Placido Domingo’s Operalia – the “World Cup of Opera” – has selected 12 (two of them South Africans) who will perform in Cape Town on Sunday 5th November 2023.
In a closely contested semi-final round that played out at the Artscape Theatre yesterday, this year’s Operalia jury selected 12 singers, including South Africa’s Nombulelo Yende who will go through to the final round scheduled to take place on Sunday night, 5 November. Siphokazi Molteno is a finalist in the Zarzuela, a Spanish genre close to Placido Domingo’s heart. All will perform with the Maestro himself, conducting the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), assisted by guest conductor Kamal Khan.
With Rolex as presenting sponsor and the City of Cape Town, Southern Sun, and Duet Endowment Trust the main local sponsors, the 30th edition of the world’s foremost opera competition, Operalia, has graced Cape Town this week and treated fans to a spectacular line-up of some of the world’s best young Opera talent.
Coming to Africa for the first time, the competition is hosted in Cape Town by the highly respected Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, together with Cape Town Opera and Artscape.
A diverse richness of voices will now compete for the prestigious honour of winning this world-renowned competition that has a total prize money of more than $200 000, which is the difficult task for the jury comprised of opera directors, casting directors, artistic directors, and consultants of renowned opera houses, and presided over by Domingo.
The starting 34 from 15 different countries and selected from over 800 entrants, was narrowed to 22 for the semi-finals, in which three of South Africa’s five hopefuls competed to much applause from the appreciative audience.
Now, 12 artists remain. They are:
- Semyon Antakov, baritone, Russia
- Caitlin Gotimer, soprano, USA
- Navasard Hakobyan, baritone, Armenia
- Eugénie Joneau, mezzo-soprano, France
- Taehan Kim, baritone, South Korea
- Omer Kobiljak, tenor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Stephano Park, bass, South Korea
- Julie Roset, soprano, France
- Luke Sutliff, baritone, USA
- Elena Villalón, soprano, USA
- Nombulelo Yende, soprano, South Africa and,
- Siphokazi Molteno, mezzo-soprano, South Africa who is a finalist in the Zarzuela competition.
Those finalists joining Molteno in the Zarzuela competition are:
- Navasard Hakobyan, baritone, Armenia
- Eugénie Joneau, mezzo-soprano, France
- Luke Sutliff, baritone, USA
- Elena Villalón, soprano, USA
The award ceremony will take place on Sunday immediately after the judges’ deliberations when the final candidate has sung.
Helping to encourage the next generation of South African opera singers to take to the stage, the KT Wong Foundation has made it possible for 120 students to attend the preliminary rounds. As the African proverb goes, “it takes a village to raise a child”, and so special mention is also made of the valuable support from Rola Volvo and a prominent donor who wishes to remain anonymous, who have helped the hosts deliver this “World Cup of Opera”.
Each year Operalia is hosted in a different city and this year Cape Town has now joined the world’s cultural capitals such as London, Paris, Madrid, Hamburg, Tokyo, and Milan who have put opera on the map and for Capetonians, ignited a passion for the genre, with tickets for all the rounds being snapped up.