Singers' Club of Cleveland Awards Scholarship to CIM Baritone

Baritone Armando Contreras, a Phoenix, AZ native and student at CIM, has won an Albert Rees Davis Scholarship in the S. Livingston Mather Scholarship Competition sponsored by The Singers’ Club of Cleveland. A student of Vinson Cole at CIM, Contreras most recently performed as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Mr. Contreras has won several other prestigious competitions in 2013, and in 2012 was the George L. Hackett scholarship winner in the Mather competition. He has performed in several operatic role at CIM and at the Aspen Music Festival.

Sixteen singers selected from twenty-six applicants competed on November 2, 2013 for four scholarships. The Mather Scholarship honors S. Livingston (Liv) Mather, an early member and long-time friend and benefactor of The Singers Club. The Mather Scholarship is funded by the S. Livingston Mather Charitable Trust. Three other scholarships, funded by the George L. Hackett Scholarship Endowment and the Albert Rees Davis Endowment Fund, Inc., were awarded at the competition.

Founded in 1892, The Singers' Club of Cleveland presents a repertoire of traditional men's choral music, bold commissioned works, and modern compositions. In addition, the Club broadens its repertoire by undertaking challenging pieces typically reserved for professional choruses. The Club's members are a cross section of Greater Cleveland representing varied ages, backgrounds, and avocations, all sharing a love for performing outstanding vocal music. The Singers' Club is led by its Music Director Melvin Unger, Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute of Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, OH.