Operalia competition narrows field to 13 finalists

And then there were 13. The judges of the 2014 Operalia competition have announced the finalists who will compete for the big prizes on Saturday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

The 13 finalists were chosen from a field of 40 contestants, all of whom are young opera singers at the beginning of their careers. The top honors come with monetary prizes as high as $30,000.

Operalia, which was founded in 1993 by Placido Domingo, is an annual competition held in a different city each year and intended to help discover new vocal talent. This year’s competition marks the first time the event has been held in Los Angeles in a decade.

The jury typically selects 10 finalists but has leeway to include more names if scoring is close. Among this year’s finalists are four American singers: countertenor John Holiday, soprano Rachel Willis-Sorenson, soprano Amanda Woodbury and tenor Joshua Guerrero, a member of L.A. Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

The finals concert Saturday is a public event, though tickets must be purchased. It will also be streamed online at Medici.tv.

The full list of finalists:

Mario Chang (tenor, Guatemala, 24)
Anais Constans (soprano, France, 26)
Carol Garcia (mezzo-soprano, Spain 30)
Joshua Guerrero (tenor, U.S., 31)
John Holiday (countertenor, U.S., 29)
Alisa Kolosova (mezzo-soprano, Russia, 27)
Abdellah Lasri (tenor, Morocco, 32)
Yi Li (tenor, China, 30)
Andrey Nemzer (countertenor, Russia, 31)
Christina Poulitsi (soprano, Greece, 31)
Mariangela Sicilia (soprano, Italy, 28)
Rachel Willis-Sorenson (soprano, U.S., 30)
Amanda Woodbury (soprano, U.S., 26)

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT