Russian soprano wins Cesti singing competition

Russian soprano Elene Gvritishvili has won the Cesti singing competition at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, ORF reported. She finished ahead of Spanish mezzo-soprano Laura Orueta and Brazilian bass-baritone Luis-Felipe Sousa.

The emerging talent prize went to Russian mezzo-soprano Lora Grigorieva.

A total of 210 singers from 29 countries registered for this year’s competition, while 86 travelled to Innsbruck to take part. Nine finalists performed in Sunday’s final at the Haus der Musik Innsbruck, which was also broadcast worldwide via livestream.

The competition is named after Italian composer Pietro Antonio Cesti, who made Innsbruck a centre of Italian opera north of the Alps in the 17th century. The announcement of the winners also marked the end of this year’s Innsbruck Festival of Early Music.