Six young singers have been announced as winners of the 2026 edition of the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, following the Grand Finals Concert held on Sunday in New York.
The winners are sopranos Shannon Crowley, Elizabeth Hanje, Song Hee Lee, and Anna Thompson, alongside baritones Gabriel Natal-Báez and Robert Wente.
The final round featured ten singers performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the direction of Carlo Rizzi, in one of the most visible platforms for emerging opera talent in North America.
The competition, formerly known as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was recently renamed in recognition of a major gift from the Laffont family. Founded in 1954, it has long served as a key stepping stone for young singers at the start of their careers.
Over the decades, the programme has helped launch the careers of many leading artists, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Lawrence Brownlee, Nadine Sierra, and Lisette Oropesa, among others.
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