The Voice may be popular, but it is “pure TV theater,” Frank Graffeo says with a laugh. “That is not the way bona fide singing competitions work.”

How would he know? Though Frank’s full-time job is leading the Joy of Music School as executive director, he has rich experience in the vocal arts, having conducted hundreds of opera performances professionally. He serves as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council, a program that identifies and assists promising young singers.

Over the years, Frank has rated and ranked singers from coast to coast. But never in Knoxville, he notes, because the Met doesn’t allow people to judge singers in their home regions.

Frank recently visited Indianapolis, where he heard 18 opera singers vying for slots in the regional Met finals in Chicago early in 2018. Regional winners advance to the finals at the Met in New York in April.

The experience of judging is both fulfilling and exciting, says Frank. “It’s rewarding to see young singers advance and eventually perform at the Met.”

Frank describes the audition process as “highly specific, idiomatic, and detailed,” adding: “The difference between winners and runners up is very hard to distinguish for most ears.” The competitions in primetime TV on the other hand are, “Well, let’s just say they are designed to make the competition itself entertaining. Met auditions focus on the performers, and not the judges. We aim to put the entertainment on the Met stage well after the competition is over.”

 

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