He received EUR 20,000 in prize money, along with career development and performance opportunities. Second and Third Prizes went to Armenian singers: soprano Arpi Sinanyan and baritone Aksel Daveyan, respectively.
Daveyan also received the Audience Prize.
The remaining finalists represented Italy, Poland, China, Latvia, and Ukraine.
More than 70 singers from across the world vied for the accolades.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Stopford has developed a distinguished international career, with concert engagements throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA.
Last year, he made his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall. Later this month, he is set to sing the role of Giuseppe in Verdi’s La traviata at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Germany.
Launched in 1992 and held every three years, the Moniuszko Competition was founded by the late Polish soprano and opera director Maria Fołtyn, who did much to promote Moniuszko’s operas internationally.
Dubbed the father of Polish national opera, Moniuszko was born in 1819 in Ubiel near Minsk—present-day Belarus—into a patriotic family of Polish landowners.
He studied music in Warsaw, Minsk, and Berlin. Following the success of his early operas, he was appointed conductor at Warsaw’s Grand Opera Theatre. He died in 1872.
In addition to the operas Halka, The Haunted Manor, The Raftsman, The Countess, and Verbum Nobile, his output includes several operettas, over 250 songs, mass cycles, cantatas, and chamber works.
(mk/ał)