Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Eric Ferring wins Sara Tucker Study Grant

April 10, 2018
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Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Eric Ferring was named a winner of a Sara Tucker Study Grant by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

This is the second consecutive year a Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist has won one of these prestigious grants. Mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven won one in 2017. This is also the second major award Mr. Ferring has won this season, coming on the heels of a Career Development Grant at the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation Singer Awards last November.

“This is another well-deserved feather in Eric’s increasingly-full cap,” said Pittsburgh Opera General Director Christopher Hahn. “We’re excited that the rest of the country is continuing to learn what a tremendous singer he is.”

As a second-year Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist, Mr. Ferring has been quite busy. After well-received roles in the classics Tosca and The Marriage of Figaro last fall, Mr. Ferring had two contemporary pieces this winter. He sang the role of soldier Ricky in The Long Walk before being the sole singer in the world premiere of Savage Winter (previously called Ashes & Snow). Of the latter, he was lauded by Pittsburgh in the Round for singing with “a vocal opulence that came as no surprise” and “a compelling sympathy and heart-rending understanding of the complex character.”

Most recently, Mr. Ferring sang the role of Flask in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick. Later this month, he will play the love-sick Nemorino in the student matinee of The Elixir of Love.

See photos and performance excerpts of Mr. Ferring on Pittsburgh Opera’s website, or on his personal website.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation annually bestows a variety of cash prizes to individual singers. Singers must be nominated for the awards; there is no application process. Nominations for all the categories are solicited from a wide universe of professionals in the US and abroad. Those invited to audition in New York City each spring sing for a panel of opera professionals and leaders in the opera world. The 2018 Auditions took place on April 3 and 4 at the 92Y in New York City. Sara Tucker Grants are supported by a generous grant from the Agnes Varis Trust.

Learn more about the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.