Jury

Rainer TROST

Germany/ Tenor, Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Born in Stuttgart, Germany. Studied under Adalbert Kraus at the Munich University of Music. After four years with the State Opera in Hanover, Germany, at the young age of 26, he joined the Monteverdi Orchestra on tour under the baton of Sir Elliott Gardiner, performing the role of Ferrando in Mozart's opera “Cosi fan tutte” and establishing himself as one of the leading international Mozart tenors of his generation.
Since then, he has performed at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra Bastille and Palais Garnier in Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Theater an der Wien, and the Vienna State Opera, as well as major music festivals such as the Bayreuth Festival, the Bregenz Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Festival de Cannes, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Munich Opera Festival, and the Salzburg Festival.
He is also active as an international concert singer and has performed with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Alan Altinoglu, Michèle Le Bower, Ivor Bolton, Frans Brüggen, William Christie, Alfred Eschwe, Daniele Gatti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Hartmut Henchen, Friedrich Haitta, René Jacobs, Julia Jones, Philippe Joutan, Konrad Jungener, Lothar Koenigs, Ton Koopman, Nicola Luisotti, Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher, Riccardo Nagi, Christopher Moll, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Kazushi Ono, Seiji Ozawa, Kirill Petrenko, Treasure Pinnock, Simon Rattle, Helmut Rilling, Sheremi Roll, Christophe Rousset, Jean-Christophe Spinozzi, Franz Welser-Möst, among others.
In 2013, he won the Austrian Music Theatre Award's “Golden Schikaneder Award” for Best Supporting Male Actor, and in 2023, he was nominated in the “Best Leading Male Actor” category.
Since 2016, he has been teaching as a professor of vocal music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.