Placido Domingo’s Operalia is the world’s most prestigious opera competition – and it’s coming to Cape Town later this year! PETA STEWART explains how it happened:
The initial spark came late last year – would the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra be interested in hosting Placido Domingo’s Operalia, the foremost opera competition in the world, presented by Rolex? Louis Heyneman, CEO of the CPO, didn’t hesitate. Of course, he said to Kamal Khan, who regularly conducted the CPO, confidante of Maestro Domingo (pictured left), a coach for the competition and a co-conductor. Heyneman quickly brought Cape Town Opera and Artscape on board and the journey began.
In January, the hosts welcomed to Cape Town Operalia’s Vice-President Alvaro Domingo and Executive Director Michela Douet, for in-person meetings, a reconnaissance of the Artscape Theatre Centre and to visit various local hotels. Their technical rider preceded them, and a more comprehensive technical rider has yet to be written. Rooms were checked, and the Southern Sun Cullinan was chosen as the accommodation partner. Volvo came on board as a local transport sponsor and soon the City of Cape Town was committed, seeing the opportunity to reinforce, as Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis noted, “our city’s status as a culture capital, renowned for its natural beauty and rich cultural heritage.”
Then the work began. How many rooms? What kind of rooms? Would the suite for the maestro meet his needs? When did who arrive and when did they leave? Obviously, the organizational team would come early, the judges later but how many judges? Who would be project manager? When would the competition be announced, when would bookings open? How many offices were required (one at Artscape and one in the hotel.)
What did Medici.tv require locally in order to stream the final concert of the competition, free of charge, around the world? What would be required for the voting boxes for the audience choice? Where would they be placed? When would the hosts be given the final choice to enable them to have the insert printed for the programme which was being produced in New York but printed in Cape Town? Where would the media conference be held and whose logos would be on the media wall?
Entries from all over the world
The date and venue were announced from New York, with the application form online. Entries, some 800 of them, flooded in from all over the world from Canada to New Zealand and everywhere in between, as well as naturally from South Africa. Three specialised judges were appointed to listen to all the entries.
There was great excitement when the short list was announced, for five of the 34 have strong links with Cape Town. All five, Luvo Maranti, Thando Mjandana, Sakhiwe Mkosana, Siphokazi Molteno and Nombulelo Yende, studied at Opera UCT. Maranti, Molteno and Yende have all sung with the CPO; Molteno, Mjandara, Mkosana and Yende have sung with CTO. Molteno and Yende were finalists in the recent Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
Domingo and Douet came back to Cape Town for a couple of days, bringing with them a representative from Rolex to vet the venue again, taste dishes presented by potential caterers for the Rolex gala dinner for 300 invited VIPs, and make more choices. Where would the dinner be? Because the competition itself is about two hours of singing and then the time it takes for the judges to deliberate, the dinner must be on site or people tend to get anxious and consider leaving.
The choice: The Chandelier Foyer at Artscape would be the optimal setting, although this would create challenges in accommodating the 1500 ticket holders. Where would the judges be sequestered for the final round’s deliberation? What goes into the programme beyond the obvious?
Domingo has been involved with the competition since the inception and it is a family affair, since his brother Placido Jr. composed the Operalia hymn, and his nephew, Dominic serves as production supervisor. Douet joined the team almost twenty years ago and both Alvaro and Michela know the business inside out, knowing what they want and never being deflected from their purpose for they know what works and what doesn’t.
Foremost opera competition in the world
So why the fuss about this competition? For a start, it is the foremost opera competition in the world, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Cape Town has been chosen as the venue because, as Alvaro Domingo says, “the partnership, experience and professionalism of South Africa’s foremost cultural organisations offer the ideal platform for bringing the competition for the first time to African soil.”
The competition has created careers for many opera stars and indeed helped establish the international reputations of winners like our own Pretty Yende and Levi Segkapane. Will one of South Africa’s five be the next one?
Behind the scenes the work continued … the judges were chosen for the final round on 5 November 2023, the round accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic, and conducted by Maestro Domingo himself, assisted by Kamal Khan.
Amongst the judges is Magdalene Minnaar, CTO’s artistic director, while others represent some of the foremost opera houses in Europe and America.
Once the short-list was finalised and the singers notified, the next round of details began. Getting letters done for visa applications, which may be routine for some but when an Armenian singer lives in a city in the US without a South African representative, he has to make plans to make an appointment and travel to the nearest city with a Consulate-General. This takes time.
Ready for Operalia 2023!
Getting the production up and running at the box office was another challenge and not a simple matter since Rolex requires specific tickets for its guests, Operalia requires rows closed off for judges and its team, the host partners require tickets for major sponsors for the gala concert and for developmental projects. For the preliminaries which take place on 30 and 31 October, (quarter-finals, with piano) and 1 November (semi-finals with piano), the entire stalls of Artscape Opera House have to be closed off so the judges can be assured of absolute privacy when deliberating. Pricing was a serious discussion – the competition is costing several million Rands to stage (Rolex sponsorship covers the overall administration costs of the competition, the prize monies and the large group’s travel to Cape Town, yet the partners must underwrite the rest) and box office income is critical to break even in an arts environment that struggles for sustainability despite its youth education and development programmes.
All that said, in the first 24 hours of ticket sales at Computicket and Dial-A-Seat at Artscape, nearly 300 tickets were sold for the gala and another 300 for the preliminary rounds, most to locals but some to those abroad and tickets have been moving ever since. This, says Heyneman, shows that Cape Town is ready for Operalia 2023!
What: Placido Domingo’s Operalia
Where and when: Artscape from 30 October to 5 November 2023
Operalia tickets: Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and Computicket
WS
