The second edition of Cascais Ópera 2025 officially began this Wednesday. Contestants are now competing for the prizes of this international Vocal competition, held for the second consecutive year in the idyllic town of Cascais.
The opening ceremony featured speeches from the three founders of the initiative – Alexandra Maurício (General Director), Adriano Jordão (Artistic Director), and Sergei Leiferkus (President of the Jury) – who welcomed the contestants, jury members, partners, guests, and official institutions.
“One of our commitments is to give you the tools to become better people in the world,” emphasized Alexandra Maurício. “Because we all know from experience that art is the only way to change the world.”
Sergei Leiferkus noted that the candidates selected for the live auditions “are already winners of this competition,” having been chosen from 340 applications from 49 countries around the world.
The renowned baritone, who leads the jury panel, also offered advice to the participants: “A great conductor doesn’t ask the orchestra to make a beautiful sound, but to create emotion.”
“Be your hero on stage. Don’t portray your hero—be your hero. That is very important, and it will bring wonderful results for your future,” he added.
Hae Kang, winner of the “Grand Prix Égide” in the first edition of Cascais Ópera, was invited back to Cascais to share his experience with the new contestants.
“My first time in Cascais was last year. As you can see, this place is wonderful—the sea, the sky, the atmosphere, everything is beautiful. But what impressed me the most was how well organized the competition was. The schedule was precise, the rehearsals were calm, and the whole experience was very professional.”
The grand prize winner of last year’s inaugural edition also shared that he hadn’t been confident he would be selected for the Grand Final and concluded: “Even when we think we didn’t sing well, our voices can still touch someone’s heart.”
Over the next two days, April 24 and 25, the young talents will undergo the first live audition rounds, open to the public, at the Centro Cultural de Cascais (Fundação D. Luís I). From these performances, 12 semifinalists will be selected.
Contestants will be progressively eliminated throughout the competition, until only eight finalists remain.
The event culminates with the live Grand Final on May 4 at 5:00 PM in the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. There, the finalists will perform some of the most iconic arias in the opera repertoire, accompanied by the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Antonio Pirolli.
