2025 Recipients

Published: March 10, 2025
Tenor Anthony León joined LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2022/23 season, making his company debut as Normanno in the season-opening production of Lucia di Lammermoor. In his two seasons with the program, he appeared in a number of supporting roles in mainstage productions: Spoletta in Tosca, Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, Roderigo in Otello and Villager 2 / Young Man in Gabriela Lena Frank's El último sueño de Frida y Diego. While still a member of the young artist program, he made his leading role debut as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in 2023. Additionally, he appeared in young artist performances as the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and as Pelleas in Impressions of Pelleas, and he performed Ramses in Henry Mollicone's Moses at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. His 2025 appearance as Ferrando in Così fan tutte marks his first return to LA Opera as a guest artist. He will return again in the spring of 2026 as Fenton in Falstaff.

"My first opera experience was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion when I was around four years old," said Anthony. "When I decided to become an opera singer, LA Opera was the beacon of inspiration that propelled me forward. Now, I consider it to be my artistic home and I feel like I'm working with friends and family when I am here. I am deeply grateful to Eva and Marc Stern for their efforts to change the world through philanthropy. Their belief in artists and the power of opera pushes the art form forward and encourages artists to be their best."

A native of Riverside, California, he was a 2023 winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and he received the first prize and zarzuela prize at Operalia in 2022. His most recent engagements include Nadir in The Pearl Fishers at Cologne Opera, the Consumer in the world premiere of Ellen Reid's The Shell Trial at the Dutch National Opera, Telemaco in The Return of Ulysses at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, several roles in L’enfant et les sortilèges at the Salzburg Festival, and concerts with the Prague Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. His future engagements include a debut with Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Nadir in The Pearl Fishers as well as debuts with the Teatro Regio di Torino, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glyndebourne Festival, Zürich Opera House, and many more.

Learn more about Anthony at AnthonyLeonTenor.com.

Published March 10, 2025
Soprano Erica Petrocelli was a member of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program from 2018 to 2020. She made her company debut in 2018 as Mrs. Naidoo in Satyagraha. While still a member of the young artist program, she performed two leading roles with the company: Musetta in La Bohème in 2019 and the title role in Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice in 2020. Additional LA Opera appearances during that time include Annina in La Traviata, the First Lady in The Magic Flute, and several roles in young artist performances of Stefano Landi's The Death of Orpheus. She has returned for guest appearances as the Shepherd in Tannhäuser, Clorinda in La Cenerentola and Donna Clara in Zemlinsky's The Dwarf. Currently appearing as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, she will return to LA Opera in November 2025 to reprise the role of Musetta.

"I cannot describe what an unbelievable honor this is," said Erica. "This company has been my home, and I am so grateful to the Sterns and to everyone here for their constant belief in me and their support of my career. Every single thing I've done here has been so special and it's wonderful to come back home to do what I love. To Marc and Eva, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. It means so much to us as artists to have your support."

Later this season, she will perform the title role in Madama Butterfly with the Colorado Springs Symphony and Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the San Antonio Symphony. This summer, she will debut at the Bard SummerScape Festival as Jitka in Bedřich Smetana’s Dalibor. Other future engagements include covering Micaëla in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera.

She has performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Sarasota Opera, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Micaëla in Carmen with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Delia in Il Viaggio a Reims with Opernhaus Zürich. Recent concert appearances include Mozart’s Requiem with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and at the Cincinnati May Festival, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Peoria Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Florida Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Aspen Music Festival and School, Fauré’s Requiem with the Mostly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and Puccini concerts with Sarasota Opera. She was a 2021 grand finalist in the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont Competition and a winner of the Sullivan Foundation Award.