BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition
Encyclopedia
BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition (known as Cardiff Singer of the World from 1983–2001 and BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff in 2003) is a competition for opera
and art singers
held every two years.
The competition was started by BBC Wales
in 1983 to celebrate the opening of St David's Hall
in Cardiff
, Wales
, home of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
.
Auditions are held throughout the world in the autumn before the competition, with singers being selected to take part in Cardiff the following June. Each singer represents their own country. Only in Wales is there a competition to select the national representative. The winner of the Welsh Singers Competition
represents Wales in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
The competition is judged by a panel of distinguished singers, musicians and music professionals. In 2003 an audience prize was also introduced for the primary competition; in 2011 it was renamed the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize.
.
In 1989, a Lieder Prize was introduced, as art song and opera are both important forms of singing, but very different.
The 1989 competition was particularly noteworthy with Welsh baritone
Bryn Terfel
winning the Lieder prize and Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky
taking the overall title with an interpretation of the aria Eri tu from Verdi
's Un ballo in maschera
. Both singers have gone on to enjoy extremely successful careers with international acclaim.
In 2001, the Lieder Prize was renamed the Song Prize, to clarify that it applies to art song and folksong rather than German Lieder only. The Song Prize became a separate event in 2003, as the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize until 2009, when its name changed to BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize. It is not compulsory, and the only entry requirement is that the singer is taking part in the primary competition. It is not possible to enter for the Song Prize only.
In 2001, Romanian tenor Marius Brenciu became the first singer to win both prizes.
Finnish baritone Tommi Hakala
won in 2003, with the Song Prize going to Irish soprano Ailish Tynan. The first Audience Prize, voted for by the audience both in the hall and for the broadcasts, was awarded to Chilean soprano Angela Marambio.
The 2005 prize was won by American soprano Nicole Cabell
who now regularly performs in opera houses across the world including London, Chicago and New York. The Song Prize was won by English tenor Andrew Kennedy
and the Audience Prize by Korean soprano Ha-Joung Lee.
The 2007 competition was won by Chinese singer Shen Yang, subsequently known as Shenyang, who made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
, New York in 2009. The Song Prize was won by English soprano Elizabeth Watts
and Jacques Imbrailo, South African baritone, won the Audience Prize.
In 2009, the winner was Russian soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko
. The winner of the Song Prize was bass Jan Martinik from the Czech Republic and Italian tenor Giordano Luca took the Audience Prize.
Welsh National Opera’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director John Fisher chaired a distinguished panel of jurors in 2009, which included the legendary singers Dame Gwyneth Jones and Kurt Moll. For 2009 the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera was conducted by Paul Daniel, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Lawrence Foster accompanied competitors in the preliminary round concerts. BBC National Orchestra of Wales provided the accompaniment for the final. The official accompanists for the Song Prize were Phillip Thomas, Simon Lepper and Llŷr Williams.
On the day between the two competition finals, the jury members give Master Classes at the New Theatre, Cardiff and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, which were open to the public.
The 2011 competition took place between Sunday 12th and Sunday 19th June. It followed a revised format and schedule, with 20 singers taking part in four preliminary concerts. The 2011 winner was Moldovan soprano Valentina Naforniţă
, who also won the newly renamed Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize. The Song Prize was won by Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko
.
Many prominent singers have served in the jury, including Carlo Bergonzi, Geraint Evans
, Marilyn Horne
, Gundula Janowitz
, Sherrill Milnes
, Christoph Prégardien
, Dame Joan Sutherland
, Dame Anne Evans
, René Kollo
, Galina Vishnevskaya
and Dame Gwyneth Jones.
From 2003, the competition's first Patron was Dame Joan Sutherland
, until her death in 2010.The patron from 2011 is Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
.
The competition is organised by BBC Wales and is televised by BBC Two
, BBC Four
and BBC Wales
TV and broadcast over radio channels BBC Radio 3
, BBC Radio Wales
, and the Welsh language
BBC Radio Cymru
.
The competition is supported by Welsh National Opera
and the City and County of Cardiff.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and art singers
Art song
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....
held every two years.
The competition was started by BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
in 1983 to celebrate the opening of St David's Hall
St David's Hall
St David's Hall is a performing arts and conference venue in the heart of Cardiff city centre, the capital of Wales...
in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, home of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra.The BBC NOW has its...
.
Auditions are held throughout the world in the autumn before the competition, with singers being selected to take part in Cardiff the following June. Each singer represents their own country. Only in Wales is there a competition to select the national representative. The winner of the Welsh Singers Competition
Welsh Singers Competition
The Welsh Singers Competition is a singing competition that is held in Cardiff, Wales. The winner of the competition represents Wales in the biennial BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. The Competition is open to Welsh singers at the early stages of their career...
represents Wales in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
The competition is judged by a panel of distinguished singers, musicians and music professionals. In 2003 an audience prize was also introduced for the primary competition; in 2011 it was renamed the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize.
