Domingo rolls out his next Operalia contestants
mainSome of these contenders are already well launched on their careers.
We are proud to announce the singers who will participate in the Operalia Competition in Prague this summer
Angelina Akhmedova, soprano, Uzbekistan, 24
Germán Alcántara, baritone, Argentina, 31
Xabier Anduaga, tenor, Spain, 24
Mario Bahg, tenor, South Korea, 29
Dominic Barberi, bass, United Kingdom, 30
Claire Barnett-Jones, mezzo-soprano, United Kingdom, 29
Guadalupe Barrientos, mezzo-soprano, Argentina, 32
Lada Bočková, soprano, Czech Republic, 27
Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano, USA, 27
Piotr Buszewski, tenor, Poland, 26
Neven Crnić, baritone, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25
Lauren Decker, contralto, USA, 29
Otgonbat Erdene, baritone, Mongolia, 29
Adriana Gonzalez, soprano, Guatemala, 27
Alyona Guz, soprano, Ukraine, 30
Samuel Hasselhorn, baritone, Germany, 29
Maria Kataeva, mezzo-soprano, Russia, 32
Gihoon Kim, baritone, South Korea, 27
Sungho Kim, tenor, South Korea, 29
Bongani Justice Kubheka, baritone, South Africa, 28
Mykhailo Malafii, tenor, Ukraine, 28
Héloïse Mas, mezzo-soprano, France, 31
Luvuyo Mbundu, baritone, South Africa, 26
Felicia Moore, soprano, USA, 31
Julia Muzychenko, soprano, Russia, 25
Maria Nazarova, soprano, Russia, 30
Christina Nilsson, soprano, Sweden, 29
Daniel Noyola, bass, Mexico, 27
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor, USA/Germany, 25
Igor Onishchenko, baritone, Ukraine, 26
Christian Pursell, bass-baritone, USA, 28
Damir Rakhmonov, tenor, Uzbekistan, 30
Liv Redpath, soprano, USA, 27
Gabriella Reyes, soprano, USA/Nicaragua, 27
Mario Rojas, tenor, Mexico/Spain, 25
Carlos Enrique Santelli, tenor, USA, 27
Anna Shapovalova, soprano, Russia, 31
Grigorii Shkarupa, bass, Russia, 29
Carolyn Sproule, mezzo-soprano, Canada, 31
Robert Watson, tenor, USA, 31
Matthew White, tenor, USA, 27
Nussbaum Cohen writes: I am SO excited to share that I have been selected as one of this year’s competitors for Placido Domingo’s Operalia, the World Opera Competition!! I cannot wait to travel to Prague this summer alongside some amazing folks, including a number of dear friends and colleagues! This is a competition that I’ve admired for so many years, and I am so thrilled and honored to take part
Mario Bahg won the Concours Musical International de Montréal last year. Not particularly impressive, quite raw voice.
Great news!
Now another panel of casting directors and general directors who know nothing about singing can artificially boost another handful of technically inept singers upon their inevitably short international careers.
Lucky that many of these singers haven’t spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their wholly inadequate training…
Wow.. What a bitter comment.
Not entirely without truth, but jeez, as they say “compare and despair.”
(as a side note, the year I was in the finals a wonderful tenor won who is still world renowned. On the other hand, another tenor no longer can sing at all. So it’s a mixed bag. Plenty of us have had a great and lasting careers, as one might expect.)
Interesting, and I’m sure accurate commentary.
But I wish I knew what makes some have a career and others not (other things being equal) and I particularly wonder why so few singers are coming out of Italy at the moment
A friend of mine who had a great career says it’s not only about talent, discipline and looks, but about sheer luck. Being in the right place at the right time, being heard and seen by the right people …
Exactly. Such as all the technically inept winners of the past with their short international careers such as Joyce di Donato, Erwin Schrott, Inva Mula, José Cure, Nina Stemme, Kwangchul Youn, Joseph Calleja, Hui He, Kate Aldrich, Dmitry Korchak, Olga Peretyatko, Pretty Yende, Aida Garifullina or Sonya Yoncheva.
As has been said, a mixed bag. All of the singers on this list have had great careers, but not all of them are great singers from a purely technical point of view. Yoncheva and Peretyatko have been giving some very poor performances, especially for singers so young. Cura has never been a consistent singer, but he is a great musician and actor and has gotten away with it because so few people sing hhis repertoire. Some of these are great (DiDonato). Some, tome, have great instruments but don’t seem quite finished up technically (Yende and Garifullina). I wonder how many of them would have fared in a more competitive age.
*Irony* !
Of that lot, one stands out heads and shoulders above the others: countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen.
Because he’s a countertenor….?