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And the winners of the 3rd International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti are:

1st prize 4,000 euro
Sophie Junker, soprano
Age 27 Belgium

2nd prize 3,000 euro
Edward Grint, baritone
Age 29, UK

3rd prize 2,000 euro
Natalia Kawalek-Plewniak, mezzo-soprano
Age 24, Poland

The Atle Vestersjø Young Talent Award 1,500 euro
Einat Aronstein, soprano
Age 23, Israel

The Audience Award 1,000 euro
Natalia Kawalek-Plewniak, mezzo-soprano
Age 24, Poland

Spezial prizes:

Conzert within the scope of the Resonanzen Wien
Sophie Junker, soprano
Age 27 Belgium

Engagement at the Theater an der Wien
Edward Grint, baritone
Age 29, UK

Conzert within the scope of the Festival della Valle d'Itria, Martina Franca
Jake Arditti, Countertenor
Age 26, UK

We would like to congratulate all finalists and paritcipants for their great voices and performances in the last days. It was a pleasure to have you here in Innsbruck.

ARDITTI Jake Countertenor,
UK (age 26)

ARONSTEIN Einat Soprano
Israel (age 23)

GRINT Edward baritone
UK (age 29)

JUNKER Sophie soprano
Belgium (age 27)

KAWALEK-PLEWNIAK Natalia mezzo-soprano
Poland (age 25)

MONJE TORREZ Angelica contra-alto
Bolivia (age 25)

SCHIAVONI Aurelio countertenor,
Italy (age 32)

TELYATNIKOVA Daria mezzo-soprano
Russia (age 24)

VISTOLI Carlo countertenor
Italy (age 25)

WILDER Zachary tenor
USA (age 28)

100 young singers from 33 countries will attend the 3rd International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti 2012!

The 3nd International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti 2012, held by the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, has drawn a strong response from young singers worldwide. Out of 130 applications, 100 young singers from 33 countries and six continents were chosen to participate in the 1st round. From 18 to 23 August, female singers (born 1981 and later) and male singers (born 1979 and later), who come from “A” as in Australia to “V” as in Venezuela, will face the jury in this Academy Project.

International experience
Once again, some of the singers will be highly experienced, having worked with leading musical personalities such as Valery Gergiev, William Christie, Thomas Hengelbrock, John Eliot Gardiner, Alessandro De Marchi, Lars Ulrich Mortensen, Andrea Marcon, Paul Goodwin, Richard Egarr, Christophe Rousset, Laurence Cummings, Christopher Hogwood, Vincent Dumestre, Andrew Lawrence-King, Gabriel Garrido, Diego Fasolis, Michael Chance, Sigiswald Kujiken, Harry Christophers and Ruben Dubrovsky, as well as with famous ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Kammerorchersterbasel,  Venice Baroque Orchestra, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Wiener Akademie, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina und King’s Consort. The singers gave concerts as soloists in venues such as the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Musikverein in Vienn, Berlin Konzerthaus, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Barbican Center, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, in Aix-en-Provence, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Göttingen International Handel Festival, the Bachfest Leipzig, the Glyndebourne Festival and Musikfestspiele Potsdam. They had engagements as opera singers in the Opera House in Cologne, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, the Copenhagen Opera House, the Kings Place in London, Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the Marinski Theatre in St. Petersburg, Bulgarian National Opera, the Opera House in Leipzig and the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Final concert
The final concert is open to the public and will take place on 23 August (7 p.m., Tiroler Landeskonservatorium). The winner of a special prize will be voted directly by the audience. The 100 singers will be competing for three main prizes (4,000 euros, 3,000 euros and 2,000 euros), the Atle Vestersjø Young Artists Award (1,500 euros), the audience prize (1,000 euros) as well as special prizes from the Vienna Resonanzen Festival, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam-Sanssouci, the Theater an der Wien and the BAROQUE OPERA:YOUNG of the 2013 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. These prizes are connected to follow-up engagements at the mentioned festivals and venues.

The repertoire
The repertoire in the competition comprises arias and scenes from baroque operas by George Frideric Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Francesco Cavalli, Pietro Antonio Cesti and Antonio Vivaldi. The focus lies on Purcell‘s „Dido and Aeneas“, which will be performed in 2013 together with John Blow’s opera “Venus and Adonis” as a part of BAROQUE OPERA:YOUNG, a project of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. The first two rounds will be taking place from 19 to 21 August. On 22 August, there is a preparation round for the finals and on 23 August, the final round will take place, with ten finalists competing against each other.

The jury
The high-class jury is composed of renowned representatives of the baroque opera scene: Alessandro De Marchi, conductor, artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Anne Gjevang, John Mark Ainsley, opera singer, Hein Mulders, (designated director from 2013 of the Aalto Theatre and the and the Philharmonie Essen), Eitan Sorek, Artist Manager Sorek Artists Management, Alberto Triola, artistic director of the Festival della Valle d'Itria, Martina Franca, Joshua Winograde, director of artistic administration and casting at the Los Angeles Opera, and the chairman of the jury Sebastian F. Schwarz, director of artistic administration and casting at the Theater an der Wien.

The participants
The participants come from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech, Denmark, France, Germany, Greek, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lativa, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Swizzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukrain, USA and Venezuela.

20.06.2012