History
In 1983, the first year of the competition, eighteen singers participated. The winner was Finnish soprano Karita MattilaKarita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
.
In 1989, a Lieder Prize was introduced, as art song and opera are both important forms of singing, but very different.
The 1989 competition was particularly noteworthy with Welsh baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
winning the Lieder prize and Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky , is a leading baritone opera singer from Russia.Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. He studied at the Krasnoyarsk School of Arts under Yekatherina Yofel and made his debut at Krasnoyarsk Opera House, in the role of Marullo in Rigoletto...
taking the overall title with an interpretation of the aria Eri tu from Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
. Both singers have gone on to enjoy extremely successful careers with international acclaim.
In 2001, the Lieder Prize was renamed the Song Prize, to clarify that it applies to art song and folksong rather than German Lieder only. The Song Prize became a separate event in 2003, as the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize until 2009, when its name changed to BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize. It is not compulsory, and the only entry requirement is that the singer is taking part in the primary competition. It is not possible to enter for the Song Prize only.
In 2001, Romanian tenor Marius Brenciu became the first singer to win both prizes.
Finnish baritone Tommi Hakala
Tommi Hakala
Tommi Hakala is a Finnish operatic baritone and winner of the 2003 BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff. He was born in Riihimäki, Finland.-Sources:*BBC News, , 30 June 2003*BBC Singer of the World Competition,...
won in 2003, with the Song Prize going to Irish soprano Ailish Tynan. The first Audience Prize, voted for by the audience both in the hall and for the broadcasts, was awarded to Chilean soprano Angela Marambio.
The 2005 prize was won by American soprano Nicole Cabell
Nicole Cabell
Nicole Cabell , is an American opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition....
who now regularly performs in opera houses across the world including London, Chicago and New York. The Song Prize was won by English tenor Andrew Kennedy
Andrew Kennedy
Andrew Kennedy was a U.S. Representative from Indiana, cousin of Case Broderick.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Kennedy moved with his parents to a farm on the Indian reserve near Lafayette, Indiana. He soon afterward moved to Connersville, Indiana, where he became a blacksmith's apprentice. Kennedy...
and the Audience Prize by Korean soprano Ha-Joung Lee.
The 2007 competition was won by Chinese singer Shen Yang, subsequently known as Shenyang, who made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, New York in 2009. The Song Prize was won by English soprano Elizabeth Watts
Elizabeth Watts
Elizabeth Watts is a British soprano.Watts studied archaeology at Sheffield University and graduated with first class honours. Beginning in 2002, she studied music at the Royal College of Music with Lillian Watson. She graduated in 2005 with distinction and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother...
and Jacques Imbrailo, South African baritone, won the Audience Prize.
In 2009, the winner was Russian soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko
Ekaterina Scherbachenko
Ekaterina Scherbachenko is a Russian operatic soprano. She was the 2009 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. In April–May 2011 she appeared at La Scala, singing the role of Liù in Turandot....
. The winner of the Song Prize was bass Jan Martinik from the Czech Republic and Italian tenor Giordano Luca took the Audience Prize.
Welsh National Opera’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director John Fisher chaired a distinguished panel of jurors in 2009, which included the legendary singers Dame Gwyneth Jones and Kurt Moll. For 2009 the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera was conducted by Paul Daniel, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Lawrence Foster accompanied competitors in the preliminary round concerts. BBC National Orchestra of Wales provided the accompaniment for the final. The official accompanists for the Song Prize were Phillip Thomas, Simon Lepper and Llŷr Williams.
On the day between the two competition finals, the jury members give Master Classes at the New Theatre, Cardiff and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, which were open to the public.
The 2011 competition took place between Sunday 12th and Sunday 19th June. It followed a revised format and schedule, with 20 singers taking part in four preliminary concerts. The 2011 winner was Moldovan soprano Valentina Naforniţă
Valentina Naforniţă
Valentina Naforniţă is a Bucharest based Moldovan soprano opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2011 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.Valentina Naforniţă was born in Glodeni, Moldova...
, who also won the newly renamed Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize. The Song Prize was won by Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko
Andrei Bondarenko
Andrei Bondarenko is a Ukrainian baritone opera singer.Bondarenko was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. He trained at the National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev and at the Kiev Conservatory...
.
Many prominent singers have served in the jury, including Carlo Bergonzi, Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Gundula Janowitz
Gundula Janowitz
Gundula Janowitz is an Austrian lyric soprano singer of operas, oratorios and concerts. She is one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century and was pre-eminent in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...
, Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera....
, Christoph Prégardien
Christoph Prégardien
Christoph Prégardien is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music...
, Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Dame Anne Evans
Anne Evans
Dame Anne Evans DBE is an international Welsh operatic soprano.-Education:Anne Elizabeth Jane Evans was born in London of Welsh descent. She studied at the Royal College of Music with among others Margaret Cable, and the Geneva Conservatoire. She was accepted into the conservatoire without...
, René Kollo
René Kollo
René Kollo is a German tenor.-Biography:He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Föhr. He attended a photography school in Hamburg, although he had always been interested in music, particularly conducting. He did not begin to perform until the mid-50s...
, Galina Vishnevskaya
Galina Vishnevskaya
Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966.-Biography:...
and Dame Gwyneth Jones.
From 2003, the competition's first Patron was Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, until her death in 2010.The patron from 2011 is Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
.
The competition is organised by BBC Wales and is televised by BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
and BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
TV and broadcast over radio channels BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales is the BBC's national radio station broadcasting to Wales in the English language. Operated by BBC Wales, it began broadcasting on 12 November 1978 following the demise of the old "Radio 4 Wales" when BBC Radio 4 became a national network and moved from medium wave to long wave...
, and the Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru is BBC Cymru's Welsh-language radio station, broadcasting throughout Wales from studios in Cardiff, Bangor, and Aberystwyth on FM since 1977. At the time of its launch it was one of the few FM-only radio services in the UK...
.
The competition is supported by Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
and the City and County of Cardiff.
List of winners
- Valentina NaforniţăValentina NaforniţăValentina Naforniţă is a Bucharest based Moldovan soprano opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2011 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.Valentina Naforniţă was born in Glodeni, Moldova...
, 2011 - Ekaterina ScherbachenkoEkaterina ScherbachenkoEkaterina Scherbachenko is a Russian operatic soprano. She was the 2009 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. In April–May 2011 she appeared at La Scala, singing the role of Liù in Turandot....
, 2009 - Shenyang, 2007
- Nicole CabellNicole CabellNicole Cabell , is an American opera singer. She is presently best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition....
, 2005 - Tommi HakalaTommi HakalaTommi Hakala is a Finnish operatic baritone and winner of the 2003 BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff. He was born in Riihimäki, Finland.-Sources:*BBC News, , 30 June 2003*BBC Singer of the World Competition,...
, 2003 - Marius Brenciu, 2001
- Anja HarterosAnja HarterosAnja Harteros is a German operatic soprano. In 1999, she became the first German to win the Cardiff Singer of the World competition -Biography:...
, 1999 - Guang Yang, 1997
- Katarina Karnéus, 1995
- Inger Dam-JensenInger Dam-JensenInger Dam-Jensen is a Danish operatic soprano. In 1993 she won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. For the last two decades she has appeared in leading roles at the Royal Danish Theatre on a regular basis. She has also appeared as a guest artist with Paris Opera and the Royal Opera,...
, 1993 - Lisa GasteenLisa GasteenLisa Kinkead Gasteen AO , is an internationally acclaimed Australian operatic soprano, renowned for her performances of the works of Wagner. She won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1991...
, 1991 - Dmitri HvorostovskyDmitri HvorostovskyDmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky , is a leading baritone opera singer from Russia.Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. He studied at the Krasnoyarsk School of Arts under Yekatherina Yofel and made his debut at Krasnoyarsk Opera House, in the role of Marullo in Rigoletto...
, 1989 - Valeria Esposito, 1987
- David Malis, 1985
- Karita MattilaKarita MattilaKarita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
, 1983
Song prize (introduced 1989)
- Andrei BondarenkoAndrei BondarenkoAndrei Bondarenko is a Ukrainian baritone opera singer.Bondarenko was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. He trained at the National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev and at the Kiev Conservatory...
, 2011 - Jan Martinik, 2009
- Elizabeth WattsElizabeth WattsElizabeth Watts is a British soprano.Watts studied archaeology at Sheffield University and graduated with first class honours. Beginning in 2002, she studied music at the Royal College of Music with Lillian Watson. She graduated in 2005 with distinction and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother...
, 2007 - Andrew KennedyAndrew Kennedy (tenor)Andrew Kennedy is an English tenor. He was a chorister at Durham Cathedral, attended Uppingham School, and then a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge...
, 2005 - Ailish Tynan, 2003
- Marius Brenciu, 2001
- Dae-San No, 1999
- Christopher Maltman, 1997
- Kirsi Tiihonen, 1995
- Paul Whelan, 1993
- Neal Davies, 1991
- Bryn TerfelBryn TerfelBryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
, 1989