BYU opera students responded to their first invite to compete in the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition by sweeping the whole thing. They charmed the judges—including Pavarotti’s peer Kallen Esperian—and took first place in both the undergraduate and graduate divisions. When the students arrived at the competition in Memphis last January, they never expected to win it all. “Winning was like—it wasn’t the icing on the cake, it was a full sundae on top of the cake,” says coloratura soprano Katherine L. Henly (’13).

George W. Hnatiuk (’13) and Keri L. Costello (’14) performed a scene from Le nozze di Figaro. D. Ross Coughanour II (’13), Emily H. Workman (’13), Henly, Joseph A. Olson (BM ’09), Sarah J. Maxwell (’13), and Brandtley B. Henderson (’14) performed a scene from Cosí fan tutte.