Tbilisi Opera unveils international competition for singers, high-profile jury team
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A brand-new international competition for young opera singers will be launched in Tbilisi next month, with an aim of discovering emerging talent judged by famed opera professionals from leading companies.
The Tbilisi International Voice Competition Opera Crown, established by the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, will see 50 artists compete for honours in the Georgian capital in its first edition, and run every two years.
With the maiden edition to launch on April 30, the Tbilisi theatre has promised to offer aspiring contestants "the best and most welcoming atmosphere to perform at their very best”.
Tbilisi theatre artistic director Badri Maisuradze will chair the jury of the event. Photo: Lado Vachnadze/Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.
Over a dozen judges, chaired by the theatre’s artistic director Badri Maisuradze, will assess performances over three rounds of competition.
Announced with the reveal of the competition this week, the jury team will involve the following managers, artists and opera directors:
- Grace Bumbry, famed American soprano and mezzo-soprano
- Makvala Kasrashvili, soprano, Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow
- Francesco Andolfi, Director of Artistic and Planning Department, Teatro di San Carlo
- Alessandro Ariosi, Ariosi Management
- Fabiana Dalpiaz, Askonas Holt management company
- Jonathan Friend, Artistic Administrator, Metropolitan Opera
- Alan Green, Zemsky/Green Artists Management
- Peter Mario Katona, Director of Casting, Royal Opera House
- Olga Rostropovich, Artistic Director, Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre
- Christina Scheppelmann, Artistic Director, Gran Teatre del Liceu
- Sebastian Schwarz, Founder and Chairman of the Jury, Glyndebourne Opera Cup
- Ilias Tzempetonidis, Casting Director, Opera National de Paris
Celebrated American opera singer Grace Bumbry will be on the jury panel for the competition. Photo: BBC.
Artists judged by these professionals will perform arias from operas by over 30 composers including Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti and Jacques Offenbach during the three stages of the contest.
The final round and the awards ceremony of the competition will also be streamed live on the website of OperaVision, an online platform supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme.
Applications by performers are currently being accepted through the website of the Tbilisi theatre, with a deadline of April 1.
Georgian soprano Makvala Kasrashvili, who also accepted invitation to serve as a judge of participants. Photo: Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.
The new competition comes within a four-year project of events and collaborations of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, launched last November.
The project has also involved the recently established Young Artists Program, which facilitates artist exchange between the Tbilisi theatre and some of the leading opera troupes around the world.
Tbilisi's inaugurual Opera Crown competition will run between April 30-May 5.
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