Fabio Armiliato to Lead Jury at First Remigio Paone Opera Competition

Tenor Fabio Armiliato will preside over the jury of the first Remigio Paone International Opera Singing Competition, set for Dec. 18-19 at the Iqbal Masih Theater in Formia, Italy.

The event, billed as "Remigio Paone – Discovering the Voices of the Future," is a debut edition — which means it arrives with no track record, no alumni list and no established reputation for singers to weigh. What it does have is a named jury, a fixed schedule and a concrete prize structure.

Who is running it?

OperaWire reports the lineup as follows:

• Jury president: Fabio Armiliato, tenor
• Jury member: Davide Labòllita, opera agent and artistic consultant of the Varna Opera House in Bulgaria
• Artistic directors: soprano Olga De Maio and tenor Luca Lupoli

The organizers are the La Magica Cultural Association of Formia, chaired by Augusto Ciccolella, together with the Noi per Napoli APS Cultural Association.

What does the competition ask of singers?

The field is wide open. The contest accepts opera singers of any nationality and any voice type, with no age limit — an unusually broad door for a field where competitions routinely cap eligibility in the early thirties. Preliminary rounds and semifinals take place Dec. 18; winners are announced Dec. 19.

The prize list is specific on paper:

• First Prize, awarded only to a competitor scoring at least 90 out of 100
• Second and Third Prizes
• The "Remigio Paone – Talent of the Future" prize
• An "Emerging Young Talent" award for singers under 31
• A prize for classical Neapolitan song

Awards may include diplomas, plaques, concert opportunities, scholarships and masterclasses. The word "may" is doing real work there: the announcement does not commit to which prizes carry which benefits. The top three finishers will perform on Dec. 19 at the evening of the 10th Remigio Paone – La Caravella Award.

Who was Remigio Paone?

The competition honors an impresario born in Formia in 1899 who died in Milan in 1977. In 1945, Paone co-founded Milan's Pomeriggi Musicali with Ferdinando Ballo. In the 1960s he led the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino — credentials that give the young prize a substantial historical anchor.

What the announcement does not say is how the competition will be funded, which houses might host the promised concert engagements, or whether the 90-point threshold has ever been road-tested. Those questions will find answers only when the first winners step forward on Dec. 19.