‘Heisman Trophy of Opera’ Awarded to Mezzo-Soprano Isabel Leonard

The 2013 Richard Tucker award, which is often referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of opera,” was recently awarded to New York mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. Each year the nonprofit Richard Tucker Music Foundation awards the prize — plus $30,000 — to “an American singer poised on the edge of a major national and international career,” reports the Associated Press.

Leonard, 31, has appeared at opera houses in Chicago, Santa Fe, Vienna, Munich and Paris and performed with the Chicago and Boston symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. She will be honored at the foundation’s annual gala concert on Nov. 17 at Lincoln Center.