TWO ICONS, PLÁCIDO DOMINGO & CAPE TOWN

Operalia, the world's foremost opera competition, is coming for the first time to Africa, hosted by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Town Opera and Artscape.

The 30th anniversary of Operalia, The World Opera Competition, presented by Rolex, is coming to Cape Town, joining world cultural centres such as London, Madrid, Milan, Hamburg and Paris, as host cities. It was thanks in great part to Kamal Khan, the former director of Opera UCT, who ignited the idea, and made the introductions. For Khan, who has been on the Operalia team as vocal coach and accompanist and more recently also assisting the iconic tenor-turned baritone Maestro Plácido Domingo with conducting, knew immediately that this would be an ideal partnership.

Plácido Domingo and soprano Pretty Yende, who won in 2011.

Then Cape Town Opera and Artscape Theatre Centre came on board to join the Cape Town Philharmonic. Sponsorships were and are sought Southern Sun’s Cullinan Hotel will provide accommodation for the entire Operalia group with optimal rates. The competition will run at Artscape from October 30, culminating in a grand final concert on November 5.

This a major achievement for Cape Town and our orchestra. In a time that the arts in Cape Town are recovering after Covid, the world recognises that Cape Town and its renowned companies can compete successfully with important international cultural centres.

Derek Auret, Chairman of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra

The quarter finals will take place at Artscape on Monday, October 30 and Tuesday, October 31, with the semi-finals happening on Wednesday, November 1. These preliminary audition stages will be accompanied by piano. Tickets will be available, in the upstairs balcony only. The final concert will be on Sunday, November 5 at 18:00 with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra all tickets will be available online and also at Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 from late July.

Plácido Domingo established Operalia “to discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today”. All participants are between the ages of 20 and 32, and the ones chosen for this competition have been auditioned from among hundreds of applicants. More than R3,7 million will be awarded in prizes.

This is the competition that set both Pretty Yende (2011) and Levy Sekgapane (2017) on international trajectories. They both also won the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, which was also held in Cape Town with the CPO. Other prominent winners of Operalia over the years include Joseph Calleja, Lise Davidsen, Joyce DiDonato, Ludovic Tézier, Erick Owens, Rolando Villazon and Sonya Yoncheva.