Press releases

MINSK, 26 October (BelTA) – More than 200 singers from 20 countries have applied for the third Minsk International Christmas Singing Competition, BelTA learned from the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus.

The competition will feature the young signers from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Canada, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Lithuania, United States, France, Mongolia, China, Armenia, Israel, Latvia, Turkey, Sweden, Korea and Ireland. All in all, 226 vocalists have applied for the event which will be running in Minsk on 7-13 December.

Winners of past years will be invited as guests to perform at the final gala. Today these names are well known to opera lovers: Ramiz Usmanov (Uzbekistan), Nadezhda Pavlova (Russia), Mikhail Malafiy (Ukraine), Lasha Sesitashvili (Georgia), Yelena Stikhina (Russia), Viktor Mendelev (Belarus), Ilya Silchukov (Belarus).

The third Minsk International Christmas Singing Competition will have three rounds: the first and the second rounds will take place with piano accompaniment, and the third round will take place with orchestral accompaniment. The 3rd round (final) will see the competitors sing a lead role in a scene from an opera of classical or modern repertoire.

The winner of the grand prize will receive $10,000 in prize money; the winner of the first prize will get $8,000. The winner of the second prize will collect $6,000, and $4,000 will be given to the winner of third prize.

The jury panel of the Minsk International Christmas Singing Competition will be led by Vladimir Gridyushko, General Director of the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, and will include the world’s biggest opera theaters, impresarios and world-renowned musicians. Among them will be Tadey Eder, General Director of the Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Ukraine; Academician Plamen Kartaloff, Director of Sofia National Opera and Ballet, Bulgaria; John Allison, editor of Opera Magazine, London, the UK; Christoph Meyer, General Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Germany; Alain Surrans, Director of the Opera de Rennes, France; Gianluca Marciano, Artistic Director of the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut; Italy and many others.

The competition will be followed by the 7th Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum (on 14-20 December) which will feature the opera stars from all around the world. Thus, literally within two weeks Minsk will host the artists, musicians, famous impresarios, directors of theaters and agencies from 32 countries.