The NEUE STIMMEN 2019 semi-finalists have been selected

18 talented young opera performers have moved on to the semi-final of the NEUE STIMMEN 2019 international singing competition. Out of the 42 young participants who came to Gütersloh last weekend for the final round of the competition, 10 women and 8 men from 14 countries will go on to sing in the semifinal on Thursday, October 24.

The singers are:

Liz Mohn, NEUE STIMMEN president and vice-chairwoman of our foundation's Executive Board, praised the semi-finalists. "These young people have shown us the great enthusiasm and passion with which they are pursuing their dream," Mohn said. "They have the potential to captivate audiences from the world's great stages. I therefore wish all of the semi-finalists every possible success, from the bottom of my heart." "To those who have not advanced to the next round, I want to say that they have already reached the ranks of the best," Mohn added. "They have come this far in a field of nearly 1,500 competitors from 80 nations, and all have a good chance of a successful career as an opera singer."

The competition's final round began last Sunday, October 20, with piano rehearsals for the participants. On Monday and Tuesday, each of the young singers performed for the international jury chaired by Dominique Meyer, director of the Vienna State Opera.

In order to strengthen participants' awareness of the increased requirements in the opera world, NEUE STIMMEN will offer all non-finalists a seminar and individual coaching session on the issue of career planning. This will take place on Friday, 25 October 2019. The opera performers will in this way be given valuable knowledge relating to issues such as personality development and self-marketing, and will additionally have the opportunity to discuss their professional experiences to date.

As in past competitions, the semi-final concert on Thursday, October 24, and the final con-cert on Saturday, October 26, will be accompanied by the Duisburg Philharmonic under the direction of Jonathan Darlington. NEUE STIMMEN is among the few singing competitions worldwide in which performers are accompanied by an orchestra even at the semi-final stage.

The general rehearsals for the semi-final and final will be open to the public. These will take place in the Stadthalle Gütersloh on Thursday, October 24, and Saturday, October 26, each from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The semi-final and final will each be streamed live from 7:00 p.m. to about 10:30 p.m. at www.neue-stimmen.de and www.takt1.com/neue-stimmen. The final can also be watched live on arte Concert, at www.arte.tv/de/arte-concert/.