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OPERA

Norwegian triumphs in Plácido Domingo contest

A Norwegian soprano was declared the female winner on Sunday of singing competition Operalia, established by opera star Plácido Domingo to foster young talent.

Published: 20 July 2015 10:08 CEST
Norwegian triumphs in Plácido Domingo contest
Plácido Domingo. Photo: Alf Ove Hansen / NTB scanpix

Soprano Lise Davidsen, 28, from Norway came first in the female category of the contest, held in London for the first time.
   
Davidsen recently graduated from the Royal Danish Opera Academy in Copenhagen and is due to make her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Ortlinde in “Die Walkure”.


Norway's Lise Davidsen performs Ruhe meine Seele by Richard Strauss

Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, the world opera competition, was founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo to discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today.

His goal is to attract singers of all voice tessituras and from every country in the world ranging from 18 to 32 years of age, to have them audition and be heard by a panel of distinguished international opera personalities, in the most prestigious and competitive showcase in the world.

OPERA

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing

Spain's main opera house, the Teatro Real in Madrid, defended itself Monday after it had to cancel a performance when a small group of spectators loudly protested against being seated too close to each other amid a spike in Covid-19 infections.

Published: 22 September 2020 11:23 CEST
A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing
View of the Teatro Real in Madrid. Photo: Claudia Schillinger/ Flickr

The performance of Giuseppe Verdi's “A Masked Ball” on Sunday night was called off after a “minority” of spectators repeatedly jeered and clapped despite being offered the chance to be relocated or get a refund for the value of their tickets, the theatre said in a statement.

Videos shared on social media by several spectators who were at the performance showed full rows in the upper sections where seats are cheaper, while in the pricier floor section many empty seats could be seen.

Clapping and calls of “suspension!” could be heard even after the actors tried to begin their performance.

The Teatro Real had “respected the health norms” put in place by the regional government of Madrid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and “even reinforced them”, the chairman of the body which manages the theatre, Gregorio Marañon, told a news conference on Monday.

Attendance at the performance had been reduced to just 51.5 percent of the total, well below the  limit of 75 percent set by the regional government, he added.

The regional government does not require there to be an empty seat between spectators, but it does require there to be a distance of 1.5 metres (five feet) between people, or if this is not possible, that they wear face masks, which is mandatory at the theatre, Marañon said.

The Teatro Real, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2018, is studying “what measures we can take for those spectators who… clearly felt in an uncomfortable situation,” he added.

The incident comes as the regional government of Madrid has imposed a partial lockdown in several densely-populated, low income areas mainly in the south of the Spanish capital where virus infections are surging, sparking a debate about inequality and triggering protests in these neighbourhoods over the weekend before the new measures took effect on Monday.

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