Polenzani gets third annual Sills Award

NEW YORK - Tenor Matthew Polenzani was selected Tuesday to receive the third annual Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera.

The award, for American singers from aged 25-to-40 who have appeared in featured solo roles with the Met, carries a $50,000 prize.

Baritone Nathan Gunn won in 2006 and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in 2007.

The 39-year-old Polenzani made his Met debut in 1997 and appears there next starting April 26 as Belmonte in Mozart's "Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio)." He received acclaim as David in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg" and Tamino in Mozart's "Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute)." He also has sung as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, The Royal Opera, the Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera.