(Credit: TACT/Askonas Holt/Intermusica/Natalia Jansen)

It’s that time of the year. The end of the year.

2024 brought many debuts, many new productions, many competitions, many world premieres and many new young artists who are coming up in the world of opera.  And that it is reason alone to celebrate. As the year comes to an end, here’s a look at some of the young singers who saw their careers shine whether through competitions, festivals, or in some major production.

So without further ado, OperaWire presents its 10 rising stars for 2024 (in alphabetical order).

Eliza Boom

It’s been a whirlwind year for the Munich-based lyric soprano. Earlier this year, Eliza Boom won the prestigious Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award and won the first prize at the Elizabeth Connell Prize International Singing Competition at Wigmore Hall in London. She also competed at the Operalia competition in Mumbai where she continued to raise her profile as a young singer to watch and won the CulturArte Prize.

A native of New Zealand, she completed her Bachelor of Music at Vision College and later studied at the University of Waikato. She later studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and trained at the National Opera Studio in London. Boom later became a member of the Bayerische Staatsoper Opera Studio where performed in such productions as “Das Rheingold,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” and  Miroslav Srnka’s opera “Singularity.”

Boom has already performed with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Royal Danish Opera, Staatsoper Hannover, and Royal Theater Carré. In this coming season, she is set to make her Paris Opera debut and will also return to New Zealand to perform with the symphony orchestra. 

Matthew Cairns

This past year Canadian tenor was part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists where he got to cover the role of Leonard in “The Hours.” He also participated in the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s International Vocal Competition where he took Judge’s Special prizes and the Belvedere Opera Competition where he received third prize and the International Media Jury Award.

But his year also took him back to the Canadian Opera Company where he was a studio member for many years.

Cairns has established himself over the past years as a rising star having been named on CBC’s 2019 “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30” and having won the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. He was also a finalist in the 2022 Neue Stimmen competition and was the First Prize winner of the 2018 Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Competition.

Upcoming engagements include Cairns’ Paris Opera debut in “Das Rheingold.”

Erika Grimaldi

Italian Soprano Erika Grimaldi has been hailed for her “beautifully floated pianissimos” and her “pellucid tone.” Her interpretations of Verdi and Puccini have brought her to many of the leading theaters in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and Opéra National de Montpellier. Her repertoire is immense including such operas as “Tosca,” “Manon Lescaut,” “La Boheme,” “Ernani,” “Luisa Miller,” and  “Il Trovatore,” to name a few.

In May the soprano had a breakthrough when she stepped in to perform the title role of “Tosca” at the Teatro Regio di Parma on short notice. The soprano received raves with critics noting, “hers is a highly internalized Tosca, strong in a wise expressive research and in an everywhere nuanced phrasing, therefore fully convincing also for that sweet and delicate voice of hers, homogeneous in all registers, well supported in the melodic arc.”

Coming up Grimaldi will make her highly anticipated debut at the Opernhaus Zurich in “Un Ballo in Maschera” and performances at the Welsh National Opera, and Teatro Carlo Felice.

Navasard Hakobyan

The Armenian baritone has been the toast of the competition circuit over the past two years. In 2023 he won the third Prize and Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Prize of Zarzuela at the Operalia World Opera Competition and in 2024 he won the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and the Dallas Opera’s National Vocal Competition. He also participated in the Queen Sonja Competition as well as the Academy’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition, and the Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition.

He also participated in the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project and joined as a studio member at the Houston Grand Opera, where he won the 34th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in 2022. In 2023 he joined Askonas Holt for management and since then has already made debuts at the Houston Grand Opera and Dallas Opera. This season, he will make his house and European debut at the Semperoper Dresden Semperoper as Marcello “La bohème” and will sing Brahm’s Requiem with the Santa Barbara Symphony.

Hakobyan is a former member of the Young Artist Programme of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan, Armenia and was named the winner of the President of the Republic of Armenia Youth Prize in 2019.

Alasdair Kent

It’s been an incredible year for the Australian tenor, who has become an exciting voice around the world. Having graduated from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and trained at Opera Philadelphia’s Emerging Artist Program, Wolf Trap Opera’s Filene Young Artist Program, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, today, Kent is performing at every major opera house in the world.

