Katie Trigg and Juliette Tacchino Win Top Prizes at International Vocal Competitions

Congratulations to Curtis opera students, mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg, winner of the 2024 Lexus Song Quest, and soprano Juliette Tacchino, winner of the special jury award at the inaugural Sumi Jo International Singing Competition. Ms. Trigg, a native of Hamilton, New Zealand, entered Curtis in 2022 and studies in the opera program with Julia Faulkner as the Mitchell Family Fellow. As winner of Aotearoa’s (New Zealand) prestigious opera competition, in association with the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, she was awarded a prize of $50,000 for professional development alongside recent current alumnus and finalist Morgan-Andrew King (Opera ’24), who received a cash prize of $3,500.

GRAMMY Award-winning lyric coloratura soprano Sumi Jo, head judge of the Lexus Song Quest competition, also held her first International Singing Competition at the Château de La Ferté-Imbault in France this summer, in which Ms. Tacchino won the jury award out of 24 young opera singers who were selected to compete. The young soprano from Nice, France, entered Curtis in 2022 and studies in the opera program with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell as the Lelia A. Wike Fellow. Both artists will be featured in Curtis Opera Theatre productions throughout the school’s historic 100th anniversary season, Great to Groundbreaking. 

Read more about the 2024 Lexus Song Quest and watch the final gala livestream HERE. Learn more about the Sumi Jo International Singing Competition. 

Visit the official websites of Katie Trigg and Juliette Tacchino.

Portraits of Katie Trigg and Juliette Tacchino by Nichole MCH Photography. 2024 Lexus Song Quest winner Katie Trigg with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and international head judge Sumi Jo; photo by Hagen Hopkins. Photo of Juliette Tacchino with Sumi Jo, jury president Olivier O. Medinger, and semi-finalist Marie Lombard, courtesy of Ms. Tacchino’s Facebook page.