Utah State Alumna Chosen for the Metropolitan Opera

Fall Semester of 2003, after graduating from Utah State University in May, Tamara Mumford came to the attention of the Metropolitan Opera. She had just begun her graduate studies at Yale University, who recruited her after hearing her sing at the 2001 MacAllister Competition.

 

Mumford was a sophomore competing against graduate students and young professional singers, and won the prize for all-around singer-performer. Not long after hearing her perform at Yale, the Met invited her to join its Lindemann Young Artists Development Program (LYADP), which nurtures the most talented young artists through training and performance opportunities

 

“We have lots of talented students, but Tamara worked harder than anybody else,” said Utah State music professor Cindy Dewey, who was Mumford's voice teacher. “She is a once-in-a-lifetime student.”

 

In April 2004, Mumford’s voice teacher from Yale recommended her for the LYADP and the Met invited her to an audition for “Cinderella.” She was one of two mezzos chosen to be groomed for a Met career – with paid lessons, as well as language, diction and acting classes.

 

Mumford and her husband Nathan headed to the East Coast in August, he to resume his predental studies at Southern Connecticut State University, and she to prove herself at the Met. Her sister, Mary-Jane, a soprano, began her freshman year at Utah State, under the tutelage of Dewey.