Cardiff Singer of the World - 4th Concert & Fab Five Announcement

I miss Take That. There, I've said it in public. I miss those daft lads and their enjoyable tunes. I miss their hordes of fans. Most of all I miss the giant kick up my backside they’d given me over the past two days, because without the terrifying thought of being stuck in traffic trying to find a parking spot I'd been in situ with plenty of time to spare. Tonight, with little worry in nabbing a parking space, I was just a bit late in getting to the hall, nearly missing the opening contestant.

But got in, I did, and so it was another night, with another new seating preference – but one with an obscured view of the big screen and I had to settle on using my own pesky eyesight for the final preliminary concert.

The singing was brought to the hall tonight by...


Enzo Romano (Uruguay)

È una cosa incredibile (The Italian Straw Hat) - Nino Rota
Non più andrai (Le nozze di Figaro) - Mozart
Bottom's dream (A Midsummer Night's Dream) - Britten
La calunnia (Il barbiere di Siviglia) – Rossini

Looking like David Villa’s older brother, Enzo Romano from Uruguay is that most unappreciated creature of the opera world, the character singer. His opening Rota was a shuffling, wise cracking character (or at least he seemed that way from my perch on high) from an opera I know absolutely nothing about, but after Romano’s performance I think I’ll try and track down a copy of it. While there is plenty of character in his singing, it lacked a tiny bit of strength, especially with his Figaro. And, as much as I enjoyed his acting, I felt that this strength was also a weakness. By this I mean that as his performance continued I didn't get a sense of differentiation between the characters he was singing, with his hunched shoulders and swivelling head on show for all numbers. Reading through all of this again you may think that I didn't enjoy his performance, but actually I did – I found him to be an engaging performer, and if he can tweak little bit here, and a little bit there he, could progress into being a more rounded performer.


Máire Flavin (Ireland)

Nobles seigneurs, salut! (Les Huguenots) - Meyerbeer
Parto, parto (La clemenza di Tito) - Mozart
Cara speme, questo core (Giulio Cesare) - Handel
Sein wir wieder gut (Ariadne auf Naxos) - R Strauss

Máire Flavin was the second of this year's competitors I'd had the opportunity to hear beforehand, with good impressions made that had me looking forward to her set. I’m not sure if nerves got the best of her to begin with, or if I was just a bit listless, but I didn’t catch on to her until the Handel when my attention was fully engaged. I’ve heard quite a bit of baroque rocking this week and this was up there with the best interpretations. But the topping on the cake came with her Strauss. Wonderful diction and carried easily over the orchestra to where I was sitting. And more on voices carrying later on in this post.


Leah Crocetto (USA)

Che il bel sogno di Doretta (La rondine) - Puccini
Sombre forêt (Guillaume Tell) - Rossini
Hear ye, Israel (Elijah) - Mendelssohn
Timor di me? ... D'amor sull' ali rosee (Il trovatore) - Verdi

The last competitor before the interval was the strongly fancied American soprano, Leah Crocetto. I will now utter the stupid comment of the day, so look away now if you don't like to see someone making a fool of themselves. Crocetto's voice struck me as being one of the most emotional I've heard all week. Not that other singers haven't touched me, but I had the impression the music she was singing meant a great deal to her, which will sound strange when I now go on to say that it wasn't until the Mendelssohn that my ears settled to her voice, an agile and burnished quality to it, almost with a hint of jazz to it. If there’s one thing I’d like to happen, it’s for her vibrato to straighten a touch, not much, just a tiny bit.


Davide Bartolucci (Italy)

Di Cupido impiegio i vanni (Rodelinda) - Handel
Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo (Così fan tutte) - Mozart
Bella siccome un angelo (Don Pasquale) - Donizetti
Una voce m'ha colpito (L'inganno felice) - Rossini

After the interval Davide Bartolucci took to the stage, in what appeared to be his big brother’s tails. It’s hard not to warm to Bartolucci, as even from my pigeon nest view he came across as an affable performer. He’s penned in as being a baritone, but I think that could be suffixed with bass as well as he struck me as having depth to his voice. Sticking strictly to Italian language operas he didn't do himself favours in the language department, but then other singers have done the same in the past so it wouldn’t have counted greatly if he had the lungs to make up for it. Unfortunately, tonight he didn’t quite have it. Pleasant to listen to he was missing that spark that make’s you really sit up. But give him, like many other singers in this year’s competition, a few years and he should develop into an interesting singer.


