Baritone Joseph Lia has just returned from Helsinki, Finland, after winning third prize in the Christmas International Vocal Competition for Opera Singers.

One of the notable arias Lia sang during the final round was Oh Carlo Ascolta, Rodrigo’s death scene in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlos.

The audience welcomed his interpretation with great applause and a standing ovation.

Apart from winning third prize for his performance, Lia also received the special diploma prize awarded by head of jury Sergei Slonimsky, for the best interpretation of his contemporary piece, Spring Comfort.

Lia told The Sunday Times he feels honoured it was the composer himself who awarded him the prize.

“I feel as though I were living in the 19th century when Pyotr Tchaikovsky was head of jury and would award musicians for the best interpretation of his work – Onegin’s aria or the famous song Njet Tlko Tot Kto Znal, for example.”

Slonimsky is now considered next in line in the Russian composer’s hall of fame in St Petersburg, Russia, following Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and many others. Lia has been described by celebrated world famous Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Obratsova as having one of the most beautiful baritone voices she’s ever heard.

Lia is currently following the full five-year course in voice, specialising in opera singing, chamber music and teaching at the prestigious St Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. Rimsky-Korsakov. He is also a music composition graduate from the University of Malta.

Over the next two months, Lia will take on the main baritone role of Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s opera La Traviata at the St Petersburg Conservatory Theatre. At the end of this season, Lia will perform the part of Ebin-Haki in Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolantha at the same theatre.