Tomorrow evening at 9.15 pm, the Grand Theatre Giacomo Puccini in Torre del Lago near Viareggio will host the top contemporary figures in lyric opera for the 2012 Oscar della Lirica (International Opera Awards), the second of its kind.
The Puccini Opera Foundation, in collaboration with the Arena di Verona Foundation, is hosting the Oscar ceremony in the midst of the 58th season of their Puccini Festival, to be followed by performances of Tosca on Friday and La Traviata on Saturday.
Lauded conductor Alfonso Signorini and soprano Madelyn Renée will host the ceremony and present five performance awards—tenor, soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, and baritone—best conductor, best director, and best scenographer, as well as three special awards.
Nominees include mezzo Cecilia Bartoli, the renowned soprano who has received an Italian knighthood for her contribution to the field of lyric opera, soprano Natalie Dessay, who starred in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera this season, and tenor Celso Albelo, who took home the first Opera Oscar for Best Tenor.
Each singer will accept their award with a performance of one of their most famous arias. Additional dance and theatrical performances, arranged by performance director Giovanna Nocetti, will take place between the award announcements.
One special award will commemorate Franco Corelli, a dramatic tenor dubbed the "prince of tenors" who passed away in 2003. Maria Florencia Machado, who appeared in the Juventus Lyrica young artists program in Buenos Aires, will receive the special award for the new generation, and Fabio Armiliato will receive the special award for opera in a movie for his performance singing in the shower in Woody Allen's To Rome with Love.
In October, the "Conflirica" organisation of lyric and symphonic experts met in Florence to create the shortlist of nominees from the 2010-2011 season for this evening's program, and a panel of opera critics and scholars has chosen the winners.
