María Elena García Rivera from Mexico has won first prize in the 11th Acisclo Fernández Carriedo International Singing Competition. The prize is made up of a cash sum of €12,000.00 awarded by the Guerrero Foundation, an engagement to perform in a stage production at Madrid's Theatre Royal (Teatro Real), a further engagement to perform at the Zarzuela Theatre (Teatro de la Zarzuela) both in Madrid and on tour, as well as the Plácido Domingo Prize, consisting of automatic qualification to take part in the semi-final of Operalia.

Second prize went to Moldovan, Igor Gnidi, who received the €6,000.00 award sponsored by the Guerrero Foundation.

The Prize for the best singer of zarzuela was won by Beatriz Díaz from Spain. It consists of the Jacinto Guerrero Prize of €9,000.00 awarded by the Guerrero Foundation, an engagement to perform at Madrid's Zarzuela Theatre both in Madrid and on tour, a further engagement to perform in a production staged by Verdi Concert or Producciones Verdi, plus the Spanish Zarzuela Foundation Prize worth €1,500.00.

The Prize for the best interpretation of Spanish music went to María Estefanía Perdomo Nogales, also from Spain. The prize, worth €1,500.00, is sponsored by the Guerrero Foundation.

Lastly, the Prize for the best piano accompaniment, a cheque for €1,200.00 from the Guerrero Foundation, was awarded to Jorge Robaina.

A total of forty-two contestants officially entered and took part in this, the 11th edition of the Guerrero Foundation's International Singing Competition. During the final round, the five hand-picked finalists, accompanied by the Comunidad de Madrid Orchestra conducted by Miguel Roa, gave a recital of fragments taken from zarzuelas and operas.

In addition, this edition's prize-winners will also be offered a series of concert recitals organised by the Foundation in collaboration with Cervantes Institutes in Rome, Milan, Naples, Brussels, Athens, Vienna, Alexandria and Cairo (Egypt), Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), Stagione Concertistica A.GI.MUS. in Catania, Friends of Silos Association, Association of Friends of the Romantic Museum (Museo Romántico), various Cultural Centres in the Madrid Region, the Conde Duque Cultural Centre in Madrid, the Toledo International Music Festival, the Canal Foundation in Madrid, the Don Juan de Borbón Foundation in Segovia, Jeunesses Musicales (Juventudes Musicales) in Seville, the Pablo Sorozábal Concert Hall in Puertollano, the Vallés Symphony Orchestra, Radiotelevisión Española Symphony Orchestra and Choir, and State Authority for International Exhibitions.

The jury of the 11th Acisclo Fernández Carriedo International Singing Competition was chaired by Antón García Abril, composer and member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and made up of musicologist and academician, Antonio Gallego, opera singers Ronaldo Giaiotti and Alicia Nafé, choirmaster of the Gulbenkian Choir and lecturer in Orchestral and Choral Conducting at the New Lisbon University, Fernando Eldoro, choirmaster Rainer Steubing-Negenborn, and director of the Madrid Senior Singing School (Escuela Superior de Canto), Antonio Blancas.

Maria Elena García Rivera
In 1996, Maria Elena García Rivera studied geosciences engineering at the Sonora State Senior College (Centro de Estudios Superiores del Estado de Sonora) in Mexico. She completed her musical studies at the Madrid Senior Singing School.

She has made numerous appearances in her country of birth, Mexico, as a solo artist in Donizetti's opera, L'Elisir d'amore, both at the Nova Theatre in Monterrey and the Emiliana de Zubeldía Theatre in Sonora, and in Mascagni's opera, Cavalleria rusticana, at the Hermosillo City Concert Hall in Sonora. In January 2003, she took the role of Raquel in Jacinto Guerrero's zarzuela (Spanish operetta), El huésped del sevillano, initially at the Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao, and then in August 2004, at the Muralla Árabe (Moorish Wall) as part of the Madrid Veranos de la Villa summer programme, under the musical and stage direction of Miguel Roa and Gustavo Tambascio respectively. In December 2000, she sang first soprano in Vivaldi's Gloria at the Sonora City Theatre. In addition, she has given recitals at the Juárez Theatre in Guanajuato, the National Concert Hall (Auditorio Nacional de Música) in Madrid, the Degollado Theatre in Jalisco, and at venues in Oporto, Coimbra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Oviedo.

In 1999, she won the Artistic Talents Scholarship sponsored by the Mexican government, and in that same year went on to win first prize in the Sonora University Fine Arts Singing Competition (Mexico). More recently, she obtained the second prize in the 2004 edition of the Manuel Ausense Competition.