THE MARIE KRAJA INTERNATIONAL SINGING COMPETITION

Robert Balonek, Baritone  Hailing from Rochester NY, Robert always had a love for music.
Robert went to SUNY Purchase College in Westchester where he started training with his first teacher, Jacque Trussel. During this time he performed The title roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Gianni Schicchi.

He also performed Ottone in Poppea, both Ferdinand and Prospero in the NY Premiere of Lee Hoiby's The Tempest, as well as the world Premiere of Raphaël Lucas' Confession.

Elizabeth Baldwin, Soprano has studied at the Boston University Opera Institute and holds a Masters of Music degree in Vocal and Opera Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, where she studied with Metropolitan Opera stars Carol Vaness and Timothy R. Noble. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Some of the major roles Ms. Baldwin has performed include:  Micaëla (Carmen); Countess (Le nozze di Figaro); Arabella (Arabella); La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi); Mrs. Webb (Our Town); among others.  She is currently preparing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at Kentucky Opera.

On the concert stage, Ms. Baldwin performed the soprano solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Boston’s Symphony Hall and was the only vocalist in Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood On Parade 2010 concert where she sang selections from John Williams’ Seven For Luck with orchestra, in front of an audience of 15,000 people

Ms. Baldwin has participated in several opera programs including the San Francisco Merola Opera Program (2012), Chautauqua Opera Studio Artist Program (2006), and Virginia Opera Emerging Resident Artist Program (2009-2010 & 2011-2012). She participated in the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s “The Song Continues…2009” with Maestro James Levine at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Ms. Baldwin was a 2012 Semi-Finalist in New York’s Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions competition, as well as a 2011 Grand Prize winner in The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation competition. She won First Place in both the National Orpheus Vocal Competition (2011) and The Heida Hermanns International Voice Competition (2010), among others.

José Rubio, Baritone  Internationally acclaimed Baritone performs at major and regional venues across the country.  He recently made his Carnegie Hall Recital Debut and The Opera Insider proclaimed that the "...recital was nothing short of stellar." describing the performance as "...an hour of intensely passionate singing and playing.  It could have gone on forever without complaint." 

Mr. Rubio's recent engagements include Cincinnati Opera, to reprise his roles of the Priest and 3rd Cardinal in Galileo Galilei, Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte for Tacoma Opera, Bob and Ben in The Old Maid and the Thief, and The Telephone with Brava!

Opera Theater, Marcello in La Bohème and Le Mari in the US premiere of the Benjamin Britten adaptation of Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias with Vespertine Opera, and a return to Portland Opera for the West Coast Premiere of Galileo Galilei, by Philip Glass.  He made his New York City operatic debut to great acclaim in Angel of the Amazon by Evan Mack,  a world premiere production with Encompass New Opera Theatre; and he can be heard on Albany Records' recording of the Encompass Opera premiere.  

In the summer of 2011, he performed the title role of Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Music Academy of the West, and Mr. Rubio was selected as runner up  in the prestigious Marilyn Horne Song Competition.  In 2010 he completed a 2-year engagement as a Studio Artist with the Portland Opera where he performed and covered over twelve roles for the mainstage, including: Schaunard in La Bohème, Sam in Trouble in Tahitti, Mercurio in La Calisto, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Marullo in Rigoletto, Barone Douphol in La Traviata, and Tancredi in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.  His other leading credits include; Marcello in La Bohème, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dr. Rappaccini in La Hija de Rappaccini, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

He received his Artist Diploma and Master’s degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and holds a Bachelor’s from the University of Washington.