Young Voices Tested, Then Nurtured

Young Albanian soprano Inva Mula was quite literally plucked from the chorus in 1993, when renowned tenor Placido Domingo heard her sing at the Paris Opera--and promptly invited her to compete in his first annual opera competition, Operalia.

“It was a really wonderful story,” Domingo recalled in a telephone conversation from Wroclaw, Poland, where he was performing. “When I heard her singing in the chorus, I detected a star quality in her, and I said to her: ‘You have to come to the competition.’ And she was immediately a winner.”

Seven years later, the critically acclaimed Mula, 37--whose sparkling array of engagements for the 2000-01 opera season includes appearing in Los Angeles Opera’s production of “La Boheme” in November and December--credits her 1993 win at Domingo’s Operalia for launching her career.

“For me, it was a dream, to sing for Domingo,” said Mula, who followed her win at Operalia by singing with Domingo in a concert at the Bastille Opera House that was recorded by Sony Classical. The pair repeated their program of arias and duets in Brussels, Munich, Germany, and Oslo. “After this competition, my life changed,” Mula continued. “I started to be offered many contracts, and to sing around the world.

“This is the difference between Domingo’s competition and other competitions,” added Mula, who previously had taken the grand prize at the 1992 “Butterfly” competition in Barcelona, Spain, among other prestigious awards. “Other competitions, there was only the prize--I won, and that was it. Domingo’s commitment to us, to our careers, was really different.”

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Since the first contest in Paris, Operalia, which offers cash prizes and career support for opera singers under 30, has, like Mula, been around the world--holding its competitions in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Hamburg, Germany; Tokyo; Bordeaux, France; Madrid; and Mexico City. Operalia can count among its winners such promising young singers as countertenor Brian Asawa of Los Angeles, Uruguayan bass Erwin Schrott, Venezuelan tenor Aquiles Machado, Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta and American soprano Elizabeth Futral--all of whom will perform major roles with L.A. Opera this season.

And it’s no accident that Domingo is bringing Operalia 2000 to Los Angeles, Thursday to Sept. 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. This year, Domingo assumes the reins as artistic director of L.A. Opera, whose season opens Sept. 6 with Domingo conducting Verdi’s “Aida.”

Operalia 2000 will offer 40 promising singers--the cream of a pool of between 1,000 and 2,000 entrants--the chance at six cash prizes totaling $175,000. And, more important, the opportunity to add to their resumes the golden Domingo brand name.

The 11-member jury includes American singer Marilyn Horne; Edward Purrington, artistic administrator for Washington Opera; Jean-Pierre Brossman, general director of Paris’ Thea^tre du Cha^telet; Peter Katona, artistic administrator of the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden; and Gerardo Kleinburg, director of the Mexico National Opera.

“It is a fairly new competition,” observed Marc Scorca, president of Opera America, a Washington, D.C.-based service organization, “and by virtue of its being new, it is less established than, say, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions [established in 1954]. They are sort of the grandfather of opera competitions. On the other hand, in light of Placido’s international fame, his imprimatur makes it an important and highly visible competition.

“The fact that Placido is so connected at opera companies around the world . . . and certainly for the past several years has been a champion of young talent--any singer whom Placido hears and Placido thinks has potential, benefits from the experience.”

Scorca added that such competitions provide important financial support between the young singer’s music education and a lucrative career. “There is a huge leap between the conservatory and the career,” Scorca said. “It is a very, very troubled few years, a period of time during which activities such as voice lessons, coaching and role preparation are obligatory, and very expensive.

“I’m not going to suggest that a singer is hired or not hired because she has won 100 competitions as opposed to someone who has won two; what is important is that there is an economy to these competitions, so young people are able to support themselves during these difficult years.”

Scorca also noted that Operalia is unusual because it is international. Mainly for financial reasons, he said, many competitions must limit themselves to one country or region--the Metropolitan Opera’s competition, for example, is open only to contestants from the United States and Canada. “The winners truly reflect the global scope of our art form,” Scorca said.

In its first year, Operalia was limited to European contestants, but now invites applicants from around the world. Billionaire arts patron Alberto Vilar, a longtime friend of Domingo’s, puts up the prize money, and contestants’ travel costs and expenses are covered by the host city, Domingo’s foundation and other private sources. L.A.’s Department of Cultural Affairs will provide $50,000 for the competition this year.

Operalia’s free-of-charge “follow-up service”--open to all 40 contestants, not just winners--also sets this contest apart from the pack. The service helps contestants land engagements by distributing their portfolios, CDs and the like to opera managers and agents. The portfolios do not contain addresses or phone numbers, to avoid direct contact between candidates and agents.

Of course, the competition attracts plenty of unsolicited interest from talent seekers, noted Beverly Hills attorney Don Erik Franzen, who has represented Domingo for more than 15 years and serves as chairman of the Los Angeles Operalia Committee. “I noticed it last year in San Juan--the audience is full of agents, who had flown down from New York,” Franzen said. “I know a lot of people got signed, and signed with managers.”

Isabelle de Montaigu, Operalia’s executive director in Paris, noted that Domingo also provides invaluable personal advice to contestants, including steering them to the most appropriate arias for their own voice for the competition. “He advises them on how to conduct their career, how to train not to ruin their voices too early,” she said. “In history, there have been many examples of people who have ruined their voices because they sang the wrong parts.”