He has been praised for his “refined technique and intense expressiveness” as well as “great clarity” of tone. He has also become known for his Bel Canto interpretations, especially Rossini as well as Mozart, Donizetti, and Bellini, and has already performed at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real Madrid, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, the Rossini Opera Festival, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

This past season saw the tenor at the Opernhaus Zürich, Orchestre National de Lille, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater an der Wien, Stavanger Symfoniorkester, Teatro Massimo, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in important new productions exploring a range of classical, Bel Canto and modern music. Among those works were “Platee,” “Written on Skin,” and “Iphigénie en Aulide.” Coming up for the tenor will be debuts at the Opéra de Lyon and Teatro alla Scala.

Long Long

This past season Long Long made such a splash at the Dallas Opera that he received the 2023-24 Maria Callas Debut Artist Award for his interpretation of Roméo in “Roméo et Juliette.”

A native of China, Long Long has slowly built a prestigious career that has seen him win the Neue Stimmen competition and receive prizes at the Francisco Viñas Singing Contest, the Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw, and the Verdi Competition. He has also been a member of the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, and Georg Solti Academy.

He has already performed at the Royal Opera House, Semperoper Dresden, Atlanta Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Hannover, Dutch National Opera, and the Israeli Opera in numerous roles including works by Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Gounod, and Donizetti.

Upcoming engagements include his debut at the Staatsoper Berlin as well as returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Canadian Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, and Bregenzer Festspiele, among others.

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha

It seems like the South African soprano has become one of the most sought-after young sopranos for her “golden color,” “sumptuous, plush sound, and floated high notes.” And earlier in 2024 she was recognized with the 2024 Herbert von Karajan Prize at the Salzburg Easter Festival as one of the up and coming artists of her generation.

Since winning the Song Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and is a current BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist award, Rangwanasha has performed with many of the great opera companies in the world including the Washington National Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Hamburg State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, which she also toured with to Japan.

She has also performed alongside the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Her repertoire has been varied showcasing her voice in Verdi, Puccini, Mendelssohn, Vaughn Williams and Mahler, among many others.

And her career is sure to expand in the coming seasons.

Angel Romero

This past fall, Angel Romero announced himself to the world when he took home the Second Prize as well as the Zarzuela Prize in the 2024 Operalia competition. His lyric tenor shone in “Una Furtiva Lagrima” from “L’Elisir d’Amore.”

Originally from Houston, Romero completed his studies at Yale University and Houston Baptist University and later joined the Pittsburgh Opera as a Resident Artist where performed in productions of “Così fan tutte,” “Florencia en el Amazonas” and “Alcina.” He was also part of the Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program.

Since then he has made debuts at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Austin Opera, and Central City Opera. For his performances, critics have raved and said he has “A golden voice.”

As Romero’s career continues to grow, he has already made international debuts at the Wiener Staatsoper and De Nationale Opera, where he will perform again this season.

Mariangela Sicilia

When the Italian soprano Mariangela Sicilia took the stage of the Arena di Verona to open the 2024 season, she stunned with her gorgeous rendition of “O Quante Volte!” and “O Mio Babbino Caro” announcing herself as a major artist in the international world.

But before that performance, the soprano was already rising up having won third prize in Operalia in 2014 and winning the Premio Franco Abbiati on two occasions. She had already performed at major houses including the Teatro Real, the Dutch National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Sydney Opera House, and Opéra de Monte-Carlo, among many others. In April she made her Teatro alla Scala debut in “La Rondine” premiering a new production after a 30-year absence and was among the stars to pay homage to Puccini at the famed Milanese theater.

Up next the soprano sings returns to the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Matilda Sterby

Swedish soprano Matilda Sterby has been a regular presence in her native country for a few years and has been praised for her resonant soprano. But in 2024, she had a career-defining moment winning the Birgit Nilsson Stipendium, an award that recognizes aspiring Swedish singers. She also won the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition further establishing her as a rising force in the opera world.

Sterby’s career has already led her to the Malmö Opera, Volksoper Wien, Hannover Opera, and Gothenburg Opera, where she had a breakthrough as Marenka in Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.” She has also won the 2022 Hjördis Schymberg Award and recorded her first album for Naxos.

Upcoming performances will see her at the Volskoper Wien, Den Norske Opera, and Gothenburg Opera.