2025 Competition Presentation

The Cascais Opera – International Vocal Competition was born out of a dream and a clear vision: to offer a platform that supports young operatic talents and boosts their careers by offering opportunities for growth and international artistic affirmation. We believe that artistic excellence is built on real opportunities, international visibility and an environment that values cultural diversity and innovation.
To create a project such as this one from scratch, an opera competition, was, and continues to be, and extraordinary challenge that started with a conversation between Adriano Jordão, Sergei Leiferkus and myself. And now we are already on our second edition.
We are committed to building a cultural project that values training and artistic growth, but also makes a profound contribution to the intellectual and human development of all the participants. We hope that these values will make these contestants better artists and better human beings, but it is also true that the entire Cascais Ópera team is enriched by the presence of these young artists from all over the world.
Cascais, with its unique beauty and strong cultural tradition, is the perfect setting to host this competition with all the multiple desires it entails. Since the first edition in 2024, we have been consolidating Cascais Opera as a meeting point for singers from all over the world, putting Portugal on the map of the international opera circuit. The exponential growth in the number of applications, from the first to the second edition, as well as the recent involvement of prestigious institutions, such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, underpin the importance of this initiative and the conviction that we are on the right track.
Our mission goes beyond the competition stricto sensu: we want to form new audiences, to democratize access to culture, to encourage the study of music and singing in particular, we want Cascais and Portugal to contribute to the connection between artists and major opera institutions such as Festivals, Opera Houses, Theatres, Young Artist’s Programmes and more. With these goals in mind, we have worked to increase the number of partnerships and contract prizes we offer to young singers at the end of each edition and to further the internationalization of the Competition. This has been a driving motivation, which resulted in our presence at international events by the World Federation of Music Competitions (WFIMC) and our recent integration into the Opera Latinoamérica (OLA) network.
None of this would be possible without the support of everyone who believes in this project – from the candidates who bring their talent and dedication, to the meticulous and dedicated work of the Jury, our institutional partners, our various sponsors and patrons who have supported us from the very beginning and the tireless team who work passionately to make this vision a reality. To everyone, my deepest thanks.
Cascais Ópera has only just begun. We remain committed to making this competition a place of opportunity, growth and artistic excellence, in one of the most inspiring places in the world – a place where everyone is welcome and has a place.
Cascais Ópera is already a point of arrival for singers from all over the world, but it is, and will be, a starting point for the infinite world of possibilities that opera offers us.
Cascais Ópera – where the future of opera is born!