Sadie Cheslak '17 was named as one of five winners in the 2025  .

Chosen from 10 finalists, the five winners were selected after each singer performed two arias. Each winner received a $20,000 prize.

Cheslak, a mezzo-soprano, said winning the prestigious honor was "an out-of-body experience."

"Now I can genuinely consider the possibility of working on that stage in the future," she said. "It's a complete reframing of my potential opera future, and it's the best gift I could have ever received."

When she came to Å·ÃÀÊÓƵ, Cheslak was new to voice lessons. She took her lessons with Dr. Holly Janz, professor of voice and diction, and Stephen Sulich, collaborative pianist/artist-in-residence. Cheslak said the two of them were the best things about her Cobber experience.

"Concordia gave me my first teacher and coach who I felt saw me," she said. "Dr. Holly Janz and Stephen Sulich pushed me before I could even grasp what I had to offer musically to the world. I’m forever grateful to Concordia for providing me with these educators for four years, and forever grateful to those two for building in me a sense of who I am as an artist and what I offer the world. I lean on that foundation every time I sing."

Janz spoke just as highly of Cheslak.

"It was rewarding to work with her because one could hear the potential in her voice, but there was a lot of room for development," Janz said. "It is exciting to hear where she is now and to recognize that she possesses not only a beautiful voice (her low register is especially gorgeous!) but also the charisma and dramatic instincts to bring characters to life. All of us at Concordia are very proud of her!”

Cheslak earned her Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Concordia and her master’s degree in voice performance and literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While studying at Concordia, she sang for the .

She has won numerous awards since.

Of the experience at , Cheslak said, "It means the world to me because I’ve been really working for this for over a decade now. I’ve joked casually in years past, saying things to fellow singer friends like, 'haha see you at the Met!,' and now I’ve been there … and not only was I there, I won."

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Alumna wins prizes, ‘most promising’ award at national singing competition

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^{Sadie Cheslak '17}