The Belvedere Opera Competition has announced the 2024 winners.

Held in Jurmala, Latvia, the first place went to South Korean baritone Jungrae Noah Kim while second place went to U.S. tenor Daniel O’Hearn. Kim, who has been a member of the young artists program at the Zurich Opera, was a finalist at the Viñas competition in 2024, and has won prizes at the Marmande competition in France, the Shizuoka Opera competition in Japan and the Seoul International singing competition. O’Hearn, meanwhile, is a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera.

The third prize was awarded to Canadian tenor Matthew Cairns, who is a former member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and winner of the Met Opera’s Laffont Competition. The tenor, who was also a Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, also received the International Media Jury Award.

Other winners included bass Thando Zwane who won the Audience Prize and an Engagement at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Bass Adrian Janus was awarded an engagement at the Dzintari Concert Hall while tenor Andrew Hyunjung Kim was awarded an engagement at the Theater Bonn.

Mezzo-soprano Nicole Chirka took home an engagement at Bühnen Bern while soprano Janice Van Rooy was awarded an engagement at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Soprano Teona Toduawas awarded the engagement with the Deutsche Oper Berlin while soprano Jinh Yi Yu won the Hans Gabor Prize. Soprano Etīna Saulīte won the Jane Carty Memorial Prize and an engagement with the Dutch National Opera and the Dzintari Concert Hall.

Bass Volodymyr Morozov won the an engagement with the Deutsche Oper Berlin while Michael Appiah Kubi Mensah won an engagement with the Metropolitan Opera – Lindemann Young Artist Development Program & Laffont Competition.

The jury for the competition included Melissa Wegner, the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and Laffont Competition; Guntar Kirsis, Managing and Artisic Director of Dzintari Concert Hall in Jurmala, Latvia; Florian Scholtz, the Intendant of Bühnen Bern; Bjön Peters of Semperoper Dresden; Guy Montavan, General Director of Theater Erfurt; Franziska M. Kaiser, designated casting director in Wiesbaden; Rosemary Joshua, the Head of the Opera Studio at the Dutch National Opera; Bernard Hemlich, the General Director of the Theater Bonn; David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Artists at the Royal Opera House; Dorothea Hartmann, designated intendantin in Wiesbaden; and Viviana Barrios, associate to the Artistic Director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.