ELLEN CHICKERING YOUNG ARTIST AWARD

On April 19, 2020, Opera Maine lost Ellen Chickering, one of our most vital supporters and beloved friends. A voice teacher and longtime head of the opera program at the University of Southern Maine, Ellen led the Opera Maine Young Artist Program with much panache and success in 1996 and 1997, and again from 2002 to 2010. The last Opera Maine project that Ellen worked on was directing our commissioned opera, Girl in Six Beats in 2018. Ellen was also a valuable member of Opera Maine’s Advisory Council.

Opera Maine honors Ellen’s memory and dedication to Opera Maine with the Ellen Chickering Young Artist Award. This annual award recognizes a singer who performs with Opera Maine and who is on a trajectory to become a professional opera performer. Recipients have performed as Education Outreach Young Artists and as members of the chorus, covered mainstage roles, taken part in special master classes, and given special concerts.

2025 ELLEN CHICKERING YOUNG ARTIST:
Jared Vigue

Jared Vigue is a tenor classical voice student at the Osher School of Music, where he studies with Professor Scott Wheatley and Mary Letellier. He has performed several roles in Osher Opera Theater productions, including Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Candide in Bernstein’s Candide, Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Alfred in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Jared has sung in the chorus for professional productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Aida, La Bohème and La Fille du Régiment. Recently, he made his professional debut singing the role of Chief (Almaviva) in Opera in the Pines adaptation of The Barber of Seville. In 2018 he sang in Opera Maine’s Studio Artist Masterclass with Ron Raines, and in 2024 was a Studio Artist with the Opera Company of Middlebury. A recipient of the 2024 Nordica Scholarship Award, also winning the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition in his division. Vigue was also selected as an Honors Recital performer for the Osher School of Music in 2024 and 2025, and in 2024 he was one of the winners of the OSOM Concerto and Aria Competition. This summer he will perform the role of Bastien in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne with Modern Vintage Opera in Connecticut, and will also be a soloist at the White Mountain Musical Arts Bach Festival in North Conway, NH.

PAST RECIPIENTS:

2024 – Mia Love

2023 – Daniel Laverriere

2022 – Jonas Rimkunas

2021 – Aaren Rivard

Opera Maine Education Outreach Young Artists present in school programs throughout Maine led by Opera Maine Teaching Artist, Dr. Malinda Haslett.