62nd Tenor Viñas Competition: Final Test
The Viñas International Tenor Singing Contest has announced the winner of the First Grand Prize of the 62nd edition of the Contest, the South Korean soprano, Gloria Jieun Choi, 33 years old. This first prize, offered to the Puig Foundation and the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation, this year has an endowment of €30,000 and involves a contract offered to the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation for the coming seasons.
The second award, of €15,000 offered by the Group Friends of the Viñas Tenor Competition, went to the Romanian baritone Mihai Damian, 28 years old, among the third, of €11,000, offered by Mrs. Cristina Bertran Salvans is the British tenor Robert Lewis, 28 years old.
The fourth prize, of €8,000, offered by the Cercle del Liceu, Real Cercle Artístic de Barcelona and in memory of Javier Villavecchia and Marta Obregón, offered by Villasa S.L., has been offered by the Russian tenor Egor Zhuravskii, aged 29, the fifth, of €7,000, offered by the Grup Amics del Concurs Tenor Viñas, the North American tenor Luke Norvell, aged 25 and the sixth, of €6,000, offers Mr. Joaquim Zamacois, Ms. Patricia Malet and the Grup Amics del Concurs Tenor Viñas are the also American tenor Michael Butler, 25 years old.
The Torras Foundation Extraordinary Award, offered by the Houston Grand Opera, has been awarded to Mihai Damian. It has been selected by Mr. Colin Brush, representative of the Houston Grand Opera, present in Barcelona. The winner will receive $25,000, plus an automatic invitation to compete in the semifinal round of the 2025-2026 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition.
The public vote has recognized the Italian soprano Sara Cortolezzis as the best female voice and the Romanian singer Mihai Damian as the best male voice.
At the Final Audition, held on Friday 24 January at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and presented by Lara Garcia, it was possible to hear the 17 finalists selected from among the 645 singers from 61 countries who participated in this year's edition. The event has a new scenography designed by the Tagarí stage designer Llorencet Corbella of the production company La Manchester.
After the performances, a recital was held by soprano Olga Kulchynska, winner of the First Grand Prize in the 52nd edition of the Viñas Tenor Competition. Accompanied by the pianist Rodrigo de Vera, she has performed opera arias and songs by Mozart, Puccini, Mompou, Moreno-Torroba and the Ukrainian composer Lyatoshynskyi
At the end, the verdict of the Jury was made public in the great hall of the Theatre.