== ^ ==

Details

The Jury Partcipants Program Contacts

Media Partners

Organized for the first time
by the Hungarian Opera House of Cluj

Béla Bartók

International
Opera Conducting Competition

May 30 – June 14, 2005

In collaboration with
Blue Danube Productions (Vienna)
Balkan Opera Network (Sofia)

***

Welcome to the inaugural International Opera Conducting Competition In Memoriam Bela Bartok. There are many competitions around that world that test and identify exceptional capability of young and promising conductors of symphony orchestras. This is not the case for the more complex artistic activity of opera conducting.
During these two weeks in the culturally rich and historic town of Cluj-Napoca, 41 conductors from as far afield as Brazil and Japan will be challenged by a rigurous competition program before the public and an international jury of distinguished Maestri. Only after such thorough testing and assessment, can a decision be reached about the conductors most deserving of greater recognition and opportunity in the field. This year’s winners will be awarded both cash prizes and, more important, contracts to guest conduct professional opera companies in the region. The term ‘winners,’ however, is really a misnomer – all the conductors who compete this year will have won. Their greater confidence, experience and capability conducting this important repertoire as well as enhanced technique to deal with the intensity of the competition environment will bear surprising fruit for them in the future.
We hope you enjoy the competition process as conductors work their way through five great operas in today’s standard repertoire: Carmen by Georges Bizet; Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni; Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi; La boheme by Giacomo Puccini; and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle by Bela Bartok. Our thanks to the Hungarian Opera Cluj and its director, Mr. Gabor Simon, for the initiative and vision needed to make this unique and important international competition possible.

Most sincerely,
Anthony Armore
director of the competition

***

Participants
45 conductors from 23 countries: Austria, Brasil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Poland, Romania, Spain, Thailand, Taiwan, Switzerland, United States of America

Program
• Round I. (45 conductors), May 30 - June 4 (fragments from Bizet’s Carmen and Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana);
• Round II. (18 conductors), June 4 – 9 (Puccini ’ s La Boheme and Verdi’s Rigoletto)
• Round III. (6 competitors) June 10-12 (Bartók’s Duke Blue Beard's Castle);
• Announcing the winners: 12 th of June
• Opera gala with the participation of the winners:
14 th of June.

Prizes
The first three competitors will receive honorary diplomas and gratuities as well as contracts with different European opera companies.

• to discover the talented young opera conductors and create a possibility for them to meet in Cluj
• to popularize the cultural traditions of Cluj and the work of the Hungarian Opera House of Cluj
• to popularize opera music.

Sponsors:

Festival design & webpage by
István Molnár • Lizard Ltd.

== webmaster's e-mail ==