Winners of Operalia Competition 2017 Revealed

By David Salazar

South African tenor Levy Sekgapane and Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia were the first prize winners of this year’s Operalia Competition.

In the male voice competition, second place went to tenor Davide Giusti, while the third place award was given to Korean baritone Leon Kim.

In the female voice competition, Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan won the second prize while third prize went to Kazakhstan soprano Maria Mudryak.

The Rolex Audience Prizes went to Leon Kim and Mudryak.

Zarzuela Prizes and Beyond

The winner of the Zarzuela Prize for Female Voice was Adela Zaharia who closed out the program with “Me llaman la primorosa” from “El Barbero de Sevilla.”

Italian tenor Marco Ciaponi won the Zarzuela Prize for Male Voice. He performed “Flores purísimas” from “El Milagro de la Virgen.” He was not among the finalists.

The Culturarte Prize was handed to Korean soprano Sooyeon Lee.

Bass-baritone Boris Prygl and soprano Oksana Sekerina won the male and female editions of the Birgit Nilsson Award.

The artists who did not win an award were given an audience prize of $5,000.

Past winners of the top prize include Carmen Giannattasio, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aida Garifullina, Susanna Phillips, Erwin Schrott, Sonya Yoncheva, and Pretty Yende, among many others.

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