Sophomore wins Bach Festival vocal competition
May 4, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- Kristin Dethlefsen, a soprano and second-year vocal performance major from Okemos, Mich., has won the 2001 Bach Festival Young Vocalist Competition.
Dethlefsen will receive her first-place prize of $300 during a recital on Sunday, May 13, in which she and the four other competition winners will be featured. The free recital will be held in Stetson Chapel on the campus of Kalamazoo College and begins at 7 p.m. A reception to meet the vocalists follows.
The April 21 vocal competition was held at the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo. Dethlefsen was among 12 semi-finalists selected from a blind tape screening who were invited to the live-performance competition. Competition judges were Diane Penning of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Barbara Wiltsie of Detroit.
WMU junior Leah Krznarich of Hancock, Mich., earned honorable mention in the competition Krznarich is a vocal performance major and member of the Lee Honors College. She will also be featured at the May 13 recital.
Other competition winners were Mary Stefanac, second place; Zach Mondrow, third place; and Rachel Aubrey Steel, honorable mention. Stefanac and Mondrow are students at Kalamazoo College. Steel is a mezzo-soprano and senior at Kalamazoo Central High School and the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center.
Media contact: Kevin West, 616 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu