NINA Solo Competition – for young voices

JURY 2026

Iano Tamar, Italy/Georgia
Iano Tamar is a Georgian soprano who studied at the Tblisi
Conservatory and in Italy. Her remarkable debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in the role of Semiramide brought her to La Scala in Milan, where she sang Lina in Verdi’s Stiffelio, Alice in Falstaff, and Lady Macbeth – all under the direction of Riccardo Muti. This was the start of an international career that later brought her to the Vienna State Opera where she received very good reviews for her role as Elisabeth in a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos, Mathilde in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and the title role in Cherubino’s Medea. Later followed outstanding reviews for roles at Covent Garden, Teatro la Fenice, in Geneve, at the Bregenz Festival and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and other large stages in Europe. Iano Tamar is also a sought-after educator who has taught master classes at Accademia Malibran in Italy, Tbilisi Conservatory of Music in Georgia, Tokyo New National Theatre in Japan and at Istituto Musicale Gaspare Spontini in Ascoli Picena (Italy). Furthermore, she contributed to many recordings, for example of Verdi’s The Troubadour at BBC Opus Arte, Verdi’s Don Carlos at TDK and Orfeo D’or and Medea at Nuovo Era.

Brigitte Wohlfart, Germany
Worldwide Singer in Opera and Concert, performed at the Rheingau Festival, the Mozart Festival in Würzburg and the Bregenz Festival. Her career began as sought-after oratoria and recital singer. She has guested in numerous theatres where she enjoyed enormous success from audiences and critics alike as Sieglinde (Die Walküre) and Gutrune (Götterdämmerung) in the „RING“-stagingfrom Christine Mielitz. Her many-sided repertoire ranges from
Mozart`s Fiordiligi and First Lady to Puccini`s Turandot,
Verdi`s Aida and Leonore (Trovatore), to Wagner`s Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), Elsa (Lohengrin), Brünnhilde (Götterdämmerung) and Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), Weber`s Agathe (Freischütz), Beethoven`s Fidelio-Leonore and Richard Strauss` Arabella, Salome, Ariadne, Diemut (Feuersnot) and Elektra. Brigitte Wohlfarth worked from September 2010 until August 2015 as a professor for classical voice at the Hochschule der Künste (HKB) in Bern (Switzerland).  Since September 2015 she was appointed as a professor for classical voice at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater to Leipzig. Since 2017 till 2025, she has also been an accredited professor at Kalaidos University of Switzerland.  Since becoming a professor at various universities and conservatories, she has given Masterclasses worldwide and has served on several renowned Juries.

Giacomo Prestia / Italy
Giacomo Prestia (born August 22, 1960 in Florence) is an Italian operatic bass. A native of Florence (Italy), Giacomo Prestia studied vocal technique with Maestro Sergio Catoni. He won international competitions including the “Concorso internazionale Voci Verdiane” in Busseto and the “Concorso Luciano Pavarotti” in Philadelphia.
He made his opera debut with Giuseppe Verdi’s Alzira in Fidenza in 1990. He performs in Teatro alla Scala, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zurich, Teatro Real de Madrid, Liceu de Barcelona, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, San Carlo in Naples, Berlin Philharmonic, Teatro Regio di Parma. He has worked with Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Daniele Gatti, Nicola Luisotti.

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