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Stories   >   Placido Domingo's Operalia, comes to Portugal for the first time / BroadwayWorld

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Placido Domingo's Operalia, comes to Portugal for the first time / BroadwayWorld

Posted: June 6, 2018

OPERALIA, the international Opera competition founded by Plácido Domingo in 1993, will be presented in Portugal for the very first time this summer. The competition will take place at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, which is located in the historical center of Lisbon's Chiado District since its inauguration in 1793. A theatre of extraordinary architectural value and beauty, São Carlos has enjoyed a long prestigious history interrupted only by the Portuguese Civil War of the 19th Century and the repairs it sustained in the 1930s. It has welcomed numerous notable International Artists, including Maria Callas, Alfredo Kraus, Monserrat Caballé and Plácido Domingo, who made his debut in Lisbon in the title role of Verdi's Otello in 1989. The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos now welcomes the 26th Edition of the prestigious OPERALIA competition from August 27th to September 2nd, 2018. The competition will feature 40 competitors from 24 different countries, including two Portuguese singers.

OPERALIA has been searching for the new generations of young talented opera singers for more that 25 years. The first Edition was held in Paris in 1993, and has since traveled across the globe to cities like Mexico City, Madrid, Bordeaux, Tokyo, Hamburg, Quebec, Budapest, Milan, Moscow, Beijing, Verona, Los Angeles, London and Guadalajara, among others. Last year, OPERALIA was hosted by the magnificent Astana Opera in Kazakhstan, one of the youngest Opera houses in the world with only a 3 year history. 

The worldwide competition has already served as a launching platform for many world-renowned artists. The long list of artists who have won OPERALIA awards undoubtedly attests to its success in discovering, nurturing and launching the careers of great and talented artists. Some of the winners who have firmly established themselves in the world of opera include the great Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, the enchanting mezzo-soprano from the United States, Joyce DiDonato, the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, Puerto-Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, the Mexican tenors Rolando Villazón and Arturo Chacón-Cruz and of course, one of today's most sought-after soprano from Bulgaria, Sonya Yoncheva.

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