The Messenger, Georgia
March 11 2005

Young opera stars test their skills in Tbilisi
By Nino Kopaleishvili

About 40 young Georgian opera singers participated in the preliminary
round of the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition
2005 held on March 7-9 at the Tbilisi Conservatory.

This was the second time that such rounds for choosing singers for
the Belvedere competition were held in the Caucasus. Last year a Jury
from Vienna chose five Georgian participants along with other
participants from Baku, Azerbaijan and Yerevan, Armenia.

“Last year it was very interesting and I think very successful,” said
Musical Director of the Vienna Chamber Opera Daniel Hoyem-Cavazza,
who anticipates that only three participants will be chosen from
Tbilisi this year.

“From Tbilisi I think we had five candidates that came to the
competition. All were very good, but it is always also a question of
luck,” he said.

Singer Ketevan Kemoklidze from Georgia was selected from last year’s
competition and chosen to sing at the final gala concert as well. As
a result of her exposure, Kemoklidze received an offer from La Scala
Studio in Milan.

“She is a very talented singer,” said Hoyem-Cavazza.

“To me it is astonishing the voices [Georgian singers] have from
nature. It is a talent that we do not find in Vienna,” said
Hoyem-Cavazza, who also gave advice on nurturing young singers. “They
have strong voices but sometimes they need to cultivate their voices.
Some of the singers are very talented, they have beautiful voices but
they are giving too much,” he added.

Many Georgian novice opera singers who do not have many opportunities
to present their skills find the competition as a good chance for
them to appear before a professional panel of judges.

“For the first time I appeared before a Tbilisi audience, and this is
of great importance for me,” said one of the participants Nino
Gogichaishvili who arrived from Batumi to compete.

For Tamuna Svanidze, who participated in the preliminary round last
year, this is a second chance to try her luck.

“The competitions here in Georgia are not frequent. Only once in four
years is there the [Georgian] Republic Competition,” she said.

In her final year of studies at Tbilisi Conservatory, Svanidze plans
to sing at Tbilisi Opera House and later pursue an education abroad.
“First I want to sing for the opera house here and just to test
myself, and then I want to go abroad and to study there,” she said.

The preliminary rounds for the 24th International Hans Gabor
Belvedere Singing Competition 2005 were held in two Caucasus counties
(Georgia and Armenia). According to Hoyem-Cavazza, the lack of
financial resources prevented them from holding a round in Baku.

For the 2004 competition, participants were selected from 50 cities
and about 3,000 young singers participated, 152 of them qualifying
for the finals in Vienna.