This week, The São Carlos National Theatre is hosting the 2018 edition of Operalia – The World Opera Competition, a prestigious worldwide opera competition created by famous Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, which is being held for the first time in Portugal.
Launched in 1993, the 2018 edition started on Monday and was expected to be attended by 40 contestants from 24 countries, including two Portuguese participants, tenor Luís Gomes and soprano Rita Marques.
Rita Marques and Luís Gomes are the only Portuguese to run for this edition of Operalia. Also singing in Portuguese for a place in the final is Brazilian half-soprano Josy Santos.
According to the competition homepage, Plácido Domingo’s Operalia aims to “discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today”.
“His goal is to attract singers of all voice tessituras and from every country in the world ranging from 18 to 32 years of age, to have them audition and be heard by a panel of distinguished international opera personalities, in the most prestigious and competitive showcase in the world”.
Each year, the Competition receives close to 1,000 applications. The competitors come from all over the world to take part in Operalia - from Russia to China, from Kosovo to Colombia and the United States, and several European countries.
On Monday and Tuesday, the jury - over which Placido Domingo presides as a non-voting moderator - heard the contestants. Twenty were put through to the semifinals and only ten followed through to the final, where they will perform in concert with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.
During the final – the only phase of the competition which is open to the public and which take places on Sunday, 2 September – Plácido Domingo will lead the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.
