The Competizione dell'Opera is an international singing competition formerly based in Germany for singers specializing in

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

History

In 1996, an international singing competition was founded that focused on Italian operas: "I Cestelli Competizione dell' Opera". Following its two appearances in Hamburg in 1996 and 1998, the competition took place in Dresden from 2001-2010. The participants of the competition apply with sixth different

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

s in the qualifying round for semi final of the Italian Opera. The best ten out of the qualifying rounds are able to participate at the final. Singers who were once finalists and winners of the competition include Marina Mescheriakova, Ashley Holland,

Lado Ataneli Lado or LADO may refer to: Places * Lado, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso * Lado, South Sudan, a town in South Sudan, formerly the seat of the Lado Enclave, and Equatoria province * Lado Enclave of the Congo Free State, in modern South Sudan ...

Anja Harteros Anja Harteros (born 23 July 1972) is a German soprano. Since winning the 1999 Cardiff Singer of the World competition she has been particularly associated with the Bavarian State Opera and enjoyed an international career. In her earlier career ...

, Carla Maria Izzo, Woo-Kyung Kim, and

Latonia Moore Latonia Moore (born 1979, in Houston, Texas) is an American soprano. She grew up listening to Black music, and began singing in the church choir of the New Sunrise Baptist Church (where her grandfather Cranford Moore was a pastor) at age 8. In her ...

. The international jury comprises representatives from the major European opera houses and festivals, artists' managers, famous singers, directors and representatives from the media and from music academies. In 2008 the finals concert took place in the

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

with the Saarländischen Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra. Meanwhile the competition moved to Russia (2011, 2016, 2022), leaded by

Hans-Joachim Frey Hans-Joachim Frey (born 10 June 1965, in Gehrden, Lower Saxony) is a German cultural manager. From 1997 to 2007, he was Artistic Director of Operations and Director of Opera (from 2003) at the Semperoper in Dresden from 2007 to 2010 and general ...

Organizers

, Cultural Manager

Sources

Klavierwettbewerb Rubinstein
Opera competitions Music competitions in Germany