Hye Jung Lee (South Korea)

Grossmächtige Prinzessin ... Als ein Gott kam Jeder gegangen (Ariadne auf Naxos) - R Strauss
I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung (Nixon in China) - John Adams


The act of closing out the preliminary concerts fell to South Korean soprano Hye Jung Lee. With echoes of last year's eventual winner, Ekaterina Scherbachenko, Lee gambled on a lesser program quantity wise, although not as much as the Russian. What to say about the Strauss? Superb. She tackled the notoriously difficult aria with a light, laser like voice, but without any of the shrieking that can come with such an instrument. But for me, the highlight came with her Adams. While the Strauss had been stratospherically soaring, her Adams was a punchy, defiant piece of singing that never once wavered in her attack. The house was duly brought down.


Off went the jury to do their deliberations, this time with the extra weight of having to choose not only the night’s winner, but also the make-up of the final, with all 20 singers, regardless of if they had won their concert, or not, eligible for the final selection.

It's at this point I will now wander into the field of idiocy. Reading comments on Twitter and other blogs, I've been struck by the sheer dumbness of a few quotes aimed at some of the singers, and I thought I'd draw attention to the fact that watching on the TV and in the hall are two separate things entirely. Watching on TV you get to hear the singer in minute detail. Flaws in techniques, or simple mistakes are magnified tenfold, but what some TV viewers don't appreciate is that a TV audience aren't hearing a faithful representation of the performances, as the singers have a whacking great big orchestra right behind them. Watching concerts on TV, which I’ve attended in the flesh, I've been struck time and again by how quiet the orchestra are on the box, when in the flesh they are naturally playing far louder (not that they’re making gargantuan noise), which the singers have to contend with. In addition there is the obvious fact that nerves will undoubtedly be playing a big part for some singers. And lastly, these are young singers who are competing, not singers with twenty or thirty years worth of experience to call upon and to criticise them for failing to produce faultless singing is liking asking a 12-year-old athletics fan why they can't run a marathon faster than Geoffrey Mutai. As my old mentor, June "Touch my Curling Tongues and you Lose a Fingernail" Peters, used to say to me whenever a client criticized her cutting technique, “If they were so bloody great at cutting hair I’d be knocking off banks for a living.” I haven’t seen June in a while.

But back to announcement time. After a long delay, during which the eighteen competitors present (Anna Leese and Vazgen Ghazaryan were gigging elsewhere) were brought on stage and presented with a crystal bowl / vase, the jury returned with John Fisher saying, “And the winner is, Hye Jung Lee!” A fair result on the evening. Up until she sang I had Leah Crocetto in the lead but Lee’s performance was superb.

And then, without much further ado John Fisher announced the following names as finalists for Sunday’s big day…

Olesya Petrova (Russia)
Valentina Naforniţă (Moldova)
Meeta Raval (England)
Hye Jung Lee (South Korea)
Andrei Bondarenko (Ukraine)

I have to admit that I, like quite a few in the hall, was extremely surprised not to see one of Anna Leese (New Zealand), Şerban Gheorghe Vasile (Romania), Susanne Braunsteffer (Germany), Helen Sherman (Australia) or Leah Crocetto (USA) make the final, but as it always says in the fine print, the judges decision is final.

Best of luck to all five finalists for Sunday!

Cardiff Singer of the World - 3rd Concert, "Better than sex in chocolate wellies!" says excited punter...

Captains log, star date 1506.2011.

I am currently floating in the troposphere around a planet called Utopia, a by-product of tonight's mission to the Bloody Great Music Nebula. Star Fleet had received reports of dangerously addictive music making taking place in the region and dispatched the USS Sloth to investigate and I, the commanding officer of the one-man crew, duly slumped out of bed in time to beat the pesky galaxy wide menace known to all as Take That groupies to a parking space in John Lewis.

Memorising the basic combat manual written by Capt James T Kirk, including the definitive Star Fleet guide to Maraca-Do – the ancient art of Klingon barroom fighting – I left the safety of my reconnaissance shuttle and headed out into the maelstrom of female groupies, making sure that the words Take crap are That stayed firmly within the confines of my mind. Then I...

...simply dropped the egotistical vein of writing and got on with telling the tale of a wonderful night, beginning with...


