Alumnus Robert Lewis named prize winner at Operalia 2026

Operalia is an annual international competition for talented emerging artists from around the globe. Founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo, Operalia has helped to launch the careers of some of the most celebrated opera singers of the past three decades, with former prize winners including Nina Stemme, José Cura, Joyce DiDonato, Erwin Schrott, Rolando Villazón, Joseph Calleja, Sonya Yoncheva, Pretty Yende, Angel Blue and Lise Davidsen. 

Robert progressed through the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the competition to appear in the final, held this year in Shanghai. He was the male winner of the Birgit Nilsson Prize, worth $15,000, awarded to singers for their interpretation of arias by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.  

Robert’s competition success comes at the start of a busy season for the tenor, which includes appearances at Opéra national de Lyon, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra national de Lorraine, Théâtre Luxembourg, Longborough Festival Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper. It also follows his being awarded the Plácido Domingo Prize at the Tenor Viñas International Singing Contest in 2025. Robert studied in the Vocal Studies department at Guildhall School from 2014 on the Bachelor of Music programme before progressing to the Master of Music in Performance in Opera Studies, from which he graduated in 2020. Following graduation, Robert was named a Jerwood Artist at Glyndebourne Festival and became a member of the Opéra national de Lyon Studio.

_{Photography by Jean Louis Fernandez and Mihaela Bodlovic.}