70 young singers from 18 countries, including Argentina, Austria, China, Montenegro, Georgia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine, the USA, and Italy, will take part in the 21st Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition in Nowy Sącz. The participants of the competition, which will begin on May 17, 2025, were selected by a panel consisting of Dr. Małgorzata Walewska and Prof. Wojciech Maciejowski.
A record-breaking 210 artists from 40 countries applied to participate in the competition, with submissions coming from six continents (Europe, Australia, South America, North America, Asia, and Africa).
Among the qualifiers, the largest group consists of Polish singers – 23 vocalists. The next largest group comes from Asia, including 10 artists from South Korea and 8 from China. As usual, sopranos make up the majority of participants, with 38 performing this year. Aside from that, 11 mezzo-sopranos, 4 tenors, 12 baritones, and 5 basses will compete for the laurels.
The current edition of the competition, which will run until 24 May, will traditionally take place in three stages. In the final round, the emerging singers will be accompanied by the Kraków Opera Orchestra under the direction of Marta Kluczyńska. The auditions will be held in the performance hall of the SOKÓŁ Małopolska Culture Centre in Nowy Sącz, Poland. The entire competition will be streamed on the event's website: https://adasari.pl/ and for the first time, the finals will be broadcast live on https://operavision.eu/, which offers free opera streams and recordings from European theatres and other venues. The online platform is managed by Opera Europa, an association of theatres, festivals, and other opera-related institutions. It is worth noting that the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition has recently joined this organisation.
The singers will be evaluated by an international jury, consisting of: Małgorzata Walewska - President of the Jury, Michael Barobeck, Viviana Barrios, Andrzej Dobber, Marcin Habela, Eeva-Maria Kopp, Sebastian Ukena, Claudia Visca, and Paweł Żółciński – Secretary of the Jury.
Agnieszka Malatyńska-Stankiewicz
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Competition website: https://adasari.pl/
