ASTANA – Astana Opera soloist Saltanat Akhmetova reached the finals of the Neue Stimmen vocal competition in Gutersloh, Germany, and was awarded the Classic Autumn Prize.
Out of 428 participants, 40 passed the qualifying round and only nine made it to the finals. A jury made up of directors of the largest theatres in Europe and North America assessed participants in different countries for three months.
This was Akhmetova’s first time participating in the competition. In the first round, she sang Cleopatra’s aria from Handel’s opera, “Julius Caesar.” In the semifinals, she performed the aria of the Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and in the finals she sang Lucia’s aria from Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and the Gavotte from “Manon” by J. Massenet.
“It is important to participate in contests, to meet with professionals and to feel the spirit of competition. It promotes creative growth. It’s a great achievement to be selected for the Neue Stimmen competition and reach the final. I am happy that I was able to represent the vocal art of Kazakhstan there,” Akhmetova said.
