Three artists from the Plácido Domingo Perfection Center win the 51st Francisco Viñas International Competition
21.02.2014
Valencia. Three artists from the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo have emerged victorious in the 51st edition of the Francisco Viñas International Competition, which was decided on January 17th at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona.
Sopranos Ximena Agurto, Jingkyung Park and Miren Urbieta, who completed their artistic training in this project based at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, have earned several mentions in this competition, one of the most prestigious on the international circuit, which was founded in 1963 by Jacint Vilardell in memory of the Catalan tenor Francisco Viñas.
The Liceu in Barcelona organizes this competition in collaboration with leading opera houses such as the Hamburg State Opera, London's Covent Garden, Madrid's Teatro Real, Milan's La Scala, New York's Metropolitan Opera, and the Paris National Opera. The Los Angeles and San Francisco opera companies are also participating, as is the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China.
The competition consists of several awards (official, junior, special and extraordinary prizes) in addition to other mentions such as scholarships, concerts and contracts in opera houses in Spain and other countries.
Ximena Agurto, who sang at the Palau de les Arts in Fernández Caballero 's duet from 'La Africana' and in the show 'Operame. ¿Qué diablos es la ópera?' (Operate Me. What the Hell is Opera?), was the big winner with four awards. The Peruvian soprano received the Third Official Prize of this competition, as well as the Special Prize offered by the Teatro Nacional de la Zarzuela for best performer in this genre, the Extraordinary Prize offered by the Amics de l'Ópera de Sabadell association, and finally, the audience award for the final round.
Miren Urbieta, who participated in the 2010 tour of the OCV with Enrique García Asensio as musical director through various locations in the Valencian Community, has won the extraordinary prize offered by Plácido Domingo to the best Spanish singer.
Finally, Jinkyung Park, who in the past season of the Valencian arts center, played Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte , and the First Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte , has won the extraordinary prize offered by pianist Dalton Baldwin.
The jury for this edition was made up of: Joan Matabosch, Tobias Hasan, Boris Ignatov, Siegfried Jerusalem, Peter Katona, Elisabeth Pezzino, Joan Pons, Leonore Rosenberg, Birgitta Svendén, Gabriella Tucci and Ilias Tzempetonidis.
