Szeged to Host Final Round of MEZZO Contest

Anatoly Vasilyev

The finalists will sing in five operas to be performed in the Szeged National Theatre for the round.

 

The Rennes Opera will perform Heinrich Marschner's The Vampire, directed by Tamás Juronics. The performance will be the Hungarian premiere of the piece.

 

The Dicapo Opera will bring the Robert Ward opera The Crucible, directed by Róbert Alföldi, who is the director of Hungary's National Theatre.

 

Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur will be directed by Michael Sturm, the Bremen Opera will perform the European premiere of Gershon Kingsley's Raoul, and the Baltic Opera will bring Britten's The Rape of Lucretia directed by Péter Telihay.

 

The jury for the contest will be headed by the famous Russian theatre director Anatoly Vasilyev. The jury will comprise an "upper house", consisting of Vasilyev, the opera singer Éva Marton and Mezzo Television CEO Philip de la Croix. The jury's "chamber" will be the directors of three opera companies that are partners with the competition. They include Michael Capasso of New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre, Jerzy Snakowski of Gdansk's Baltic Opera and Alain Surrans from the Rennes Opera.

 

At the end of the final round, two singers, a male and a female, will receive prizes and be invited for a solo performance at the Szeged Open Air Festival on August 21, 2009. A film of the performance will be broadcast by Mezzo.

 

The Szeged Open Air Festival participated in establishing the contest with the aim of discovering young opera singers with mature voices, said festival director Edina Bátyai.