Soprano Iria Goti and Baritone Milan Perisic Take Top Logroño Prizes

Spanish soprano Iria Goti and Serbian baritone Milan Perisic won the top prizes at the 43rd Ciudad de Logroño-La Rioja International Singing Competition on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Logroño City Hall Auditorium.

Each first prize carries 5,000 euros and a trophy.

The final concluded an edition that ran Oct. 8 to 11.

Who won what?

Goti took the first woman's prize and collected more than the base award. She also received the Friends of the Opera of Madrid Trophy, worth 1,500 euros, plus a recital engagement at the Teatro de la Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid.

Perisic won the first men's prize.

The second prizes went to Argentine mezzo-soprano Jasmin Forastiero and Argentine bass Max Hochmuth. Romanian soprano Susana Nanejde and Argentine tenor Agustín Gómez Cortez took the third prizes.

The special trophies spread across the field:

• Oviedo Opera Trophy: bass Max Hochmuth
• Pedro Lavirgen Trophy for best opera performer: Mexican soprano Khatia Alejandra Romero Reyes
• Antón García Abril Trophy for best performer of Spanish song: countertenor Álvaro Basco Jiménez
• C.L.A. Pepe Eizaga Trophy, in memory of Manuel Ausensi, for best zarzuela performer: baritone Javier Povedano Ruiz
• Most Promising Voice Trophy: mezzo-soprano Ángela Sánchez Lindo

What does this change for the winners?

For Goti, the answer is concrete: a paid recital in Madrid and 6,500 euros in total prize value. That is a measurable career step, though the competition has not stated whether any winner receives a mainstage opera engagement. The announcement lists trophies and money; it says nothing about management contracts or festival slots. For the others, the trophies add credentials that often precede young-artist program auditions, but the organizers have not published what follows.

José Antonio Toyas, the competition's creator and honorary president of the C.L.A. Pepe Eizaga, chaired the final jury. The prizewinners performed in a winners' concert on Sunday, Oct. 11, again at the auditorium.

Argentina's showing deserves notice: four Argentine singers placed or took trophies across the results, more than any other nationality in the announced field.

The 43rd edition closed with its prize money distributed, its winners' concert played, and — on the evidence released — no stated next stage. Whether the competition's laureates convert these awards into contracts will be the test of the prizes' real value.

By Tom Whitfield