AuditionAires
Every season AuditionAir selects emerging artists, our AuditionAires, as grantees. For the 2025-26 season we are proud to partner with the Florida Grand Opera Studio Artists program. Meet this season’s grantees below.
Levi Adkins
Levi Adkins earned a masters degree in vocal performance at Georgia State University (Don Jose in Carmen, Canino in I Pagliacci, and the Stage Manager in Our Town). Once graduated Levi went on to the Gerdine Young Artist for Opera Theater St. Louis (Parpignol in La Boheme, cover for Uncle Percy in This House). Winner of the Georgia district competition for the 2025 Laffont Competition, an encouragement award at the South East Regionals for the Laffont. Recent tour with The Atlanta Opera’s Studio Tour (Tamino in The Magic Flute).
Alex Granito
Alex Granito is a baritone from Orange County, California. An Opera Colorado Artist in Residence from 2023-2025, Alex performed in many of their mainstage operas including La Bohème (Schaunard), Daughter of the Regiment (Corporal), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni, Cover/ Student Matinee), Samson et Dalila (Second Philistine), and Der fliegende Holländer (Ghost Chorus). Alex earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Vocal Performance at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Ingrid Kuribayashi
Bermuda-born soprano Ingrid Kuribayashi earned a master’s in voice with honors from
the Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi“ di Milano, Italy, (first place winner of the Premio del Conservatorio IX Edizione). Earning a specialist degree in voice performance at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance as well as a bachelor’s degree at Rutgers University (double major in French and Italian Language and Literature). Featured roles include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Despina in Così Fan Tutte. Kuribayashi won first place in NATS Great Lakes Region Upper Advanced division 2025 and Friends of Opera Competition, University of Michigan Graduate division 2024.
James A. Mancuso
James A. Mancuso is a Long Island based tenor and is a 2019 graduate of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. An Apprentice and Studio artist at Sarasota Opera from 2020-2023, he recently made his debut at Central City Opera as an Apprentice Artist, (Joe in La Fanciulla del West). Additional roles include The Bronx Opera’s production (Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Sarasota Opera’s Madama Butterfly (Yamadori-cover), Giuseppe Verdi’s Attila (Uldino -cover) and Rossini’s charming La Scala di Seta (Dormont).
Catherin Meza
Catherin Meza is a Miami native who holds both a Bachelor and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Florida International University. She has participated in masterclasses with acclaimed sopranos Patricia Racette and Amy Owens, and performed with The Wertheim Camerata at the Brunetti Festival in Spain (soloist and choir).Selected as a member of the Florida Grand Opera’s inaugural class of CANTO, she has portrayed leading roles including Savitri in Holst’s Savitri, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Estelle in Weisgall’s The
Stronger. Recently, she appeared in the premiere of the zarzuela La Ruta de Don Quijote in
Alicante, Spain, (Countess Trifaldi and the innkeeper’s daughter) and at the Vienna Summer Music Festival (Mimi in La Boheme).
Joseph O’Shea
Joseph O’Shea, baritone, is originally from Mobile, Alabama, where he received his BM
in Vocal Performance from the University of South Alabama. He has performed in a range of productions with the Mobile Opera, Pensacola Opera, Chickasaw Civic Theater, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, and earned a Masters in Music in Vocal Performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Resident bass singer (3 years) with the St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Basilica Choir, as well as performing with Opera Theater St. Louis (Figaro-cover- Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Cincinnati Opera (World Premiere of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio, he looks forward to performing his first Papageno in Mobile Opera’s 2026
production of The Magic Flute.
