2025 Patricia Crump Vocal Competition winners
$5000 Grand Prize WInner
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LAURYN NELSON, 25 MEZZO-SOPRANO Making Milwaukee her home for the past two years, Mezzo-soprano Lauryn Nelson captivates audiences with her rich timbre and commanding stage presence. Recent accolades include winning the Illinois district of the 24/25 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and second place in the following regional round. Lauryn has also won NAO’s Legacy Award and the MCW’s Farwell Trust Award. As a Studio Artist with The Florentine Opera, Lauryn is excited to bring the role of Antonia’s Mother from Tales of Hoffmann to the stage this spring. Previous roles include Mercedes in Carmen, Pipetto in Viva la Mamma, Mrs.Nolan in The Medium, and Bradamante in Alcina. |
$2500 Encouragement Award
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LEXI SMITH, 23 SOPRANO Lexi Smith is a Soprano currently based in Milwaukee, WI, pursuing a Masters in Vocal Performance. She studies with Dr. Aaron Agulay in Voice, and Dr. Zachary Durlam in Conducting under an Assistantship at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Since moving to Milwaukee, she has been employed as a Community Outreach Educator, Conductor Vocal/Piano Coach, Cantor, and Chorister with several local companies and nonprofits in Milwaukee. Her latest 2025-2026 season includes: Le nozze di Figaro as La Contessa, Carmen & Don Giovanni chorus with the Florentine Opera, conducting Port Washington Summer Theatre’s Mary Poppins, competing in the Laffont District Competition, and Jennifer Rowley’s Aria Bootcamp. |
Finalists
MADISON BARRETT, 26
MEZZO-SOPRANO 
CHANDLER BENN, 25
BARITONE 
EMILY BERGERON, 25
MEZZO-SOPRANO 
ZACH FRANK, 32
BARITONE 
STEVE GROTH, 32
BARITONE |
Madison Barrett is a mezzo-soprano based in Madison, Wi. She was recently seen performing with companies including the Ohio Light Opera, the Middleton Community Orchestra, Four Seasons Theatre, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Middleton Players Theatre. Madison will join Madison Opera this year as their mezzo-soprano Resident Artist and perform as Allie in Everlasting Faint and cover Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte. Recent role credits include Desiree (A Little Night Music), Songbird (Songbird), Margaret (Light in the Piazza), Lady Jacqueline (Me and My Girl), and Ilene Cavanaugh (The Arcadians) among others. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance at the University of Wisconsin where she holds the prestigious Collins Fellowship. Madison is also an active educator and teaches voice at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Baritone, Chandler Benn joined The Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera for his first season in 2025-2026 where he will perform The Pilot in The Little Prince, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, and Devon in world premier The Mold and I. During the 2025 festival season Chandler appeared at Wolf Trap Opera in the role of The Jailor in Dialogues of the Carmelites, also covering Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, as well as both Morales and Dancaïro in Carmen. Chandler recently performed Joe Kavalier in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in the world premiere co-production between the Metropolitan Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Chandler attended UW-Stevens Point where he received a Bachelor of Music in Voice, as well as participating collegiately as a running back for 4 years on the football team. Originally from Bemidji, MN, Emily Bergeron is a mezzo-soprano based in Milwaukee, WI. She received her BA in Vocal Performance from Bemidji State University and her MM in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Some of her recent roles include La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), and Carmen (selections from Carmen). Emily has also recently been seen as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and has had the pleasure of performing Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the UWM Symphony Orchestra. Emily can be seen this season singing with the Florentine Opera Chorus and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. Born and raised in Wisconsin, baritone Zack Frank has been teaching and performing in the Houston area since completing their residency at Shreveport Opera. There, they starred in mainstage productions, including the roles of Marullo in Rigoletto, Escamillo in La Tragedie de Carmen, and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Most recently, Zack performed the role of Strephon in Iolanthe with the Houston’s oldest opera company: the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Zack’s musical interest began in the Kettle Moraine band program and grew into a love while studying voice at UW-Whitewater. Currently, Zack performs and teaches in the D.C. area, happy to finally live in a place with four seasons again.
Steve Groth, baritone, is a classical vocalist and collaborative pianist currently residing in the metro-Milwaukee area. This past year he has performed Marullo in Finger Lakes Opera's production of Rigoletto and with Sarasota Opera in their productions of Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Le nozze di Figaro. Recent performances with the Italian Montefeltro Festival include Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, and Taddeo in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algieri. He has recently sung the baritone solos in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Italy, Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff at SUNY Geneseo. He will be joining Cedar Rapids Opera in their production of Die Fledermaus as Frank in January. Steve received his Bachelor’s degrees from UW-Madison, teaches at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and hails from Hartland, Wisconsin.
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KAISA HERRMANN, 28
MEZZO-SOPRANO |
Wisconsin native Kaisa Herrmann is a mezzo-soprano based in the Milwaukee area. She received her MM in Vocal Performance at CU Boulder and her BFA from UW Milwaukee. Some operatic roles include Ruggiero (Alcina), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Judy (Night of the Living Opera), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Nerone (Agrippina), Arsamene (Serse), Euridice (L’Orfeo), Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), and the Fox (The Little Prince). Outside of performing, Kaisa is the Media Manager at Milwaukee Opera Theatre and cantors at the Basilica of St. Josaphat. |
JUSTIN KROLL, 35
TENOR |
Praised by the Miami Herald for his “penetrating tenor,” Justin Kroll holds the Doctor of Music Arts degree in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
having been seen recently on stage with Madison Opera and the Madison Symphony Orchestra, in addition to UW-Madison’s University Opera. Additionally, Justin has recently appeared with companies such as Painted Sky Opera, Tulsa Opera, Winter Opera St Louis, Landlocked Opera, Opera Idaho, Central City Opera, and the Southern Arizona Symphony. This December, Justin will make his debut with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Canterbury Voices as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. Justin is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Opera Workshop at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. |
MARISSA LAKE, 25
SOPRANO |
Soprano Marissa Lake, born and raised in Wilmot, Wisconsin, earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University, where she studied with John T. Gates, before completing her Master of Music at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montréal, Québec. She has served as a Professional Opera Fellow with the Kenosha Opera Festival (WI) and Stafford Opera Troupe (VA). Recent performance highlights include Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and the title role in Handel’s Semele. She looks forward to her upcoming role debut as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore with Lakeshore Light Opera. |
LAUREN PAUL, 29 MEZZO-SOPRANO |
Mezzo-soprano Lauren Paul, a native of Evansville, Wisconsin, is an emerging artist living in Omaha, Nebraska. As a studio artist at the 2024-2025 winter festival with Sarasota Opera, Lauren made her mainstage debut as Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. Upon her return to Omaha, she appeared on stage as Rita the Rat in Opera Omaha’s production of Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. During the 2025-2026 season, Lauren will be returning to Opera Omaha to perform as Mrs. McLean in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. Lauren holds a BM from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and a MM from the University of South Dakota.
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Yasuko Oura, pianist
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Pianist Yasuko Oura has been praised for her sensibility and passion for collaborating with others. She has maintained a busy schedule of performing concerts and working for various opera companies while keeping an active teaching schedule. She is currently a lecturer of collaborative piano at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music where she enjoys working with talented pianists as well as coaching chamber music. Also in demand as a vocal coach, she has been on the music staff for Des Moines Metro Opera for over eight seasons. She also regularly works for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater. She has played under many prominent conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Stephen Lord, and Jane Glover. Additionally, she was the principal production pianist and coach for Florentine Opera for seven years. Her other past affiliations include companies such as Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera, Toledo Opera, and AIMS in Graz, Austria. |