OPERA SINGING COMPETITION
Jiazhou Wang’s triumphant win
The winner of the 75th Viotti International Music Competition is the Chinese baritone Jiazhou Wang. The final act of the Vercelli music competition took place on Saturday, October 18th, with the Orchestra dell’Accademia del Teatro alla Scala conducted by Francesco Ommassini.
The winner of the 2025 Viotti Competition is the Chinese baritone Jiazhou Wang, who received a prize worth €10,000. Chinese mezzo-soprano Rongna Su placed second, with a prize worth €6,000, and South Korean baritone Junyoung Choi placed third, with a prize of €4,000. Also participating in the final were Slovenian soprano Gaja Napast, Japanese baritone Tamon Inoue, Italian soprano Francesca Lo Verso, South Korean soprano Jihye Jang, and South Korean bass Jawoung Lee.
“The level of the competitors was extremely high. It was a great pleasure to be part of the Competition and to share this challenging commitment with my distinguished colleagues,” states Jury Chairman Peter Theiler.
The Audience Award, worth €1,000, was won by Rongna Su, while the Soroptimist Vercelli Award was assigned by the jury to Gaja Napast. The prize named after the great Italian baritone Cesare Bardelli and offered by the Bardelli family was awarded to Jiazhou Wang.
The final took place on the evening of Saturday, October 18th, at the Teatro Civico in Vercelli, with the participation of the Orchestra of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, conducted by Maestro Francesco Ommassini.
The award ceremony involved illustrious institutional figures and representatives: the first prize was presented by the Mayor of Vercelli, Avv. Roberto Scheda; the second prize by the Vice President of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Vercelli, Dott. Pier Giorgio Fossale; and the third prize by the Rector of the University of Eastern Piedmont “Amedeo Avogadro,” Prof. Menico Rizzi. The Audience Award was entrusted to Ebe Fumagalli, representing the Competition’s host families, and the Soroptimist Vercelli Award was presented by President Patrizia Longo.
The program proposed in the final—two arias for each candidate—represented a compendium of European opera music with pieces from works by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Mascagni, Puccini, and Bizet.
Jiazhou Wang is the first Chinese artist to win the main prize in the history of the Viotti Opera Singing Competition.
The jury members were sopranos Cheryl Studer and Gabriella Morigi, tenor Ernesto Palacio, baritone Furio Zanasi, director and former Superintendent of the Semperoper Dresden, Peter Theiler (Jury Chairman), musicologist and president of Génération Opéra in Paris, Marc Clemeur, and the President of the Viotti Competition, Maria Arsieni.
The 75th Viotti Competition was held in commemoration of its founder, Joseph Robbone, forty years after his death. A heartfelt tribute was dedicated to him at the end of the final concert.
The Viotti International Music Competition is an event promoted by the Società del Quartetto di Vercelli, the Municipality of Vercelli, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Vercelli, and the University of Eastern Piedmont “Amedeo Avogadro.”
The next edition of the Viotti International Music Competition, scheduled for October 2026, will be dedicated to the piano.
Jiazhou Wang | First prize, Cesare Bardelli Prize
Rongna Su | Second prize, Audience prize
Juyoun Choi | Third prize
Gaja Napast | Soroptimist Vercelli prize