Sao Paulo Opera Company invites Latin American lyric singers to participate in the 17th version of the María Callas Brazilian Singing Contest. Among the prizes are cash, scholarships and participation in the 2019 season of the Brazilian company

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The 17th María Callas Singing Brazilian Contest, with the artistic direction of Paulo Abrão Esper, will take place from April 7th to 14th, 2019, in the cities of São Paulo and Jacareí.

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All Brazilian and Latin American singers between the ages of 18 and 40, resident or not, will be able to participate in their countries. Singers of other nationalities may register, if they reside in Brazilian territory more than six months ago.

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Registration is free and can only be made on the website of the Cia Ópera São Paulo (www.ciaopera.com.br), starting at 0:00 o’clock in the Brasilia time (UTC – 03: 00 *) of the January 2 until March 10, 2019 at 23:59 ** ** Brasilia hours (UTC -03: 00).

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The award is divided into two categories: Feminine and Masculine. Being three prizes for each category: First, Second and Third places. In addition to the Special Audience Award.

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The Contest will be held in three stages: Qualifying, Semifinal and Final.

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For registration the candidate must submit a program respecting the following requirements:

• Six opera arias in total. Zarzuelas and Operetas will be accepted (sung in original and memory language and tonality).
• The submitted program must have, at least, two languages.
• Arias with recitativo and caballeta must bepresented in full.
• After confirmation of registration, the program can not be modified.

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To register online, the following digitized and legible documents will be necessary:

• A copy of the identity document or passport.
• A copy of a simple Residence Proof (can be any correspondence in your name).
• A recent face photo.
• A brief professional review (maximum of 10 lines) (To upload the documents, only the following formats will be accepted: .jpg. .Jpeg, .tif, .png .pdf, .doc, .docx, .txt e. rtf).

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In the Eliminatory stage, the candidate must submit a free election aria, among the six presented in the program. In the Semifinal and Final stages, the candidate must present two arias that will be chosen by the jury. The order of arias presented in the program does not indicate, in any way, the order of presentation of arias during the stages of the contest.

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The order of presentation of the candidates in the eliminatory stage and other stages will be determined by the organization. For the Eliminatory, which will be held in two days, the criteria used to determine the day of presentation of each participant, but not restricted to that, is: Candidates resident more than 300 km from the city of São Paulo must be present on the day April 9th, 2019 and all others on April 8th, 2019. 10. The Contest will offer official pianists to the candidates.

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Candidates will be entitled to one trial before each phase. The candidate will be informed of his/hers  pianist until one week before the start of the Elimination Phase. The pianist can be alternated during the realization of the stages of the Contest. The candidate may present  with his/hers own pianist. In this case, inform the name of the pianist on the Registration Form.

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It will be necessary to bring a copy of the scores for the Contest pianist during the stages. Ifnecessary, the pianist may request copies of the scores in advance.

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The jury will be composed of singers, artistic directors, critics and directors of specialized international journals.
The winners, must be presented in the “Recital of Premiação” to be held in two days: one in the city of Jacareí on April 12, 2019 (Friday), at 8:00 pm, in the Auditório da Secretaria Municipal de Educação and the other in São Paulo on April 14, 2019 (Sunday), at 11 am, at the Sérgio Cardoso Theater.

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Official Awards 17th María Callas Brazilian Singing Contest:

• 1st Grande Women’s Prize R $ 5,000.00 (Five thousand reais)
• 2nd Great Female Prize R $ 3,000.00 (three thousand reais)
• 3rd Grande Premio Femenino R $ 2,000.00 (Two thousand real)
• 1st Great Male Award R $ 5,000.00 (Five thousand reais)
• 2nd Great Male Award R $ 3,000.00 (Three thousand reais)
• 3rd Great Male Award R $ 2,000.00 (Two thousand reais)
• Special Award from the Public “José Esper Netto “(in memoriam) R $ 1,000.00 (Thousand reais)

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Other Awards Season 2019 of the Sao Paulo Opera Company: Any candidate actually registered in the Contest may be chosen to participate artistically in the following productions that will be carried out within Season 2019:

• “Trilogia Tudor” (G. Donizetti)
• Recitals of Singing and Sculpture of the Opera Madama Butterfly by G. Puccini.
• Manaus Opera Festival: Selection of a candidate registered and / or winner in the 2019/2020 Season of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Artistic Culture Study Scholarship within the Magda Tagliaferro program to an enrolled singer that exceeds the Semifinal Phase of the Contest, with a maximum age of 24 years until June 30, 2019.

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Ayuda Hospedaje a: Candidates and their registered pianists who reside in more than 300 km from the city of São Paulo, as well as those residing outside of Brazil, will have breakfast accommodation paid by the Organization of the Competition during the Elimination Phase.
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For more information call +55 11 3467-0815 via email concursomariacallas@uol.com.br

Competition rules