Artistic luminaries such as Megan Hilty, Jessye Norman, and Shirley MacLaine are among the hundreds of artists who have been helped by The National Society of Arts and Letters in the early stages of their careers.

Soprano, Michaela Wolz, was the first place winner of the St. Louis chapter’s DLS competition. She gained place in the semi-finals of the Met went all the way to the finals, and then was one of 5 winners —an award of $7,500 . Michaela is currently singing with the StLouis opera as Cherubino in Marriage of Figaro.

Flutist Hae Jee (Ashley) Cho served as principal flute of the New York String Orchestral Seminar in both 2014 and 2015, performing at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree as five year accelerated student at The Juilliard School, studying with Carol Wincenc. She attended The Juilliard School Precollege Division from 2008-14 as a student of Bart Feller.

Florida tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro is currently a Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist at Arizona Opera. In their 2017-2018 season, he appeared as Theseus in Patrick Morganelli’s Hercules vs. Vampires. Spoletta in Tosca, The Governor and Vanderdendur in Candide, and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Ciaramitaro joins Santa Fe Opera in 2018 as a member of the company’s coveted Apprentice Program, covering Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri.

The National Society of Arts and Letters has awarded over $80,000 for Music, Art, Voice and Literature to outstanding young performers in the National Annual Music: Woodwinds Competition, the Winston Visual Art and Classical Voice Scholarships, the CalArts Award, the NSAL/ School of the Arts Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Visual Art Scholarships and the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio Scholarships. Awards were made at the Annual Meeting in Chautauqua, New York, May 21-27, 2018.

The National Society of Arts and Letters has awarded over $70,000 for Classical Ballet, Visual Art, Classical Voice, and Literature to outstanding young performers in the National Classical Ballet Competition, the Winston Visual Art and Classical Voice Scholarships, the CalArts Award, the NSAL/School of the Art Institute of Chicago Scholarships and the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio.

The National Society of Arts and Letters awarded over $50,000 for Musical Theater, Drama, Art, Voice, and Literature to outstanding young performers in the National Musical Theater Competition, the Winston Visual Art and Voice Competitions, the CalArts Award, and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. Awards were made at the Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, May 17-22, 2016.

The National Society of Arts and Letters awarded over $50,000 for Drama, Art, Voice, and Literature to outstanding young performers in the National Drama Competition, the Winston Visual Art and Voice Competitions, the CalArts Award, and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. Awards were made at the Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, May 26-30, 2015.

In May 2014, the National Society of Arts and Letters awarded $26,000 to five outstanding young woodwind performers as part of its National Woodwind Competition held at the Culture Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

First Place $15,000.00 | National Society of Arts and Letters Award | Douglas Bosley, Central Illinois Chapter

Awards totaling $35,000 were awarded at the National Musical Theater Competition in El Paso, Texas on May 19, 2012.