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By Vivien Schweitzer
01 Nov 2006
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| The Palau de les Arts in Valencia (designed by Santiago Calatrava), venue for the 2006 Operalia competition. |
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| photo by © Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias |
Operalia, the competition for young singers founded by Plácido Domingo, has announced its 2006 winners and awarded a total of $175,000 in prizes, Spanish media report.
The competition took place from October 24-29 in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts (at left), the venue designed by Santiago Calatrava which opened last year.
The Mexican tenor David Lomelí won the top prize for male singers; Maija Kovalevska, a 27-year-old Lithuanian soprano, won best female singer.
Lomelí also won top male honors for zarzuela, while Spanish soprano María Teresa Alberola Bañuls was named best female singer in the genre. Operalia's zarzuela prizes were established in honor of Domingo's parents, who were zarzuela stars in Spain and Mexico.
French tenor Sebastien Gueze and American soprano Ailyn Pérez placed second among male and female singers, while third prizes went to Alberola Bañuls and to American baritone Trevor Scheunemann.
Alberola Bañuls, who was the only contestant from Valencia, won the competition's audience award.
The jury included Zubin Mehta, Jean-Pierre Brossmann, Jean-Louis Grinda, Marta Domingo, Jean-Luc Choplin and Thierry Fouquet.
Previous winners of the Operalia competition, established by Domingo in 1993, include (among others) sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian, Elizabeth Futral, Ana María Martínez and Nina Stemme; mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; countertenor Brian Asawa; tenors Rolando Villazón, Joseph Calleja and José Cura; and basses Kwangchul Youn and Erwin Schrott.
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