Finalist in the “Tullio Serafin 2023” Singing Competition | Così fan tutte

During yesterday, Wednesday, June 7, the semifinal and final stages of the “Tullio Serafin” 2023 Opera Competition were held, having the purpose of identifying six singers for the main roles of the opera Così fan tutte by Mozart.
More than 200 young opera singers turned up for the auditions for the elimination stage of the competition, scheduled over a long period of time and in major Italian and foreign theaters.

From among them, 33 semifinalists were first identified and 13 finalists finally emerged, who for the last stage of the Competition underwent the scrutiny of a prestigious jury, chaired by maestro Alessandro Galoppini ( casting manager of the Teatro alla Scala), and composed of Claudio Orazi (superintendent of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa), Nicoletta Finzi ( casting manager of the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome), Franco Moretti (general director of the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago), Vincenzo De Vivo (artistic director of the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona and the Accademia d’Arte Lirica in Osimo), singers Barbara Frittoli and Renata Lamanda, Giovanna Canetti (singing teacher) and finally Andrea Castello, artistic director of the Vicenza in Lirica Festival and the Concetto Armonico Association – which is organizing the competition – as well as president of the Tullio Serafin Historical Archives.

The young finalists – ranging in age from 21 to 34, the upper limit for admission to the competition – performed on the evening of June 7 at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, in a sort of competition-concert open to the public, performing arias and ensemble pieces (duets and trios) from Così fan tutte.
Two finalists for the role of Despina (Fracesca Maria Cucuzza and Martina Tragni), two for the role of Dorabella (Emma Alessi Innocenti and Benedetta Mazzetto), two for Fiordiligi (Arianna Giuffrida and Annya Andrea Pinto Figueroa); three singers admitted for the role of Guglielmo (Yurii Strahkov, Said Gobechiya and Pierpaolo Martella), two for that of Ferrando (Quan Zhou and Harou Kawakami), two for Don Alfonso (Matteo Torcaso and Semen Basalaev).
The final winners were baritone Matteo Torcaso, soprano Francesca Maria Cocuzza, mezzo-soprano Benedetta Mazzetto, soprano Arianna Giuffrida, tenor Haruo Kawakami and baritone Said Gobechiya.
The production of Così fan tutte will be staged at the historic Teatro Olimpico on Sept. 7, 9 and 10.