Ryan Speedo Green receives Met's Beverly Sills Artist Award

Ryan Speedo Green photo credit: Fred Field

Bass baritone Ryan Speedo Green was named as a winner of the 2021 Beverly Sills Artist Award by the Metropolitan Opera. Given in honor of the famed American soprano, this annual award is given to artists of exceptional ability with rising operatic careers at the Met. The $50,000 prize is meant to provide financial support for professional expenses. This year, the award will be shared among four other exceptional artists Soprano Erin Morley, Soprano Brenda Rae, Counter-Tenor Anthony Roth Costanza, and Tenor Ben Bliss.

Ryan Speedo Green as Colline in La bohème at The Metropolitan Opera. Photo credit: Ken Howard/The Metropolitan Opera

“The mark Ms. Sills left on the musical community with her vocal talents is already remarkable by itself,” Green said. “But the personal impact she made by so openly sharing her personal story, and the inclusive spirit that she brought to the whole artform through her innovative approach is what makes me feel truly honored to have my name tied to hers.”

Previous winners of the Beverly Sills Artist Award include baritone Nathan Gunn (2006), mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato (2007), tenor Matthew Polenzani (2008), bass John Relyea (2009), soprano Susanna Phillips (2010), mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (2011), soprano Angela Meade (2012), tenor Bryan Hymel (2013), tenor Michael Fabiano (2014), baritone Quinn Kelsey (2015), soprano Ailyn Pérez (2016), mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton (2017), and soprano Nadine Sierra (2018).