Pauline Ho Bynum, biography

Born in Chungking China, and raised in New Haven and Manhattan, Pauline attended Wellesley College and Barnard College, earning a M.A. and M.Phil. degree in history from Columbia University. She taught history of Western civilization and East Asian civilization at Brooklyn College and Central State University in Oklahoma. She moved with her family to the Boston area in 1979 and since 1982, has been a realtor working in the Hammond Residential Chestnut Hill office.

An avid opera fan since her years in New York, she has served as an Overseer for Boston Lyric Opera and New England Conservatory of Music. Since 1984, Pauline has been the New England Regional Chairman for the Metropolitan National Council Auditions. Singers who have come through the Met Auditions in Boston since 1984 have included Lisa Saffer, Denyce Graves, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Haijing Fu, Dominique Labelle, Sandra Piques Eddy, and Steven Salters. In 1999, the three New England Regional Winners, Kelly Kaduce, Barbara Quintiliani and Jossie Pérez, were also three of the five Grand Winners in the National Finals.

Because of her interest in seeking performance opportunities for singers whom she has met through the Met Auditions program, Pauline has been instrumental in organizing recitals at the Museum of Fine Arts, with the Hammond Performing Artists Series, and most recently with the Monadnock Music Festival opera galas.

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The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is a program designed to discover promising young singers and assist in the development of their careers. The auditions are held annually in sixteen regions of the United States and Canada. Many of the world's finest singers, among them Reneé Fleming, Ben Heppner and Deborah Voight, have come through the auditions program. Currently, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions.