Yesterday, March 9, the final round of the 78th edition of the Singing Competition of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale ‘A. Belli’ opera house in Spoleto was held at the Teatro Nuovo “G. Menotti.”
After listening for four consecutive days to the more than 70 candidates present, late in the evening the jury – chaired this year by soprano Luciana Serra and composed of bass-baritone Nicola Ulivieri (winner of the Spoleto competition in 1995), music critic Giancarlo Landini and Sperimentale artistic directors Michelangelo Zurletti and Enrico Girardi – finally decreed the winning singers with the following ranking:
1° – Emma Alessi Innocenti, mezzosoprano from Florence (Italy), 25 years old;
2° – Kristyna Kustkovà, soprano from Prague (Czech Republic), 29 years old;
3° – Nicolò Lauteri, bass from Terni (Italy), 21 years old;
4° – Viktoriia Balan, soprano from Nikopol (Ucraine), 31 years old;
5° – Andrea Ariano, baritone from Avellino (Italy), 26 years old;
6° ex aequo – Giorgia Costantino, soprano from Bari (Italy), 25 years old;
6° ex aequo – Francesca Lione, mezzosoprano from Rome (Italy), 31 years old;
7° – Eleonora Benetti, soprano from Forlì (Italy), 27 years old;
8° – Francesca Paoletti, soprano from Florence (Italy), 29 years old;
9° ex aequo – Davide Piva, baritone from Riva del Garda (TN, Italy), 30 years old;
9° ex aequo – Chiara Latini, soprano from Rome (Italy), 31 years old;
9° ex aequo – Marco Pierangelo Maria Guarini, baritone from Rome, 28 years old.
The following candidates were also found successfull: Matteo Mencarelli (baritone from Perugia, 25 years old) and Jessica Ricci (soprano from Sant’Omero (TE), 25 years old).
Also awarded to Kristyna Kustkovà were the Children’s Choir of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale Prize and to Donatella De Luca (soprano from Venosa (PZ), age 30) the Popular Jury Prize, formed by members of the University of the Third Age of Spoleto and FITA (Federazione Italiana Teatro Amatori), sec. of Spoleto.
The candidates were accompanied on the piano by maestros Pablo Salido Pulido and Antonio Vicentini.
Thus Enrico Girardi, artistic co-director of the Sperimentale: “The young singers in the 78th edition of the Sperimentale competition proved to be technically equipped and stylistically aware. Evaluating their performances was a struggle, because there were minimal differences between winners and non-winners, and a pleasure because we finally rewarded talents who will grow further but already guarantee excellent results for the season to come. We will also long remember the amiable and sympathetic atmosphere within the jury and between the jury and the Teatro Lirico. Anyone with any experience of participating in music juries knows that this is by no means a given.”
The winning singers will be paid a total scholarship of 10,000 euros for the two-year period 2024-2025, in addition to a special prize aimed at the top three, who win 5,000, 3,000 and 2,000 euros respectively.
During the two-year period, the winning singers will attend the Debut Training Course: ten months of lessons – divided into two sessions lasting five months each – to be held in Spoleto between April and September each year, at the end of which they will be able to make their debut in the Sprerimentale Opera Season of Spoleto and Umbria.
Established in 1947 by Adriano Belli, the Singing Competition of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto was created to initiate into the profession of opera those young people with special artistic qualities who, having completed their singing studies, have not yet made their debut. Over the years, great names in international opera have participated in the singing competition and trained in Spoleto, suffice it to mention Franco Corelli and Anita Cerquetti in 1951, Renato Bruson in 1961, Ruggero Raimondi in 1964, Leo Nucci and Mariella Devia in 1967 and 1971 respectively, just to name a few. But also voices from the current operatic scene, which in these very years are having great success on the most prestigious international stages, above all those of sopranos Maria Agresta and Eleonora Buratto.
The Singing Competition is made possible thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate for Entertainment, the Region of Umbria, the City of Spoleto and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto, and enjoys the Patronage of the Chamber of Commerce of Umbria.
