Egerstrom, Jonah Hoskins, Brittany Logan, Luke Sutliff, Elena Villalón, John Holiday, Laquita Mitchell, Amanda Majeski, Miles Mykkanen, and Andrew Stenson.

Singers (U.S.-born or naturalized citizens by age 18) were invited to audition for Career and Study Grants via nomination; there is no application process. Study and Career Grant nominees auditioned at the 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Hall on May 5 and 6, 2025, respectively. The auditions, which take place annually in New York City, were free and open to the public.

2025 audition panelists included representatives of the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, and the Bayerisches Staatsoper, Munich.

About the Richard Tucker Music Foundation
After Richard Tucker’s untimely death in 1975, his duo partner and friend Robert Merrill worked with the Tucker family to organize a gathering of opera legends, including Martina Arroyo and Roberta Peters, to take place on what would have been the duo’s next date at Carnegie Hall. The Richard Tucker Music Foundation was formed later that year, and the concert became an annual tradition, raising funds to support young American opera singers and keep the beloved tenor’s memory alive. For more than four decades, the foundation’s annual concert has brought together some of opera’s most illustrious stars, including Leonard Bernstein, Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, and Joan Sutherland.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great Brooklyn-born tenor by nurturing the careers of talented young American opera singers. Through awards, grants for study, performance opportunities, and other activities, the foundation provides professional development for singers at various stages of their careers. It also offers free performances in the New York metropolitan area and supports music education enrichment programs. Each year, the foundation confers its most prestigious prize, the Richard Tucker Award (often referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera”), on an artist poised at the edge of a major international career.

About Nicholas Brownlee
Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee is a first prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela prize at Operalia, and a grand prize winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Nicholas begins the 24/25 season with a return to the Bayerische Staatsoper for a new Tobias Kratzer production of Das Rheingold (Wotan) followed by a return to Oper Frankfurt for new productions of Macbeth (title role), Parsifal (Amfortas), and a revival of Aida (Amonasro). Additional performances include debuts with Opéra national de Paris for the new Calixto Bieito production of Das Rheingold (Wotan), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía for Der fliegende Holländer (Title Role), Oper Leipzig for Das Rheingold (Wotan), and a return to the Bayreuther Festspiele for Das Rheingold (Donner). On the concert stage, he debuts with the Cesis Art Festival in a concert performance of Parsifal (Amfortas) and Prague Philharmonia Orchestra for a mixed program with Emmanuel Villaume.

Last season he returned to the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt for a new production of Aida (Amonasro) and revivals of Salome (Jochanaan) and Carmen (Escamillo). Additional season highlights include debuts with Irish National Opera for Faust (Méphistophélès), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma for Salome (Jochanaan), Dutch National Opera for Fidelio (Don Pizarro), Bayreuther Festspiele for Das Rheingold (Donner), and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana for Ein deutsches Requiem. 

In 22/23, Nick returned to the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt for Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Hans Sachs) and Don Giovanni (Leporello). Additional season engagements included returns to The Dallas Opera for Das Rheingold (Wotan), Bayerische Staatsoper for Die Teufel von Loudun (Grandier) and Der Freischütz (Caspar), and The Santa Fe Opera for the title role in Der fliegende Holländer. At Oper Frankfurt Nicholas has been seen in Salome (Jochanaan), Oedipus Rex (Kreon), Die Frau ohne Schatten (Der Geisterbote), Fedora (De Siriex), Król Roger (title role), Rigoletto (Monterone), and Bluebeard’s Castle (title role). Additional engagements included debuts with Bayerische Staatsoper for La bohème (Colline), Wiener Staatsoper for Anna Bolena (Enrico) and La bohème (Colline), and returns to The Metropolitan Opera for La bohème (Colline), Opernhaus Zürich for Simone Boccanegra (Paolo), and The Santa Fe Opera for Tristan und Isolde (Kurwenal). He debuted at Opernhaus Zürich in a new production of Simon Boccanegra (Paolo) directed by Andreas Homoki and conducted by Fabio Luisi and returned to The Santa Fe Opera for new productions of Le nozze di Figaro (Figaro) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), both conducted by Harry Bicket. 

Mr. Brownlee returned to LA Opera for La bohème (Colline) followed by new productions of Faust (Mephistopheles), Don Giovanni (Leporello), and revivals of Der Freischütz (Caspar) and Les contes d’Hoffmann (Villains) at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Concert engagements included a US tour with Bel Canto Trio and Beethoven Mass in C and Choral Fantasy with Cincinnati Symphony. He made his Bard Summerscape debut in the American premiere of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane (Porter). Additional roles as a member of the ensemble at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe include Simon Boccanegra (Paolo), Anna Bolena (Enrico VIII), Alcina (Melisso), and Roméo et Juliette (Frère Laurent). He made his debut at The Metropolitan Opera in Salome (First Soldier) conducted by Johannes Debus. While a member of the Young Artist at LA Opera, he was been seen in Les pêcheurs de perles (Nourabad), Die Zauberflöte (Speaker), Madama Butterfly (Bonze) and Moby-Dick (Captain Gardiner), all conducted by James Conlon. Additional productions of La bohème (Colline) include LA Opera conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and Atlanta Opera. He debuted at Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon in Calixto Bieto’s production of Carmen (Escamillo). He was seen at The Santa Fe Opera in Salome (First Soldier) and in a new Stephen Wadsworth production of Fidelio (Don Fernando) conducted by Harry Bicket. 

