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| Shannon Mercer won the $2,000 Brian Law Opera Scholarship in competition Saturday with three other area singers. |
Mercer, 24, was awarded the prize at Ottawa's Unitarian Church on Saturday after competing with three other area singers: baritone Luc Lalonde and sopranos Anick Lamarch and Isabelle Lacroix. The judges included mezzo Marcia Swanston, soprano Roxalana Roslak and baritone Mark Pedrotti.
Mercer, whose family lives in Manotick, studied at McGill University and spent a year at the University of Toronto's opera school. She is currently a member of the Canadian Opera Company's prestigious studio ensemble program, which nurtures young singers.
The Brian Law Scholarship was established by the National Capital Opera Society in 1991 to honour Law, the busy Ottawa conductor who left the city that year to continue his career in New Zealand.
The scholarship is presented every two years to assist young Ottawa-area singers in their studies.
Previous winners of the award have included mezzo Julie Nesrallah and soprano Mary Ann Swerdfeger.