Neue Stimmen announces its 2026 winners

The Armenian soprano and Chinese baritone take first prizes in a competition whose past winners include Franco Fagioli, Marina Rebeka, Nicole Car and Elsa Dreisig.

Armenian soprano Arpi Sinanyan, 23, and Chinese baritone Jiazhou Wang, 22, have won first prizes at the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition, following the final at the Stadthalle Gütersloh in Germany on 9 October 2026. Each receives €15,000. According to the organisers, Wang is the youngest winner in the competition’s history.

Founded by Liz Mohn in 1987, Neue Stimmen has become an important international platform for emerging opera singers. Its 21st edition continues a tradition of connecting young artists with opera directors, casting professionals and agents, offering opportunities that extend beyond the competition itself.

Its record of identifying future international artists is reflected in its past winners: Argentine countertenor Franco Fagioli won in 2003, Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka in 2007, sopranos Nicole Car and Nadine Sierra in 2013, and Elsa Dreisig in 2015.

The first-prize winners

Sinanyan graduated from the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, where she studied with Olga Gabayan. She is a soloist in the Young Opera Program of Armenia’s National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Her final programme included Lisa’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and “L’altra notte in fondo al mare” from Boito’s Mefistofele.

Wang studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and continues his training with Italian baritone Pietro Spagnoli. He won first prize at the 2025 Viotti International Music Competition in Vercelli and joins the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s emerging artists programme for the 2026/27 season. In Gütersloh, he performed “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and the Count’s aria from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.

The other prizewinners

Second prizes, worth €10,000 each, went to Kazakh soprano Aigerim Altynbek and Georgian bass-baritone Irakli Pkhaladze. Chinese soprano Liere Wu and Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas received third prizes of €5,000 each.

Rojas also won the €1,000 Audience Award and the Patagonia Voice Award. Wang received the €1,000 Junior Jury Prize, while Swedish mezzo-soprano Klara Solén was awarded the €5,000 Brian Dickie Young Talent Award.

The eight finalists performed with the Duisburg Philharmonic under Vitali Alekseenok, before a nine-member jury chaired by Alexander Neef, director of the Paris Opera. This year’s competition attracted 1,126 applicants from 69 countries; 41 singers reached the Gütersloh round, with 16 advancing to the semifinal.

The final was streamed on OperaVision, where viewers can find the programme and watch the singers’ performances. The prizewinners’ concert is scheduled for 1 June 2027 in Berlin.