The winners of the 20th edition of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia – The World Opera Competition have been announced. Held in Beijing from June 4-10, the competition awarded First Prize for a female singer to American soprano Janai Brugger, who is currently enrolled in LA Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program. Brugger also received the Pepita Embil Domingo Zarzuela Prize and the Audience Prize. The First Prize for a male singer was shared between American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and Mongolian baritone Enkhbat Amartuvshin. Each of the two First Prize funds is worth $30,000.

This year the male Second Prize was also jointly awarded to two singers, American tenor Brian Jagde and the Chinese bartone Yunpeng Wang, a rare event demonstrating the high quality of the singers, according to the festival. The female Second Prize went to Chinese soprano Guanqun Yu.

Founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo, Operalia is held every year in a different city around the world, open to singers aged 18 to 32 years. Previous prize-winners include Joseph Calleja, Joyce DiDonato, Ana María Martínez and Rolando Villazón. The 21st edition of Operalia will take place in Verona in 2013.