Filipino-Chinese mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa won the $10,000 first prize at the 2026 Washington International Competition for Voice, adding to earlier recognition as a 2025 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition winner. – Photo source : Michelle Mariposa official website
The Quezon City-born opera artist, already a Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition winner, received the $10,000 first prize at the Washington International Competition for Voice
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Filipino-Chinese mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa has won first prize at the 2026 Washington International Competition for Voice, adding another U.S. classical music honor to an emerging opera career already marked by national recognition.
The Friday Morning Music Club Foundation, which presents the Washington International Competition, announced Mariposa as the recipient of the $10,000 first prize, awarded in honor of Thomas Beveridge. The foundation listed her as a mezzo-soprano representing the Philippines.
The competition’s second prize went to Carolina Sullivan, a soprano from the United States, while third prize went to Minki Hong, a baritone from South Korea. Audience prizes were awarded to Sullivan and Lauryn Davis, also a soprano from the United States.
The 2026 voice competition was held May 23 and 24, with semifinals at George Washington University and the finals and awards ceremony at George Mason University’s Harris Theatre in Fairfax, Virginia. The foundation said 16 singers ages 18 to 32 were selected through a preliminary process to compete before a jury that included Tony Arnold, Nicholas Phan and Karen Slack.
Mariposa’s Washington win follows her selection earlier this year as one of five winners of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, one of the most closely watched young-artist contests in American opera. The Metropolitan Opera listed her as a 30-year-old mezzo-soprano from Quezon City, Philippines, representing the Middle Atlantic Region. She received the Faith P. Geier Award in that competition.
Mariposa is a Cafritz Young Artist with the Washington National Opera, according to her official biography and the Metropolitan Opera’s finalist profile. Her biography states that she completed a master’s degree in voice and opera performance at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in voice and psychology at the University of the Philippines, both summa cum laude.
Her official biography identifies her as a Filipino-Chinese mezzo-soprano and lists upcoming engagements with Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera and the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
