Talent development

The Glyndebourne Opera Cup

An international competition for opera singers.

The Glyndebourne Opera Cup – an international competition for opera singers – is designed to discover and spotlight the best young singers from around the world.

The Glyndebourne Opera Cup returned in 2020 with a renewed commitment to finding diverse singers of the future. The competition offered a top prize of £15,000 and a guaranteed role at a leading international opera house.

The final was broadcast live on Sky Arts on 7 March 2020 and the series was produced by Factory Films.

The 2020 competition

Take a look back at the competition and hear from the prize winners:

The full list of 2020 prize winners:

First prize (£15,000) Edward Nelson, baritone (31, USA)
Second prize (£10,000) Alexandra Lowe, soprano (28, UK)
Third prize (£7,500) Eric Ferring, tenor (27, USA)
The audience prize (£5,000) Meigui Zhang, soprano (26, China)
The Ginette Theano Prize for Most Promising Talent (£5,000) Siphokazi Molteno, mezzo-soprano (27, South Africa)
The Glyndebourne Youth Jury prize (£1,000) Sungho Kim, tenor (29, South Korea)

The 2018 competition

Take a look back at the journey of the finalists and relive the excitement of our first ever international singing competition.

The full list of 2018 prize winners:

Overall winner (£15,000) – Samantha Hankey
Second place (£10,000) – Jacquelyn Stucker
Third place (£7,500) – Elbenita Kajtazi
Ginette Theano prize for most promising talent (£5,000) – Emily Pogorelc
Media prize (£5,000) (adjudicated by a media panel) – Samantha Hankey
Audience prize (£5,000) – Elbenita Kajtazi

The 2018 winner, American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, went on to make her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2018.

The inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup in 2018 was shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Award.


Interested in supporting this project? Please contact the Development team on 01273 815400 development@glyndebourne.com. Find out more

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