British soprano Gemma Summerfield wins the Tenor Viñas first prize

Gemma Summerfield has won the prestigious first prize at the 59th International Tenor Viñas Contest – a key event in the world of opera – awarded by the Puig Foundation and the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation.

The 31-year-old British soprano Summerfield has won the first prize at the 59th Tenor Viñas International Singing Contest, worth 25,000 euros and awarded every year by the Puig Foundation and the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation.

In the course of her career, Summerfield has accumulated a long list of notable awards, including first prize at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino. She has been awarded the Tenor Viñas first prize for her performance of Adriana Lecouvreur’s Io son l’umile ancella and Verdi’s Ernani involami. The second prize was awarded to the French mezzo-soprano Eugénie Joneau, and SeokJong Baek from South Korea won the third prize.

L’Edició del concurs d’aquest any ha batut rècords tenint en compte An almost record number of singers entered this year’s edition of the competition, which is all the more remarkable in view of the current circumstances of the pandemic. There was a total of 600 participants from 61 countries, proof that the competition has become a key international event and is seen by young opera singers as an excellent opportunity to advance their artistic careers. The competition, which can now lay claim to some 13,000 participants since its launch, included a new category this year, the Opera-Oratorio Lied, whose goal is to discover more complete singers capable of performing broader repertoires.