The twelve Hungarians picked to go on to the second round include some of the country's most popular opera singers. They are Szilvia Rálik, Péter Balczó, Boldizsár László, Zoltán Nyári, Melinda Orsolya Horváth, Ildikó Wéber Gaál, Rita Rácz, Karolina Ferencz, Zsolt Molnár, Tamás Cselóczki, László Beöthy-Kiss and Tamás Altorjay.
The first round of the contest, which aims to recognise not only the most beautiful singing voice, but to acknowledge the best performer, drew more than 400 singers from 41 countries to Budapest, New York, Gdansk and Bergen.
This year's contest involves five partners: the Csokonai Theatre (Debrecen, Hungary), the Baltic Opera (Gdansk, Poland), the Théâtre Bienne Soleure (Bienne, Switzerland), the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (Ostrava, Czech Republic) and the Dicapo Opera Theatre (New York, USA).
The first-round auditions, at each of the five partner operas and theatres, were based exclusively on vocal capabilities and musicality. In the second round, to be hosted, along with the finals, in Hungary, the directors of the productions will select the final cast for the operas based on singing and acting skills.
The operas participating in the contest will each contribute with a different production. The Dicapo Opera Theatre will perform Tobias Picker's Emmeline, directed by Róbert Alföldi. The Csokonai Theatre will show Last Day of a Condemned, by David Alagna, directed by Nadine Duffaut. The Baltic Opera show Ariadne auf Naxos, by Richard Strauss. The Théâtre Bienne Soleure will show two one-act operas: L'Heure Espagnole, by Ravel, and Alexandre bis, by Bohuslav Martinu, both directed by Bertalan Bagó. The National Moravian-Silesian Theatre will present Life, by Marco Tutino, directed by Péter Telihay.
MEZZO will broadcast the finals, to take place on November 3-17, in 39 countries.
Photo: MTI
