Auditions for the contest, which aims to recognise not only the most beautiful singing voice, but to acknowledge the best performer, based on stage movement and acting, were completed in New York and started last week in Gdansk. Auditions will be held in Paris on April 20-22 and in Bergen on April 26-28.
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 Dicapo opera will show Tobias Picker's Emmeline directed by the Hungarian Róbert Alföldi.
The auditions, at each of the five partner operas and theatres, are 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 and start rehearsing. MEZZO will broadcast the finals, to take place on November 3-17, in 39 countries.
