Welcome to QSIMC 2019

Dear participants and audience,

It is a great pleasure for us to welcome you to the Queen Sonja International Music Competition 2019!

The 40 singers selected as participants are the main focus of the competition. We hope you will benefit from performing on the competition’s stages, participating in the competition’s seminars and workshops, and meeting professionals and the audience, who are all interested in you as an artist.

Welcome to the international jury. You represent the leading expertise in the international music and opera world. Together with the young singers, you help to further strengthen the international reputation of the competition. It is an honour to have you on the jury.

It gives us pleasure to welcome all our guests who play important roles in the music and opera world: opera directors, programme and casting directors, agents, critics and educators. We hope you will find the competition to be an important arena for meeting young artists.

Not least, we welcome the audience; all of you who enjoy the art of song and opera, and who are curious about and celebrate the growth of new talent. We are confident that you will thoroughly enjoy the different rounds in the competition and that you will have lots to talk about.

Key players in Norwegian musical and cultural life are involved in the competition: the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Academy of Opera at the Oslo Academy of the Arts, and this year also the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Of the utmost importance is Her Majesty Queen Sonja’s and the Royal Court’s active participation in the planning and execution of the competition.

Welcome to ten days of unrestrained surrender to the art of song and opera!

Einar Solbu, Chair

Lars H. Flæten, Executive Director