The competition to enter the Academy of Advanced Training for Opera Singers, which saw more than 400 candidates participate in the video pre-selection, 31 of whom passed the elimination stage in Milan, has recently concluded.
Eighteen finalists performed today on the stage of Teatro alla Scala: among them, 12 were admitted to the Singing Academy, two-year period 2025-27.
They are sopranos Etīna Emīlija Saulīte (Latvia), Aigerim Altynbek (Kazakhstan), Mariapaola Di Carlo and Sabrina Sanza (Italy), mezzo-sopranos Hyeonsol Park (South Korea) and Saori Sugiyama (Japan), by tenors Cristobal Alberto Campos Marin (Chile), Litai Zhuo and Zizhao Chen (China), baritones Akilbek Piyazov (Uzbekistan) and Geunhwa Lee (South Korea), and bass Zhibin Zhang (China).
Attendance at the two-year program is free; students will benefit from scholarships offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Fondazione Milano per la Scala and the generous patrons who support the Academy each year. The program is particularly demanding: in addition to intense daily study, the soloists will have numerous opportunities to perform, particularly on the prestigious stage of La Scala for concerts and opera productions, but not only. The world's most important festivals, theaters and concert halls await them for a rich calendar of events that allows them a continuous confrontation with the audience and a constant measurement of their abilities. Perfecting vocal technique will be entrusted to Luciana D'Intino, the course's teaching leader.
The specialization course of the 12 new students will kick off in October. On Sunday, June 29 at La Scala, with the Institutional Concert of the graduating soloists, we will say goodbye to the outgoing class, but only symbolically: we will find the new graduates again in September, in the Academy Project - Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola conducted by Gianluca Capuano in the historic direction signed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle - alongside former students from previous two-year degrees and together with the young musicians of our school's Orchestra.
