Renata Tebaldi, whose magnificent voice rang out for the first time at the little parish church in Langhirano and who then went on to be known and loved by admirers all over the world, spent the last years of her life in San Marino and was lovingly “adopted” by this city state.
For a long time the Republic of San Marino had wanted to organise an international singing competition in honour of the great soprano and Tebaldi herself greeted the idea enthusiastically. With great dedication and passion her dearest friends managed to pull off a miracle: in the shortest conceivable time they brought to life what the specialist press have dubbed one of the best European singing competitions.
From Langhirano to San Marino, as if we wanted to retrace this marvellous person’s life in a single bound, we want to embrace this laudable enterprise undertaken by the friends in San Marino with whom we share the spirit of affection and friendship by hosting the winners of the Renata Tebaldi Competition, hoping that these youngsters will be able to follow such an example of high artistic achievement, learn from it and be inspired by it.

Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition
The Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition Republic of San Marino, entrusted to the artistic direction of Maestro Augusto Ciavatta, has set itself the objective of creating a reference point for promising new opera singers in the ancient Titan republic to provide a springboard for their artistic future, thanks to the assessment of experts of the highest order at auditions with the Artistic Directors and Superintendents of important theatres and the appropriate financial contribution of the prizes awarded to the winners.
What makes this competition special is that it has room for the entire vocal repertoire, not just opera but also Lieder, oratory and chamber, in which candidates have to demonstrate sufficient preparation and compete for prizes relating to each different stylistic category.
The final phase of the first competition took place from 19th to 25th September 2005. The jury, presided over by the highly regarded singing maestro Elio Battaglia, was composed of the unforgettable Magda Olivero and Carlo Bergonzi, colleagues and friends of Renata Tebaldi; the sopranos Jeanette Pilou and Daniela Uccello; Sergio Segalini, artistic director of Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Luca Targetti, representative of the Metropolitan Opera, New York and Steven Hastings, editor of Musica journal and music critic of the prestigious Met publication Opera News.
The winners were the stars of the concluding concert, accompanied by the San Marino Titan Chamber Orchestra conducted by an outstanding maestro, Günter Neuhold.
Besides the competition there are various associated activities, among them an exhibition of sheet music and papers associated with Renata Tebaldi, with unpublished items and rare editions from all over the world relating to the great artist, an exhibition of stage costumes belonging to the singer and the production of a DVD.

 

Francesca Ji Hyun Park, soprano - Virginia Lorena Wagner, soprano

Romina Boscolo, alto - Celso Albelo Hernandez, tenor

Clara Jun Hye Kyung, piano