Palm Beach Daily News, p. 3, Tuesday, May 2, 1989
By Juliette de Marcellus, Daily News Music Critic

With the exception of the first prize winner, lyric soprano Rosa Vento, the men possessed the outstanding voices in this year's Palm Beach Opera Scholarship auditions. 

Five remarkable baritones, led by Drexel Hallaway, a familiar voice and figure in PBO productions, a tenor and a bass captured the ear and the imagination during Sunday's award ceremonies.

Hallaway was awarded the second prize of $4,000 -- this is the Montgomery and Larmoyeux prize.  He was heard in the Largo al Factotum aria from the Barber of Seville.  It was a performance that showed his professional experience and dramatic flair, evidence of a career that has already begun.

Judges for the three days of intensive listening were Mary Costa and Italo Tajo, both celebrated veterans of the operatic stage, and Robert Croan, music critic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and chairman of the voice department at Duquesne University.  In their evaluation, 10 points were given to voice quality, six to musicianship and four to stage presence.