The Stella Maris jury

The jury is chaired by Canadian tenor, Michael Schade, one of the driving forces behind Stella Maris.

Joining him on the jury are:

Christina Scheppelmann
Director of Artistic Operations, Washington National Opera

Daniel Goodwin
Director Marketing & Media, Deutsche Grammophon

Martin Engstroem
Director, Verbier Festival, Switzerland

http://www.stella-maris-competition.de/en/home/jury/jury/michael-schade.html

The Stella Maris contestants

Listed here (in alphabetical order) are the singers who will be competing on board the EUROPA, along with the opera house which runs the young artists’ programme to which they belong or have belonged.

John Chest, baritone                
Bayerische Staatsoper

Claudia Galli, soprano            
OpéraNational de Paris

Adam Luther, tenor                  
Canadian Opera Company

Chris Lysack, tenor                  
Hamburgische Staatsoper

Daniela Mack, mezzo               
San Francisco Opera

Michael Müller, tenor               
Opernhaus Zürich

Anna Viktorova, mezzo
Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Anita Watson, soprano            
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

A short bio of each singer can be found at:
http://www.stella-maris-competition.de/en/home/artists/artists-2010.html

Aria ideas?

What would be a good choice of arias for a seaborne singing competition with ports of call as follows: Istanbul/Turkey, Antalya/Turkey, Paphos/Cyprus, Tartus/Syria, Beirut/Lebanon, Port Said/Egypt, Hurghada/Egypt, and Aqaba/Jordan?

The obvious operas are Entführung, Otello and Aida ... Armida was from Damascus and she proved regular operatic fodder ... The ship travels through the Red Sea, so Mosè in Egitto is another apt piece. There must be lots of others.

Videos from the 2009 Stella Maris competition

It helps to have a boat equipped with two Steinways and a Bösendorfer ...
http://www.stella-maris-competition.de/en/home/contest/videos-2009.html

Stella Maris is the seaborne singing competition for rising young opera stars, nominated by eight of the world's top opera houses. It takes place 6-16 November 2010 on MS EUROPA, the flagship of  Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, visiting Turkey Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Blogger Yehuda Shapiro is on board reporting for Opera Now, the world’s leading opera magazine.

The competing singers are from the young artists’ programmes run by: Royal Opera House London, Bavarian State Opera Munich, The Canadian Opera Company Toronto, Accademia Teatro alla Scala Milan, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Merola Opera Program San Francisco Opera and the Zurich Opera House.

In 2009, the first Stella Maris Competition was won by Jong-Min Park, a Korean bass from the young artists’ programme at La Scala, Milan.

In 2011, Stella Maris will be staged in the course of a cruise round the British Isles.