Pierre Vernes, the founder of the Paris Opera Competition has passed away.

Verne created the competition back in 2010, which has turned into a biannual showcase with over hundreds of submissions and a final gala event that decides the winner. At the start of the competition’s history, concerts were used every other year in place of a formal competition.

Vernes, who was also President of the competition, had a solid team that also included Artistic Advisor Jérôme Angot, the competition’s general secretary Isabelle de Montaigu, the executive producer Florence Dupuy, Head of External Relationship Nicola Labourdette, Community Manager Sébastien Borel, Head of PR Camille Glas, and Webmaster Nicolas Bossière.

Among the winners of the competition since its inception are soprano Julia Lezhneva, mezzo Olesya Petrova, soprano Omo Bello, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and soprano Ambroisine Bré.