7 Hungarians, 23 Russians and even a Congolese competitor made it to the preliminary of the Marton Competition

The 4th Éva Marton International Singing Competition kicks off on September 6 with the participation of 116 competitors from 32 countries. That is how many contestants will receive notifications over the coming days having been selected to the first live round of the competition. The pre-qualification jury chaired by Éva Marton, which also included Kossuth and Liszt Prize-winning opera singer Atilla B. Kiss as well as Liszt Prize-winning conductor and meritorious artist Balázs Kocsár, praised the applications submitted online as being of outstandingly high quality, which is why they selected more competitors for the first round than in any previous competition.

The pre-qualification jury chose 59 men and 57 women, with the youngest and oldest competitors both being baritones. The former is a 19-year-old Ukrainian singer and the latter a 35-year-old Japanese singer, who will celebrate his birthday in October, meaning that he will narrowly miss the upper age limit.

With respect to nationalities, Russians (23) and Ukrainians (18) are present in significant numbers, but Korea is also represented by 16 competitors. Five contestants from China and the United States each made it to the semi-finals. Competitors from the United Kingdom, Poland and Israel have also been selected, and organisers expect singers from far-away countries like Congo, Iran, Australia, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

As in previous competitions, sopranos and baritones are the most numerous in numbers, but representatives of special, rare voice ranges as countertenor and contralto will also be present in the semi-finals.

The Competition Secretariat will notify competitors via email. Click here for a list of the selected singers.