Susanne Braunsteffer (Germany)

Il est doux, il est bon (Hérodiade) – Massenet
Temerari ... Come scoglio (Così fan tutte) – Mozart
Un bel di vedremo (Madama Butterfly) - Puccini
Mercè, dilette amiche (I vespri siciliani) – Verdi

Hearing a fifth soprano in less than 24 hours (circa) could seriously damage your appreciation of the voice, unless you happen to run into a singer like Susanne Braunsteffer. From her first notes the audience settled in an oooh state of mind. Mixing culinary metaphors we were treated to a creamy, full-bodied voice with a homely top. It was difficult not to be reminded of another German soprano who'd competed here over a decade ago, and chances are she could be heading in the same direction careerwise. If there was one tiny drawback it was with her relative lack of low notes, most noticeable in the Mozart, but as I'm trying to remind myself, sopranos make their living in clouds, not on mountain tops. Glorious.


Helen Sherman (Australia)

Sta nell'Ircana (Alcina) – Handel
How can I sleep? ... At the haunted end of the day (Troilus and Cressida) – Walton
Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia) – Rossini

The unenviable task of following Braunsteffer fell to the Australian mezzo, Helen Sherman. Surefooted as an elegant, fire juggling, Olympic gold medal winning mountain goat in the boxing competition she took on Handel and more than lived to tell the tale. Her Walton served notice of her dramatic abilities, which ended with a much deserved pin drop hush. And to finish off she revealed yet another sphere of her repertoire with a spiky Rossini. Applause galore.


John Pierce (Wales)

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Die Zauberflöte) - Mozart
Una furtiva lagrima (L'elisir d'amore) - Donizetti
Lunge da lei ... De'miei bollenti spiriti (La traviata) - Verdi
Je suis seul! ... Ah! fuyez, douce image (Manon) – Massenet

Next up was the endangered species of the opera world, a tenor. But just not any tenor, the home crowd's tenor, in shape of John Pierce. This is the third time I’ve seen him sing, so I already knew what to expect, a sweet voice full of character. One of my private reservations about his voice has been a lack of power (only by a few tenths) when the orchestra cranks up to 11, but tonight there was a noticeable change in this area, without losing the sweetness in his voice. His best moment came with the Donizetti, a role that appears to be well within his grasp as a performer. If there's one thing I would love to see him do more it would be to relax a tiny bit more when he's onstage, and to simply sing his character.


Valentina Naforniţă (Moldova)

Egli non riede ancora ... Non so le tetre immagini (Il corsaro) - Verdi
Glück das mir verlieb (Die tote Stadt) - Korngold
Amour, ranime mon courage (Roméo et Juliette) - Gounod


The Commandments of Hairman.

1) Valentina Naforniţă should be allowed to develop at a natural pace.
2) She shouldn’t be saddled with the “Next Netrebko” tag.
3) Peter Gelb should not be allowed to sign her for the next twenty years.

Unfortunately, with the exception of number one (she’s based in one of the meccas of soprano singing, Romania), the next two commandments will probably be broken at some point in the very near future. Going all Vogue magazine, the moment Moldova’s Naforniţă stepped on stage looking like Audrey Hepburn wearing Marilyn Monroe’s Seven Year Itch white dress, there was a palpable sense that she could be something special and I, along with the rest of the audience, sat for three unbelievably beautiful arias. Big sound. Delicate sound. Pure tone sound. She has it all. Judge for yourselves tonight on BBC4. I wonder if she likes Milk Tray?


Andrei Bondarenko (Ukraine)

Hai già vinta la causa ... Vedrò mentr'io sospiro (Le nozze di Figaro) - Mozart
Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Die tote Stadt) - Korngold
Vy mne pisali ... Kogda by zhizn domashnim krogdom (Eugene Onegin) -Tchaikovsky
Quella è una strada (Le maschere) - Mascagni

As emotionally exhausted as a eunuch in a Miss World competition, I applauded the Ukraine’s Andrei Bondarenko to the stage, and a sense of no more please! erupted within me as his booming, tailored baritone brought Almaviva to life on stage. Korngold was dispatched with romantic ease, Tchaikovsky the same, finished off with Mascagni’s Quella è una strada, probably not the most sensitive of aria’s to be written but one which allowed Bondarenko’s effortless comic skills to be added to his more dramatic acting abilities. If there’s one tiny criticism I can make, is that his fast, flickering vibrato, which I noticed (strangely enough) most of all in the Onegin, might not be to everyone’s taste. But ****, what a performer!


Time for my meandering thoughts as the jury go off to pick a winner for the evening. Tonight’s thoughts revolve around audience members. Particularly ones who decide to wear jewellery that makes you think a herd of opera loving reindeers are in the hall with you. This type of jewellery would be okay if you had your arm in a sling, or had covered it with three scarves and a winter woolly, but loud and proud on your wrist the sound carries. A lot.

