Meet our 2025 Preliminary Judges
The 2025 Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition is pleased to welcome once again these esteemed music professionals as Preliminary Judges, hearing our auditioners May 12-15, 2025.
Kirsten Chambers, soprano, has sung the title role of Salome at the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Hong Kong, and Florida Grand Opera. Her Carnegie Hall debut was Maria in Richard Strauss’ Friedenstag with the American Symphony Orchestra. She first joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera as a cover of Isolde in Tristan und Isolde and rejoined the Metropolitan Opera roster in the 2016-17 season for Die Walküre and to cover Marie in Wozzeck in 2019-20. Abroad, she has sung Elsa in Lohengrin with the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Opéra de Rennes, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Favorite engagements include Erwartung with The Orchestra Now, Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena with Odyssey Opera, and as the Angel in Angels in America for New York City Opera. Ms. Chambers earned degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University and the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. Visit her website to learn more.
R. Benjamin “Ben” Leaptrott, Jr. is assistant professor of music with a specialty in collaborative arts at Brenau University and also an Artist in Residence at Brenau with The Leaptrott Trio. He is an active recitalist, vocal coach, and accompanist, serving as accompanist for the district and regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from East Carolina University, a Masters of Music Degree from Eastman School of Music, and a Solo Diploma from Sweelinck Academy at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Mr. Leaptrott is Vice President of the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Fund, a component fund of Foundation For The Carolinas.
Dr. Oliver Worthington II, baritone, is acclaimed as an opera singer, oratorio soloist, and recitalist, having performed with such presenters as Indianapolis Opera, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, West Virginia Symphony, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony. A champion of living composers, he premieres and commissions new works to include diverse representation and visibility in the art song repertoire. Dr. Worthington is the Vocal Area Coordinator and the Producing Director of Butler Opera Theatre at Butler University. He maintains a full schedule as an educator and performer and serves as the President of The Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation, a component fund of Foundation For The Carolinas. Dr. Worthington received degrees from Converse College, The New England Conservatory of Music, and The University of Texas at Austin. He collaborated with his Butler colleague Dr. Dana Zenobi to create the award-winning recording Joys Abiding; Soprano and Baritone Duets by Historical Women Composers at Navona Records, a division of PARMA Recordings. They published an annotated anthology of the scores using the same title through Classical Vocal Reprints.
