A Chicago-born soprano has been chosen to receive the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, presented each year to a U.S. opera singer at the threshold of a major international career.
Ailyn Perez, the first Hispanic honoree, receives a cash award of $30,000 . . .
Other previous recipients include Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt and David Daniels.
Barry Tucker, president of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, said in a statement that Perez sings “with incredible beauty and heart.”
Perez sang Countess Almaviva in the Ravinia Festival’s 2010 semi-staged production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”
-Chicago Sun Times