The Maria Callas Brazilian Singing Competition has announced the guest for its 25th edition, which will be held as part of Festival Callas 2027.

Conductor Luiz Fernando Malheiro will serve as jury president. Malheiro is the artistic director of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra and the Amazonas Opera Festival in Manaus. Brazilian soprano Eliane Coelho will join the panel as the edition’s Great Voices guest. Coelho has appeared at leading opera houses and concert halls, including the Vienna State Opera, where she was a member of the permanent ensemble. She celebrates the 50th anniversary of her career in 2026.

The international members of the jury are Daniele Borniquez of Italy, Karin König of Austria, Richard Martet of France, Sabino Lenoci of Italy and Fernando Sans Rivière of Spain.  Borniquez is head of the Music Department at the Teatro alla Scala Academy and secretary general of the Leyla Gencer Voice Competition in Istanbul. König is a pianist, musicologist and stage director who serves as director of opera at the Salzburger Landestheater. Martet, a writer and music critic, was editor-in-chief of Opéra Magazine for many years and is president of the Concours Voix des Outre Mer. Lenoci is a music critic and the editor of L’Opera International Magazine. Sans Rivière is a historian and opera critic who founded and directs the Barcelona-based magazine Ópera Actual.

The Brazilian members include Jorge Coli, a librettist, writer, art critic and professor emeritus at the State University of Campinas; Fabiana Crepaldi, an essayist, music critic, and a member of Friends of Cia Ópera São Paulo; and baritone Robson Tirotti, also a member of Friends of Cia Ópera São Paulo.

Paulo Esper created the competition in 1993. It was held every two years during its first two decades and has been held annually since 2013. Festival Callas 2027 will mark the 25th edition, the 30th anniversary of the Great Voices series and the 50th anniversary of Callas’s death.