Operalia 2012: Final Round

Founded in 1993 by Maestro Plácido Domingo, Operalia has revealed to the world Major voices such as the ones of Joyce DiDonato, Rolando Villazón, Stéphane Degout, Inva Mula, Nina Stemme, José Cura, John Osborn, Susanna Phillips, Ludovic Tezier, ... During the past twenty years, the jury of Operalia, headed over by Plácido Domingo as a non-voting member, has travelled the world to catch the greatest talents. After the most renowned opera houses of Paris, Los Angeles, Porto Rico, Washington, Madrid, Quebec, Milan or Moscow, Operalia sets in the most important centers of scenic art in China: the monumental National Center for the Performing Arts – the Bird's Egg, as it is often called – imagined by Paul Andreu and inaugurated in 2007.

Operalia's goal is clear: "My purpose in Operalia is to help identify not only the best voices, but also to discover those singers whose personalities, characters and powers of interpretation show that they have the potential to become complete artists. Individuals such as these become tomorrow's stars. This is why the jury is not exclusively made up of great singers but also includes general managers, stage directors and casting directors," Maestro Domingo says.

Like every year, a thousand young singers applied to be the next Operalia winner. Only fourty of them went Beijing in June, and only a dozen of them competed during the final round's gala concert conducted by Plácido Domingo himself on June 10.

WINNERS OF THE 2012 EDITION

1st prize

- Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor – United States of America
- Amartuvshin, baritone – Mongolia
- Janai Brugger, soprano – United States of America

2nd prize

- Brian Jagde, tenor – United States of America
- Yunpeng Wang, baritone – China
- Guanqun Yu, soprano – China

3rd prize 

- Roman Burdenko, baritone – Russia
- Nadezhda Karyazina, mezzo-soprano – Russia

CulturArte Prize - Bertita & Guillermo Martinez

- Antonio Poli, tenor – Italy

The Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Prize of Zarzuela

- Yunpeng Wang, baritone – China

The Pepita Embil Domingo Prize of Zarzuela

- Janai Brugger, soprano – United States of America

Prize of the Audience 

- Yunpeng Wang, baryton – Chine
- Janai Brugger, soprano – United States of America

Picture: Amartuvshin, first prize ex aequo with Anthony Roth Costanzo and Janai Brugger.