The Jānis Zābers I International Vocal Competition was held In September 2019, but the second competition was postponed from 2021 to 2022 due to the Covid regime. This year, the organizers of the competition announce the Jānis Zābers III International Vocal Competition, which will take place from September 13 to 17, 2023, in Riga, at the VEF Culture Palace. Students and graduates of music schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities of music from different countries between the ages of 10 and 35 can apply for it until August 31. In addition, the rules of the competition provide that students who study vocal art in private schools or privately with specialists in the vocal field can also be represented in it.

In previous competitions, Tanja Ruždjak from Croatia (first place and Grand Prix), Adam Nádler from Slovakia, Inna Safronova from Russia, Daniils Kuzmins from Latvia (second place), as well as music school students Silvars Malcenieks and Etīna Emīlija Saulīte from Valmiera ( third place).

In the composition of the jury, alongside the world-renowned Latvian opera singer Inga Kalna, musical theater actor, director, vocal pedagogue Edgars Kramiņš and others, the American opera singer, prof. Claudia Visca, who is known as a teacher and advisor to many soloists of the Vienna State Opera.

Jānis Zāber’s vocal legacy is so wide and diverse that it allows every singer to put forward the need to emulate him and realize that a truly successful singer is able to demonstrate his vocal skills in a wide variety of musical genres and styles. Therefore, the contestants have been given the task of playing the vocal music that our great compatriot once sang – folk songs in acapella performance, in order to assess the contestants’ auditory quality components, opera and chamber music, pop songs and children’s songs by Arvīds Žilinskis, as well as Neapolitan songs. Therefore, the musical material of the competition is not only sufficiently wide and complex for the participants, but also interestingly versatile for the listeners.

“This is a unique competition, because no competition for vocalists in Latvia is based on the principle of succession, from the moment when the basics of vocal art are learned until the age when the vocal studies have already been completed, thus raising and forging a quality generation of young vocalists and supporting the academic foundation of the vocal school the need,” emphasizes Edgars Kramiņš, artistic director of the competition.