A couple weeks ago, I attended The Christina and Louis Quilico Awards. It is the 5 year that this special presentation was held at the Canadian Opera Company (COC) as part of the free concert series. It featured artists of the COC Ensemble Studio.
The artists, who are all young and upcoming opera singers, competed in the Awards, which then presented cash prizes at the end of the evening. There were at least 10 artists who sang two arias – one aria of his or her own choosing and a second aria that was selected by the panel of judges.
The purpose of the awards, from my understanding, is to provide the upcoming opera singers incentives to continue in the performing arts.
The awards are great to get a taste of operas without sitting through an entire operatic drama. There is exposure to various different arias featured in different operas and the atmosphere isn’t as formal. I enjoyed the evening and hearing some of the conversations before the performances, during the break and just after the awards were completed.
