The "Belvedere" singing competition for young opera singers named after Hans Gabor, the founder and long-standing manager of the Chamber Opera in Vienna, is not a foreign concept to the city of Jūrmala. Since 2005, Jūrmala has been the venue where, with the support of the Jūrmala City Council, the rounds of auditions of the Baltic States have taken place. Over the course of these years, numerous opera singers from Latvia have had a chance to participate in the competition in Vienna. It is therefore not a coincidence that the 2015 rounds of auditions for the "Belvedere" singing competition for young opera singers of the Baltic States and Belarus are organised on 25 May at the Small Hall of the Dzintari Concert Hall. It is rather a far-sighted step to make the name of Jūrmala be heard in the international classical music arena, alongside such classical music capitals as Milan, Vienna, Oslo, Berlin, London, etc.
The "Belvedere" singing competition for young opera singers was held for the first time in Vienna in 1982. Taking into account the large number of interested people and participants, since 1992, audition rounds of the competition are being organised in various cities around the world. The "Belvedere" opera singer competition took place outside Austria for the first time in 2013, thus giving an opportunity also to other cities to welcome the competitors and organise the international competition. In 2013, the competition took place in Amsterdam, in 2014 — in Düsseldorf, but this year it will return to Amsterdam, to then go to the South African city of Cape Town in 2016. Competition venues after 2016 have not yet been approved, which is why Jūrmala can be in the running and it would be the Dzintari Concert Hall, which might become the venue of this prestigious competition.
The performances of the young opera singers in the "Belvedere" opera singer competition is assessed not only by professionals, experts and musicians of the music or opera industry, but rather by potential employers, opera intendants, and agency directors, managers of influential operas and festivals, music promoters and representatives from the media industry. Likewise, a "Press Award" is given, and the audience choose a winner from among the audition round participants for the "Audience's Pick".
The Hans Gabor "Belvedere" opera singer competition is an important point of departure for young opera singers from around the globe — such globally known Latvian opera singers as Egils Siliņš and Elīna Garanča are among former competition participants and laureates.
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