Introduction

Founded in 1963 by Jacint Vilardell to commemorate the Catalan tenor Francisco Viñas, the Competition has become one of the major contests in the world of opera, oratorio and Lied, in which young singers from all over the world take part every year.

To provide singers from other countries with an opportunity to take part, the Gran Teatre del Liceu has an agreement with the opera houses in Madrid, Paris, London, Berlin, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing for preliminary rounds to be staged in these cities.

The Final Audition is held each January at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, as is the Final Concert with the winners, accompanied by the Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra.

Besides being presented with the Official Prizes, the winners may receive other awards, such as study grants and contracts for performances at various theatres and festivals.

As part of the collaboration between the Liceu and the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Competition’s main prizewinners will take part in the “Winners’ Concert of the 62nd Tenor Viñas Competition”, to be held on 6 April 2025 at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Vladyslav Buialskyi

Francesc Viñas

Francisco Viñas is regarded as a Wagnerian tenor par excellence.

Born in Moià in 1863 and died in Barcelona in 1933.

He made his debut at the Liceu in 1888 with Lohengrin.

Viñas was one of the most internationally renowned Catalan opera singers of his day, primarily due to his performances of Wagnerian characters at the leading opera houses in Europe and America, from La Scala in Milan to New York’s Metropolitan Opera—where he made his debut in 1894—as well as in London, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Genoa and Naples.

In 1913 he premiered Parsifal in Spain, marking the first time the opera had been performed outside Bayreuth. Despite his specialisation in the Wagnerian repertoire (Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde), Viñas also sang Italian and French opera (Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor, Cavalleria Rusticana, L’Africaine, etc.).

He was also a writer, both as a correspondent in Rome for the Barcelona newspaper El Noticiero Universal and as the author of works such as Leyendas del Santo Grial y de Parsifal (1934) and the volume El Arte del Canto (1932, reissued in 1963), based on his experiences as a singer.

Organising theatre

Gran Teatre del Liceu

Co-organising theatres

  • The Metropolitan Opera, New York
  • National Centre for the Performing Arts of China, Beijing
  • Opéra National de Paris
  • Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London
  • Teatro alla Scala, Milano
  • Teatro Real, Madrid

Collaborating theatres

  • Deutsche Oper Berlin
  • Los Angeles Opera
  • San Francisco Opera
  • Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin