Romania’s George Enescu Festival, soprano Adela Zaharia and baritone George Petean are among the 2020 International Opera Awards’ finalists.

The event recognizes excellence in a wide range of categories that cover performance, design and direction as well as education and outreach.

Soprano Adela Zaharia was selected in the “Young Singer” category while baritone George Petean is a finalist in the “Male Singer” section.

Adela Zaharia graduated from the "Sabin Drăgoi" College of Arts in Arad. In 2012, she won the "Darclée" Grand Prize at the contest with the same name in Braila, and for five years she has been a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, local News.ro reported.

Baritone George Petean, born in Cluj-Napoca, graduated from the "Gheorghe Dima" Music Academy, the singing section. In 1999 he won the big prize at the "Hariclea Darclée" International Competition. Between 2002 and 2010, he was a permanent soloist of the Hamburg Opera.

The George Enescu Festival, held in honor of the famous Romanian composer George Enescu, is nominated in the “Festival” category. The other finalists in this category are Donizetti Opera Festival, Festival Castell de Peralada, Macerata Opera Festival, O19 (Opera Philadelphia), and Salzburg Festival.

The winners will be announced on May 4 during the Gala Event organized at London’s Sadler’s Wells. The list of finalists is available here.

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(Photo source: George Enescu Festival organizers)