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Domingo is frank about his intention to continue to use Operalia as a breeding ground for L.A. Opera as well as Washington Opera, where he has served as artistic director since 1996; he will continue in that position in tandem with his L.A. post. He also is not shy about using his powerful connections to push for the casting of contestants with other major companies.

“I always thought that, without criticizing any other competition, that they never did enough--to follow the artists, to give more possibilities to the artist. Other competitions just tell them congratulations, and goodbye,” Domingo said. “We are really taking care of them, and I think that is really giving good results.

“When you see the list, when you see how many of them are making already the big international careers, some of them within one year of winning, it’s really great.”

Operalia’s preliminary live auditions, involving all 40 contestants, will be held Thursday; 20 contestants will be eliminated. The remaining 20 go on to the semifinal auditions Sept. 3. Both of these rounds are free to the public but require an admission ticket.

“For the past two years, we have made the preliminaries available to the public,” Domingo said. “Now we can see how the singers react in front of the public--not only in front of the judges. I also think it is going to be very important for music students at UCLA, especially the singers, and students from other campuses, to come and enjoy [it].”

The final contest, featuring 10 finalists, follows on Sept. 5, accompanied by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Domingo. Prizes will be awarded immediately following the event, and all 10 competitors will return to the stage to sing together. Tickets for this performance range from $10 for students to $75. The winners will return to Royce Hall on Dec. 15 for a gala concert with Domingo.

The six final prizes, the Alberto Vilar Awards, include a first, second and third prize; two prizes for zarzuela, or Spanish operetta (one for men, one for women); and a Prize of the Public, voted by the audience at the final competition.

The zarzuela prizes were created to honor Domingo’s parents, who formed their own zarzuela company during Domingo’s youth. The tenor was born in Madrid and raised in Mexico City, where his mother was known as the “queen of zarzuela.”

The first, second and third prizes go to outstanding singers regardless of vocal range--soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, countertenor, baritone or bass. Winning in these categories does not preclude winning in the zarzuela category or being honored as the public’s choice.

“The public gets very, very excited to know that they are going to be able to determine who is the winner of the Prize of the Public,” said Domingo. “And I tell you, very, very rarely do they get it wrong. Most of the time, they vote for the [overall] winner.”

An exception to that rule came at last year’s competition in San Juan--but they came close. “Last year, they voted for the guy who won the second prize, an extraordinarily gifted tenor from Mexico, Rolando Villazon--he has a great personality, but the judges thought the young bass [Bulgarian Olin Anastassov] was slightly better,” Domingo said.

May 15 was the deadline for contest hopefuls to submit audiotapes to Operalia’s headquarters in Paris. Contestants were required to record two arias in the original language and an optional zarzuela aria.

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One of this year’s contestants is 30-year-old tenor Bruce Harlan Sledge, a native of the city of Orange, who was named most outstanding graduate of the master’s degree in vocal arts program at USC’s Thornton School of Music in 1999. He was an L.A. Opera resident artist in 1999-2000, and will hold that position again this season.

“With my participation at L.A. Opera, it gives me the opportunity to have Domingo hear me in different situations,” said Sledge, who lives in Anaheim. “Any help that he can offer is great.”

Countertenor Asawa, 33, who won his prize in 1994 in Mexico, said he has not had much contact with Domingo since his win. “Maybe because of my voice type and because my repertoire is so specialized, I haven’t received that much in terms of guidance and that sort of thing,” he said. “If I were a lyric tenor, he might have had more say or more input with regard to guiding my career.”

Asawa notes that various plans to perform in companies affiliated with Domingo, including L.A. Opera, have fallen through, due to scheduling problems--but still he has gotten mileage out of the association.

“Every time a bio goes out about me, my having been a winner of Domingo’s Operalia competition is something that is focused on and highlighted,” he said with a laugh. “It’s definitely been a wonderful and positive thing for my career.”

Domingo acknowledges that “there is a lot of talking” among Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, UCLA and himself about the possibility of Operalia making a permanent home in Los Angeles.

“This competition is very costly,” Domingo said. “We have very good prizes, we pay for the trips, hotels, food--it is really quite expensive. We naturally need good sponsors, so we have found it is maybe easier to move the city each year [because the host city provides some of the funding]. But if Los Angeles is ready, I suppose we might consider staying.”

Los Angeles Cultural Affairs manager Al Nodal said a continuing relationship between the city and Operalia would be worth the tab. “It’s the kind of stuff that will continue to put LA on the cultural map; in terms of tourism, it can mean quite a bit of revenue for the city,” he said. “With Placido being at L.A. Opera now, we are really trying to do right by him this year, to establish a relationship for the future.”

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* Placido Domingo’s Operalia 2000, Thursday-Sept. 5, Royce Hall, UCLA. Preliminary auditions, Friday and Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; semifinal auditions, next Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; final contest, Sept. 5, 7 p.m. Preliminary and semifinal auditions are free, with ticket. Final contest is $25-$75, with a limited number of student tickets available for $10. Audition tickets available through UCLA Central Ticket Office, (310) 825-2101; final contest tickets available through UCLA Central Ticket Office; Ticketmaster, (310) 365-3500; or https://www.tickets.ucla.edu.