South Korean tenor Keon Woo Kim and French soprano Elsa Dreisig have won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia 2016 singing contest. Both have done well in big competitions before, with Dreisig finishing runner up at the 2015 Queen Sonja Competition and Kim bagging first place at the 2015 Montreal International Musical Competition.
Second prizes went to Russian tenor Bogdan Volkov and American soprano Marina Costa-Jackson. Kosovo tenor Rame Lahaj and Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska picked up the third place prizes.
The competition was held at Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico, and ran from 19-24 July. It featured a concert from the 12 finalists, accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jalisco with Plácido Domingo conducting. It was the 23rd edition of the competition.
The Birgit Nilsson Prize (for best performance of Strauss or Wagner) went to American tenor Brenton Ryan, the audience award went to Kim while Russian soprano Elena Stikhina won the Culturarte Award.
