John Malveaux: 'Soprano Latonia Moore turned down Met's training program'

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com quotes an article by Robert Baxter on soprano Latonia Moore which appeared in Opera News in January 2004:

Latonia Moore is poised to claim her place on international stages, and when she does, the opera world will discover what Philadelphia already knows. 

After winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions three years ago, Moore turned down an invitation to join the Met's training program and opted to enroll at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. For Moore, the decision came down to a choice between "observing" and "experiencing." "If you're going to make a career as a principal," she explains, "you've got to perform leading roles."

At AVA, Moore has covered the soprano spectrum. Her luscious lyric soprano, dramatic temperament and natural grace have left a bold imprint on Mimi, Marguerite and the title role in Lucrezia Borgia, but some wondered how Moore would fare outside AVA's intimate theater. That question was answered last winter when she made her debut in Cosi Fan Tutte with Opera Company of Philadelphia. Moore dominated the big stage of the Academy of Music with her saucy, pert and knowing Despina.

Born under the sign of Cancer, Moore calls herself "unpredictable and moody" and says she likes "unexpected changes, out of nowhere." She got that as a jazz major at the University of North Texas, when a teacher advised her to sing in the chorus of Pagliacci. She switched to opera and quickly found herself singing Suor Angelica and Santuzza.

Puccini is providing Moore's international calling card. Winning a competition in Dresden last year earned her a debut as Mimi at the Semperoper in March. Moore also was offered Cio-Cio-San there in 2005 but decided to postpone that arduous role for a couple of years. "I want to be ready when I sing Butterfly," notes the native of Houston, who recently claimed the audience prize at Vienna's Belvedere Competition with a melting performance of Fidelia's "Addio, addio, mio dolce ardor!" from Puccini's Edgar. This month, she stars as Fidelia in concert performances at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

Latonia--"Think of lasagna when you pronounce my name"--doesn't attend many performances, because too often she misses "the linked energy" she felt between her colleagues in AVA's recent Faust. She complains of "cookie-cutter, carbon-copy voices" and adds, "1 want passion, anima, heart. I don't want to be sung at. I want to be drawn into the emotions and feel the passions. This generation is going to have to show their stuff, or the future is going to be pretty grim."

Source Citation 

Baxter, Robert. "Sound bites." Opera News Jan. 2004: 12+. Fine Arts and Music Collection. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.