By ALLAN KOZINN [NY Times, 28 March 2006]

The Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals Concert is partly a showcase for promising young singers and partly the end of a competition that has its early rounds all over the country. This year, in the 52nd such competition, 24 winners of regional rounds came to New York for the semifinals, and 9 made it to the Metropolitan Opera stage to sing two arias each at the finals concert on Sunday afternoon.