Mr. Brownlee debuted with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Dvorák’s Te Deum conducted by Andres Orozco-Estrada and with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Kent Nagano. He made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut under Gustavo Dudamel in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and returned for performances of a new multimedia staging by Netia Jones of Chin’s Alice in Wonderland under Susanna Mälkki, which traveled to the Barbican in London with the BBC Symphony. Also with the LA Philharmonic, he was seen in Pelléas et Melisande (Doctor) with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. He sang Stravinsky’s Les Noces with the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

About Meridian Prall
Mezzo-soprano Meridian Prall is a 2024 Grand Finals Winner of The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and the recipient of the 2023 Rose Bampton Award from The Sullivan Foundation. In the 24-25 season, Meridian returned to the Atlanta Opera for Die Zauberflöte as the Dritte Dame and made her debut at Hudson Hall for R. B. Schlather’s new production of Giulio Cesare as Cornelia. On the concert stage, Meridian sang with Washington Concert Opera as Annio in La clemenza di Tito and returned to the Toledo Symphony as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Future seasons include Sister Mathilde in Les Dialogues des Carmelites at Dallas Opera, her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, and her return to the Santa Fe Opera. She is a graduate of the University of Toledo and University of Michigan and graduated in 2020.

About Nikola Printz
A member of the San Francisco Opera, where they have been participants in the Merola Opera Program and an Adler Fellow, mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz’s recent performances with the San Francisco Opera have included Mercedes in Carmen, New Ofglen in The Handmaid’s Tale, and covering Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde and The Waitress in Innocence, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, and in Dido and Aeneas with Opera San Jose. Upcoming San Francisco Opera engagements include Jade Boucher and covering Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking, and the Alte Stimme and covering Kundry in Parsifal. An accomplished aerialist, Printz has also developed and performed on spinning trapeze in both concert halls and cabaret clubs.

About Ricardo José Rivera
Puerto Rican baritone Ricardo José Rivera makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2025-26 season as Graf Dominik in Arabella and joins the company’s cast of I puritani. Other upcoming highlights include the title role in Verdi’s 1847 Macbeth with Teatro Nuovo, Ford in Falstaff with New National Theatre Tokyo, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Opera San Jose, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore with Sarasota Opera, and the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Utah Symphony. In the 2024-25 season, he has appeared with Opera Colorado as Conte di Luna, Washington Concert Opera as Miller in Luisa Miller, Sarasota Opera as Stankar in Stiffelio, Florida Grand Opera as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Pittsburgh Opera as Silvio in Pagliacci, and Opera San Jose as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. A former member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rivera is an Operalia semifinalist and recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant and the Luminarts Foundation Fellowship.

About Daniel Luis Espinal
Tenor Daniel Luis Espinal, currently in his first year with the Ryan Opera Center of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, recently graduated from the Yale School of Music and is an alumnus of the Manhattan School of Music. Daniel was a winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and the art song prize winner of the 2023 Duncan Williams Voice Competition. A native of Sarasota, Florida, he is an alumnus of the San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program and will attend the Académie d’Aix-en-Provence this summer. Previous roles include recently covering Rodolfo in La bohème, Jaquino in Fidelio, and Borsa in Rigoletto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent roles include Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.

About Ben Reisinger
Tenor Ben Reisinger from Rochester, New York is currently in his first year in the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. In the upcoming 2025-2026 season, Ben will make his Metropolitan Opera debut in the Holiday Version of The Magic Flute as the 1st Armoured Guard as well as perform the roles of the Young Sailor in Tristan und Isolde and Gastone in La traviata. Ben will also cover the Duke in Rigoletto with San Francisco Opera and make his Opera Colorado debut and role debut performing Alfredo in La traviata. Ben has previously covered roles at the Metropolitan Opera including Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded as the Seatwarmer and the First Prisoner in Fidelio. He was awarded the Top Prize from the Premiere Opera Foundation and a 2024 Career Grant from the Sullivan Foundation, among others. In 2020 and 2021, he was the winner of the Michigan District and recipient of the Great Lakes Region Encouragement Award in the Met’s Laffont Competition. An alumnus of the Martina Arroyo Foundation's Prelude to Performance program and Detroit Opera’s Resident Artist Program, he holds degrees in voice from Nazareth College and Michigan State University.

About Finn Sagal
A first-year member of the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago, baritone Finn Sagal from La Cañada Flintridge, California, has performed at Lincoln Center, 54 Below, and the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas with such luminaries as Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, and Kristin Chenoweth. Sagal participated in the San Francisco Opera’s 2023 Merola Opera Program and, in 2022, the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS Program. He recently received a master's degree at the Yale School of Music, where he performed the roles of Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, the Tutor in Le Comte Ory, and Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress. He holds an undergraduate degree in vocal performance from UCLA where he appeared as Pluton in Charpentier's La descente d'Orpheìe aux enfers and sang the title role in Le nozze di Figaro. Among his awards, Finn was the winner of the 2017 Songbook Academy Competition and the third place prize at the 2024 Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition.

Photo of Nicholas Brownlee by Fay Fox

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