Astana, Kazakhstan, July 24th 2017 – The names of the 14 finalists of Placido Domingo’s Operalia became known today. The competition is held within the framework of the EXPO-2017 program under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
© Karla Nur, Astana Opera, 2017
According to the results of the semi-finals, 14 contestants passed to the finals: the soloist of the Astana Opera, laureate of numerous international competitions, magnificent soprano Maria Mudryak (Kazakhstan), Boris Prýgl (bass-baritone, Czech Republic), Davide Giusti (tenor, Italy), Sooyeon Lee, So Young Park (sopranos), Leon Kim (baritone, Republic of Korea), Adela Zaharia (soprano, Romania), Vlada Borovko, Kristina Mkhitaryan, Oksana Sekerina (sopranos, Russia), Levy Sekgapane (tenor, South Africa), Rupert Enticknap (countertenor, UK), Ruslana Koval (soprano, Ukraine), Emmett O’Hanlon (baritone, USA).
Damiana Mizzi (soprano), Marco Ciaponi (tenor, Italy), Leon Kim (baritone, Republic of Korea), Adela Zaharia (soprano, Romania) and Levy Sekgapane (tenor, South Africa) will be competing for Pepita Embil de Domingo and Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Prizes of Zarzuela.
On July 29, the young singers will meet at the Astana Opera to continue to compete for victory, which is the sign of the highest standard of vocal ability and at the same time the starting point for a brilliant singing career. The total prize fund is 180 thousand US Dollars.
“It was extremely tough to choose the finalists, we were counting our points and discussing for a long time, there were many different views. The overall level was so high, we decided to invite more than the minimum number of participants both for the semi-finals and finals. We are looking forward with a great deal of anticipation to the finals on Saturday. Choosing the winners will be a tough deliberation. When making the decision, we have to take many things into account, such as the singers’ age, the length of their chosen aria, etc. One of the striking things about this year is an unusually large number of sopranos, and all of them are very strong. It is a fact that this competition, I would say, is the most important one. It is my belief that all of the really good singers are very likely to get invitations, to get contracts just from having been here. I would be very surprised if we didn’t have a few of the singers that are here this year debut at the Met within the next few years, – shared the Artistic Administrator of the Metropolitan Opera Jonathan Friend.
The final round of the competition will be broadcast live on Khabar national television channel, beginning at 16.30, and the international channel Medici.tv.
According to the results of the semi-finals, 14 contestants (names) passed to the finals.
A Gala Concert of laureates, which Maestro Placido Domingo himself will be conducting, will conclude the competition on July 29.
Operalia, the World Opera Competition, founded by the great opera singer and conductor Placido Domingo, is presented by Rolex.
Among Operalia’s previous years’ winners are: known to the Kazakhstani audience Simone Piazzola, who has performed at the Astana Opera in the premiere of G. Verdi’s opera La Traviata, as well as famous vocalists José Cura, Rolando Villazón, Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, Dmitry Korchak, Vasily Ladyuk, Inva Mula and other renowned singers.
