American soprano Amber Wagner is a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals and was featured in the documentary film The Audition, which opened to audiences nationwide in 2009. The Chicago Tribune said of her 11–12 season triumph in Ariadne auf Naxos, “Amber Wagner's opulent Ariadne was one of the central attractions of the hugely enjoyable revival of the Cox production Lyric presented.” Chosen by Opera News as one of 25 artists poised to break out and become a major force in classical music in the coming decade, Amber Wagner returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2014–15, first as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, a role debut conducted by Asher Fisch, then as Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Miss Wagner is also a force on the competition scene, having won the Liederkranz Foundation Competition, Richard Tucker Career Grant Award, and Kirsten Flagstad Award from the George London Foundation as well as being the recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Career Grant. Ms. Wagner is a native of Oregon.