Tirana Times
TIRANA, October 28 – Seventeen international opera singers have arrived in Tirana and are making their last rehearsals ahead of the 11th edition of the Marie Kraja operatic festival.
Speaking to reporters this week, the festival’s organizer and host Zana Cela said the singers, selected out of 114 applications worldwide, will compete for two days from October 30 to 31 at the Academy of Arts in Tirana in an event which will be broadcast live by public television, TVSH.
The short-listed candidates for the festival named after Marie Kraja, one of Albania’s most famous opera singers, come from three continents. North America is represented with the United States and Mexico, Europe with Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Russia. Asia’s only contestant is South Korea. Meanwhile, apart from Albania, Greece and Macedonia are the two other Balkan participants.
“We are very confident of the high level of competition, which even in this edition, apart from awards, will end up with contracts among opera directors and agencies and participating artists,” said Cela, also the festival’s founder, optimistic that Albanian singers will do their best in the festival to gain international recognition.
Established in 1999 soon after Marie Kraja passed away at the age of 88, the festival was initially held as a national competition, before becoming Albania’s only internationally renowned operatic festival in the next few editions.
The careers of several young performers including Albanian tenor Josif Gjipali, soprano Evis Mula, Belgium’s Micheal Fisch and Turkey’s Perihan Diana Nayir kicked off at the Marie Kraja festival. Last year, young soprano Evis Mula managed to sign a two-year contract with La Scala, Milan’s world famous Opera House after winning the Marie Kraja festival. The festival’s jury is composed of some of the most prestigious directors of European and American opera houses.
