# Klaudia Taev Competition

The Klaudia Taev Competition is a competition for young opera singers. It is the main event of the Pärnu Opera Music Festival PromFest. The Competition has been named after a local legendary singing teacher Klaudia Taev. The first Competition was held in the year 1996 and since 2001 it takes place biannually.
The main prize of the competition is the proposal to sing the main opera role in opera production, which is selected at the request of the winner of the competition.
Among others Barbara Hendricks, Edda Moser, Dolora Zajick, Yevgeny Nesterenko, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Ileana Cotrubas, Vesselina Kasarova, Karan Armstrong, Luana DeVol, Cynthia Makris, Sergei Leiferkus and Irina Arkhipova have been the jury members of the Klaudia Taev Competition.

## Prize winners

| No. | Year | 1st Prize | 2nd Prize | 3rd Prize | Other finalists |
| 1. | 1996 | Kristina Vähi (soprano, Estonia) | Taina Hirvonen (soprano, Finland) | Monika Sutt (soprano, Estonia) | |
| 2. | 2001 | Anna Samuil (soprano, Russia) | not awarded | Gediminas Tiškevičius (tenor, Lithuania) Klavdia Sorokina (soprano, Russia) Merle Silmato (mezzo-soprano, Estonia) | András Muskát (tenor, Hungary) Yulia Semenova (soprano, Estonia) |
| 3. | 2003 | Laimonas Pautienius (baritone, Lithuania) | Tatjana Romanova (soprano, Estonia) Elena Semyonova (soprano, Russia) | Eleonore Marguerre (soprano, Germany) | Nurlan Bekmukhambetov (tenor, Kazakhstan) Igor Bogaert (bariton, The Netherlands) |
| 4. | 2005 | not awarded | Anzhelina Shvachka (mezzo-soprano, Ukraine) Zhu Huiling (mezzo-soprano, China) | Ewa Biegas (soprano, Poland) | Julia Markova (mezzo-soprano, Russia) Angelika Mikk (soprano, Estonia) Olga Senderskaya (soprano, Russia) |
| 5. | 2007 | Ji-Min Park (tenor, South-Korea) | Veronika Dzhioeva (soprano, Russia) | Ilya Silchukov (baritone, Belarus) Oliver Kuusik (tenor, Estonia) | Oksana Volkova (mezzo-soprano, Belarus) Nikolay Shamov (baritone, Russia) |
| 6. | 2009 | not awarded | Anatoli Sivko (bass, Belarus) | Asmik Grigorian (soprano, Lithuania) Pauliina Linnosaari (soprano, Finland) Maria Veretenina (soprano, Estonia) | Tadas Girininkas (bass, Lithuania), Alfiya Karimova (soprano, Russia) |
| 7. | 2011 | not awarded | Andrey Savchenko (baritone, Belarus) | Elina Shimkus [Volkmane] (soprano, Latvia) | Tatiana Ganina (soprano, Ukraine) Pirjo Jonas [Püvi] (soprano, Estonia) Nicola Proksch (soprano, Austria) Iurii Samoilov (baritone, Ukraine) |
| 8. | 2013 | Jomantė Šležaitė (soprano, Lithuania) | Anna Denisova (soprano, Russia) | Leo Radoslavljevic (baritone, United States of America) | Jin Hee Lee (soprano, South-Korea) Olga Heikkilä (soprano, Finland) Ksenia Kuchukova (soprano, Estonia) |
| 9. | 2015 | Alex (Sunghyun) Kim (tenor, South-Korea) | Ewa Tracz (soprano, Poland) | Yury Rostotsky (tenor, Russia) Rihards Millers (baritone, Latvia) | Elena Brazhnyk (soprano, Ukraine) Margrethe Fredheim (soprano, Norway) |
| 10. | 2017 | Abigail Levis (mezzo-soprano, United States of America) | Taras Berezhansky (bass, Ukraine) | Eszter Zemlényi (soprano, Hungary) | Margarita Levchuk (soprano, Belarus) Modestas Sedlevičius (baritone, Lithuania) Laura Teivāne (soprano, Latvia) |
| 11. | 2019 | not awarded | Sargis Bazhbeuk-Melikyan (bass, Armenia) Hanna Tverdova (soprano, Ukraine) | Kamilė Balabonaitė (soprano, Lithuania) Samuli Taskinen (bass-baritone, Finland) | Marija Arutiunova (soprano, Lithuania) Vladislav Tlushch (baritone, Ukraine) |
| 12. | 2021 | Zuzanna Nalewajek (mezzo-soprano, Poland) | Gyungmin Gwon (baritone, South-Korea) | Kadi Jürgens (mezzo-soprano, Estonia) Serhii Moskalchuk (bass-baritone, Ukraine) | Kamila Dutkowska (soprano, Poland) Yuliia Zasimova (soprano, Ukraine) |
| 13. | 2023 | Gabrielė Bukinė (soprano, Lithuania) | Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur (mezzo-soprano, France) | Gagik Vardanyan (baritone, Armenia) | Adrian Janus (baritone, Poland) Junoh Lee (bass-baritone, South-Korea) Tomi Punkeri (baritone, Finland) |

## Opera productions

| No. | Year | Production | The role offers for the laureates/finalists | The role offers for laureates/finalists of previous years |
| 1. | 2003 | Rigoletto (Verdi) | Anna Samuil (Gilda) | |
| 2. | 2005 | The Demon (Rubinstein) | Laimonas Pautienius (Demon) | Merle Silmato (Tamara's Nurse) |
| 3. | 2007 | Carmen (Bizet) | Anzhelina Shvachka (Carmen) Huiling Zhu (Carmen) | Tatiana Romanova (Micaëla) Laimonas Pautienius (Escamillo) |
| 4. | 2009 | Thaïs (Massenet) | Veronika Dzhioeva (Thaïs) Ilya Silchukov (Athanaël) Oliver Kuusik (Nicias) | |
| 5. | 2011 | Attila (Verdi) | Anatoli Sivko (Attila) | |
| 6. | 2013 | The Tsar's Bride (Rimsky-Korsakov) | Andrey Savchenko (Gryaznoy) Elina Shimkus (Marfa) | Anzhelina Shvachka (Lyubasha) |
| 7. | 2015 | Aida (Verdi) | Jomantė Šležaitė (Aida) | Anzhelina Shvachka (Amneris) |
| 8. | 2017 | La traviata (Verdi) | Alex (Sunghyun) Kim (Alfredo) | Anna Denisova (Violetta) Ilya Silchukov (Germont) |
| 9. | 2019 | The Capulets and the Montagues (Bellini) | Abigail Levis (Romeo) Margarita Levchuk (Giulietta) | Yury Rostotsky (Tebaldo) |
| 10. | 2021 | Il turco in Italia (Rossini) | Sargis Bazhbeuk-Melikyan (Selim) Hanna Tverdova (Fiorilla) Kamilė Bontė (Zaida) Vladislav Tlushch (Prosdocimo) | Taras Berezhansky (Don Geronio) Yury Rostotsky (Don Narciso) |
| 11. | 2023 | Cendrillon (Massenet) | Zuzanna Nalewajek (Cendrillon) | Abi Levis (Le Prince Charmant) Jomantė Šležaitė (Madame de la Haltière) Eszter Zemlényi (La Fée) Laimonas Pautienius (Pandolfe) |