March 24, 2026
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Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Shannon Crowley a Laffont Competition Grand Finals Winner
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Shannon Crowley, soprano |
Pittsburgh Opera is proud to share that Resident Artist Shannon Crowley is one of just six Grand Finals Winners of this year's Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. The finals were Sunday, March 22nd in Manhattan.
Ms. Crowley, a second year Resident Artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia, received Patricia Misslin Award. The Award carries a $20,000 cash prize in addition to several career-based opportunities and exposure.
The competition, per the Metropolitan Opera, is “designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers. Some of today’s greatest opera stars got their start in the competition, including Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Emily D'Angelo, Michael Fabiano, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ryan Speedo Green, Lisette Oropesa, Eric Owens, Nadine Sierra, and Christian Van Horn.”
Ms. Crowley, a soprano, advanced from the Pittsburgh District competition, to the Great Lakes Regionals, and to the national semi-finals before reaching the finals.
Ms. Crowley becomes the second Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist to be named a National Grand Finals Winner, and the sixth recent Resident Artist advance to at least the semi-finals. She joins Brian Vu (a Grand Finalist in 2016), Angel Romero (a Semi-Finalist in 2021), Daniel O’Hearn (a Grand Finalist in 2022), Emily Richter (2024 Grand Finals Winner), and Lauryn Davis (a Semi-Finalist in 2026).
Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist program is one of the country's leading training programs for young singers. Every year, exceptional singers from around the world are selected by audition from more than 800 applicants. Resident Artists advance their careers under the guidance of the opera world's leaders and innovators. While developing their vocal skills and expanding their repertoire, they study languages, diction, movement, and acting.
In addition to performing principal roles in two fully-staged productions, Resident Artists cover principal roles and perform comprimario roles in Pittsburgh Opera's mainstage productions each season. This season, as Bailey in the world premiere of Time to Act, Classical Voice North America said she “anchored the performance...Her exciting lyric soprano could bubble with glee or slice through emotional upheavals like a sword.” As Mary Johnson in Fellow Travelers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said she “distinguished herself with a light, flexible tone.” Ms. Crowley will sing the role of Nannetta in Falstaff at the Benedum Center in downtown Pittsburgh from April 28-May 3.
Ms. Crowley's residency is generously sponsored by Susan Campbell and Patrick Curry and The Bernadette G. Callery Endowed Fund for Resident Artists.
