5 WIN IN METROPOLITAN AUDITIONS

Five singers were picked from among 17 contestants to take top honors at the Metropolitan Opera district auditions held at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday:

First-place winner was Soprano Patricia Prunty, 27, from La Habra, who sang “Caro nome” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” Juliet’s Waltz Song from Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “Vedrai, carino” from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”

Baritone Donald Christensen, 27, from Cerritos, took second place with arias from Bellini’s “I Puritani,” Gounod’s “Faust” and Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt.”

Soprano Celeste Tavera, 27, from Orange, placed third, singing arias by Massenet, Mozart and Puccini. Costa Mesa soprano Carole Sihilling, 28, took fourth place. Mezzo-soprano Melody Rossi-Metcalf, 28, from Norco placed fifth.

The five will compete in the semifinals to be held Nov. 15 at USC. Winners will go on to a national competition that will culminate in a concert to be held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on March 29, 1987.