Guldana Aldadossova is first on stage in the preliminary
Liszt Academy’s event began on Sunday evening with the opening statement of Éva Marton, followed by the drawing of the order in which the 56 contestant will perform in the preliminaries.
In line with the tradition followed at competitions organized by the Liszt Academy, the youngest contestant, 25-year-old Japanese soprano Machida Amane, drew the number of the first performer, who will be Kazakh singer Guldana Aldadossova. The other contestants will follow in alphabetical order through the end of the alphabet, and then from the beginning. This order will be valid throughout the competition. A total of 56 contestants registered for the live rounds.
In addition to Liszt songs, the compulsory repertoire includes countless opera arias from popular works to lesser-known ones.
Admission to the five semi-finals (held from Monday through Wednesday) and the two semi-finals on Thursday in the Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy is free of charge with no registration required. In these rounds, competitors will take the stage accompanied by piano.
Tickets are available for Saturday's final held in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, followed by the results announcement, and for Sunday's gala at the Hungarian State Opera, where the prizes and special awards will be presented. On these two evenings competitors will be accompanied by the orchestra of the Opera, led by Péter Halász.
Those interested in the competition can watch all the rounds and the final events from anywhere in the world via the online stream. Further details and the whole programme can be found on the martoncompetition.hu website.
The names of those who have qualified for the semi-finals will be revealed on Wednesday evening, and of those who made it to the finals on Thursday evening.
"Thank you for coming and for trusting us to listen to you and to choose the best", said world-famous soprano Éva Marton at the draw. She advised the young talents to not to stand out with a high volume, but show subtlety and emotion. The Éva Marton Special Prize, supported by the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA), will be awarded at the gala to the contestant whose outstanding performance in the competition is specially honoured by the artist.
The prestigious international singing competition is supported by MOL – New Europe Foundation and the National Cultural Fund of Hungary.
