LONDON/GREAT BRITAIN: For the very first time, the final round of Plácido Domingo’s competition Operalia 2015 took place on the stage of London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden! Watch the replay of the Operalia Competition Awards Ceremony on medici.tv, the occasion to discover in preview tomorrow’s operatic talents!

The winners are Lise Davidsen and Ioan Hotea.

Lise Davidsen and Ioan Hotea have just been announced as First Prize winners of the 2015 edition of Operalia, Plácido Domingo’s international singing competition, hosted in London by the Royal Opera House for the first time in its 22 year history.  Hotea also received The Don Plácido Domingo, Sr., Prize of Zarzuela, and Davidsen also received both the Birgit Nilsson Prize and the Rolex Audience Prize.  The public final, during which the 11 finalists competed, took place as a Gala Concert on Covent Garden’s main stage accompanied by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Plácido Domingo.  Live streamed by Medici TV, the Gala Concert was followed by an awards ceremony during which Plácido Domingo presented prizes from the competition’s seven award categories.  French tenor Julien Behr, South African bass-baritone Bongani Justice Kubheka, American soprano Andrea Carroll and American baritone Tobias Greenhalgh were all also finalists in this year’s edition of Operalia.

Winners of the 2015 Operalia Competition:

FEMALE
1st Prize – Lise Davidsen, soprano
2nd Prize – Hyesang Park, soprano
3rd Prize – Noluvuyiso Mpofu, soprano

MALE
1st Prize – Ioan Hotea, tenor
2nd Prize – Darren Pene Pati, tenor
3rd Prize – Edward Parks, baritone

AUDIENCE’S PRIZES
Lise Davidsen, soprano
Darren Pene Pati, tenor

ZARZUELA PRIZES
Ioan Hotea, tenor
Hyesang Park, soprano

BIRGIT NILSSON PRIZES
Lise Davidsen, soprano

THE CULTURARTE DE PUERTO RICO PRIZE
Kiandra Howarth, soprano

Placido Domingo surrounded by his winner of the 2015 competition
. left of mr. Domingo the Norwegian winner of the female 1st. Prize Lise Davidsen. Photo Alaister Muir

Founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo, Operalia is an international singing competition which aims at revealing the most promising talents and personalities in the operatic world. Among the singers rewarded by Operalia, we can quote Sonya Yoncheva, Ludovic Tezier, Rolando Villazón, Stéphane Degout, Inva Mula, Nina Stemme, José Cura, John Osborn, Susanna Philips, among others. Every year, the competition sets in a different opera house. Following Paris, Mexico, Madrid, Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Beijing, Verona and Los Angeles, Operalia is hosted by Coven Garden in London! And for the sixth year in a row, medici.tv partners with Operalia to broadcast live the final round of the competition.

Operalia’s goal is clear: highlight the young talents and help them in their professional career. Plácido Domingo: “Talent alone is not enough; it is also essential for young singers to come to the attention of those impresarios, managers, casting directors, conductors and stage directors who can further their professional careers. My purpose in Operalia is to help identify not only the best voices, but also to discover those singers whose personalities, characters and powers of interpretation show that they have the potential to become complete artists. Individuals such as these become tomorrow’s stars. This is why the jury is not exclusively made up of great singers but also includes general managers, stage directors and casting directors.” Here are the terms in which the legendary tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo talks about the competition he created twenty-two years ago.

This year, the prestigious hall of the Royal Opera House hosted Operalia 2015 for the very first time since the competition was launched. Finalists were accompanied by the Royal Opera House Orchestra, conducted by Plácido Domingo.

First Prizes of US $30,000 – Ioan Hotea, Romania/Lise Davidsen, Norway

Second Prizes of US $20,000 – Darren Pene Pati, New Zealand/Hye Sang Park, South Korea

Third Prizes of US $10,000 – Edward Parks, USA/Noluvuyiso Mpofu, South Africa

Birgit Nilsson Prize of US $15,000 – Lise Davidsen, Norway

The Pepita Embil Domingo Prize of Zarzuela of US $10,000 – Hye Sang Park, South Korea

The Don Plácido Domingo, Sr., Prize of Zarzuela of US $10,000 – Ioan Hotea, Romania

Audience Prizes, Rolex Wristwatches – Darren Pene Pati, New Zealand/Lise Davidsen, Norway

The Culturarte Prize of US $ 10,000 – Kiandra Howarth, Australia

From 2011-2013, Ioan Hotea was an ensemble member of the Bucharest National Opera, with roles including Nemorino in L’elisir d’amoreand Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.  Future engagements include Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Nemorino in Wiesbaden, and Dorvil in La scala di seta in Liège.  A recent graduate of The Royal Danish Opera Academy in Copenhagen, Lise Davidsen made her debut at the Norwegian National Opera earlier this year as Susanna in Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna.  In November, she will make her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Ortlinde in Die Walküre.

Please enjoy Henning Høholt´s review from Lise Davidsen singing Sancta Susanna by Hindemith in Oslo at: http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2015/02/23/var-sesongens-opera-hoydepunkt/

This year’s 40 quarterfinalists were drawn from 21 countries including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and Thailand, as well as several European countries and North American territories.  The preliminary rounds of Operalia took place over three days with contestants performing in front of the competition’s 14-strong international jury representing the opera houses of Chicago and New York, Bayreuth, Bordeaux, London, Madrid, Monte Carlo, Paris, Verona, Santiago, as well the Editor-in-Chief of Opera News, consultants Ioan Holender and Pål Moe, and stage director Marta Domingo.

Founded in 1993 with the aim of discovering and helping launch the careers of today’s most promising young opera singers, Operalia is open to singers of all voice types between the ages of 18 and 32.  Amongst the winners from the last 22 years are artists of the calibre of Angel Blue, Joseph Calleja, José Cura, Joyce DiDonato, Carmen Giannattasio, Ana María Martínez, Ailyn Pérez, Erwin Schrott, Nina Stemme, Rolando Villazón and Sonya Yoncheva.

The competition – which is hosted by a different city every year – receives hundreds of applications from which only 40 are chosen to compete in front of a jury of leading industry professionals including general managers and casting directors from the world’s most prestigious opera houses. Plácido Domingo does not vote himself but is actively present throughout the competition offering guidance on artistic and career development to each of the participants.  Singers at earlier stages of their careers may be chosen to join one of the Young Artist programmes established by Plácido Domingo in Washington, Los Angeles and Valencia.

ROLEX

Rolex is proud to present Operalia, the World Opera Competition, for the 14^th consecutive year, perpetuating its commitment to the arts.  Plácido Domingo has been a Rolex Testimonee since 1982 and Rolex is delighted to extend its support to the exceptionally gifted young performers that share its quest for excellence and perfection

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“My purpose in Operalia is to help identify not only the best voices, but also to discover those singers whose personalities, characters and powers of interpretation show that they have the potential to become complete artists. Individuals such as these become tomorrow’s stars.”Plácido Domingo

LISE DAVIDSEN

Lise Davidsen, was the only Nordic participant in the finale of the Placid Domingo Oralia cometition in London. Lately she won the 2nd prize in the Belvedere Competition wher she also won the Media and the Audience. Next time the Norwegaian audience will meet her is during her participation at theQueen Sonja Singing Competition in Oslo in the end of August 2015.