UAB Music alumnus Chris Farley with Associate Professor of Voice Won Cho, DMA, after a competition. Chris Farley, a University of Alabama at Birmingham music graduate, has been awarded a full scholarship to the Mannes School of Music at the New School in New York City.
Farley will pursue his Master of Music degree in voice performance. He graduated from UAB in December 2018, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music. He studied with Associate Professor of Voice Won Cho, DMA.
“He will receive a full tuition and fee scholarship of more than $48,000 per year,” Cho said. Farley had offers from other schools; “but in the end, he decided to head to New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a professional opera singer,” Cho said.
His recent achievements as a performer have been stellar, which explains this amazing news, Cho says. Farley was awarded the Encouragement Award at District Round of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Memphis, Tennessee; an Honorable Mention at the 2018 John Alexander National Vocal Competition hosted by the Mississippi Opera; first prize at Alabama National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Audition (Senior College Men Category) in February 2018; and first prize at the 2018 Birmingham Music Club Guild Scholarship Competition.
Farley says he could not be more excited about this new chapter in his life.
“I know without a doubt that none of this would be possible without Dr. Won Cho, who put his heart and soul into teaching me and giving me counsel,” Farley said. “I cannot say thank you enough to him and the rest of the incredible faculty and network of people who have supported me in this time.”
Farley’s roles include Sciarrone in Opera Birmingham’s “Tosca” in March; Frère Jean (his opera debut) in Opera Birmingham’s “Roméo et Juliette” in March 2018; Doc in “West Side Story” with the University of Alabama Opera Theatre this year; and Horace Tabor in “Ballad of Baby Doe” with The Harrower Opera Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia, in summer 2018. He made his professional oratorio solo debut with The Huntsville Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s C Minor Mass in February. This summer, he will perform as the Count in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” at The Harrower Opera Workshop in Atlanta.
Established in 1916, the Mannes School of Music has an amazing faculty whose awards include Pulitzers, Grammys, a MacArthur Genius, a Guggenheim and an Avery Fisher Prize.