Another thought is for audience members who like to WHISPER. Again, this type of behaviour is great if you’re in a pub discussing the whereabouts of sunken treasure or your career as an investment banker (ooh, look at me, so topical by a year!), but in a concert hall your WHISPERS aren’t VERY QUIET. In fact, they’re BLOODY IRRITATING and might garner you a visit from an Aeronautically Challenged Programme. But less of my moaning. Forward to the winner!

The heavy mob, led by Kiri D, make their way onto stage and with a few brief words in Welsh and English (peace out to my Welsh brothers & sisters for taking my words into consideration) Jonnie F says, “And the winner is, Andrei Bondarenko!” Cheers, applause galore, very happy baritone waving a crystal mug about onstage.

Was it the correct decision? Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery hard to say. Wild west fistfights could have taken place on the stairs out of the hall if sardine tin mode wasn’t in effect judging by some of the conversations that were taking place. I’d say what probably clinched it for Bondarenko was the make up of his programme. It took in many facets of his character as a singer and showed him at his best. However, as I write this I can still hear Naforniţă’s Amour, ranime mon courage in my ears and I would be very shocked not to see her in Sunday’s final, and perhaps even one more from this evening’s concert.

Musical heaven.

Cardiff Singer of the World - Ding! Ding! Seconds out, round two!

Due to popular Pre Middle-aged Manband Take That playing the Millennium Stadium for two nights, I arrived in Cardiff at 4am to avoid the crush for parking places, armed with a few Paul Henry books, a traditionally stale batch of New York Bakery bagels, two bananas, a litre of water and a set of maracas to do some busking with.

Fifteen hours later and I lumbered into the hall, carrying the books, one stale bagel, a teensy-weensy bit of water, one maraca and £7.59 in busking royalties. I'd had to fend off a pack of profoundly inebriated Take That fans who’d mistaken me for Gary Barlow in Boots and lost the other maraca in the process. I wouldn't have minded if it had been Howard…

With the weekend crowds staying away there was room enough to do some limited roaming and I settled on a new vantage point for the second concert, this time with the Orchestra of WNO providing the backing tracks for the night, with Lawrence Foster at the helm.

Plying their for the evening trades would be…


Meeta Raval (England)

Signore, ascolta! (Turandot) - Puccini
La mamma morta (Andrea Chénier) - Giordano
How can I sleep ... At the haunted end of the day (Troilus and Cressida) - Walton
Mercè, dilette amiche (I vespri siciliani) – Verdi

Singing for her supper first of all Meeta Raval brought an array of characters to the stage, backed up by that most wonderful of things, an infectious personality. Her opening Signore, ascolta! was as daring a choice as fellow soprano Anna Leese’s the previous night. Mess it up and she’d be playing catch-up for the rest of the evening, but she negotiated it with aplomb, including the shrinking money note. And it was this sense of control that impressed me most about her performance, she was never tempted to sing beyond her voice, which would have been an easy thing to do in the circumstances.


Wang Lifu (China)

Hai già vinta la causa ... Vedrò mentr'io sospiro (Le nozze di Figaro) - Mozart
Der Tamboursg'sell (Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit No 2) - Mahler
Per me giunto ... Io morrò (Don Carlo) – Verdi

Waving the flag for China, and more importantly, for masculinity!!, Wang Lifu was the sole baritone blokey competing amongst a sea of hysterical sopranos. A wonderful tone to his voice he set off well with the Mozart, but then undid his good work with the Mahler. Yep, I’m going to talk about programme choices here. I can understand the temptation to sing the piece as the opportunity to sing it won't come around as often as a Marcello or a Figaro, but in a competition you need to keep good vibes going and I felt that he shot himself in the foot choosing the Mahler. Having said that he got back on track with the Verdi. Overall I enjoyed his performance, and think that with experience and more age in his voice he'll be a singer to look out for in the years to come.


Sasha Djihanian (Canada)

Da tempeste (Giulio Cesare) - Handel
Ach, ich fühl's (Die Zauberflöte) - Mozart
Me voilà seule ... Comme autrefois (Les pêcheurs de perles) – Bizet


The second soprano of the evening brought a broad programme to the stage, and the nicest dress of the competition so far I was told (eavesdropped) by a fellow audience member. Now, I come to most of these singers never having heard them before and I base my thoughts on what I hear onstage, which I guess is as it should be, so I found it curious to see Sasha Djihanian singing a Handel piece that I felt didn't suit her voice, making her sound quite lethargic. The Mozart was a different thing altogether, and I felt quite drawn to her full(ish) rich(ish) voice at this point, as I felt did the audience as a whole. However, the Bizet never caught fire for me, which was a disappointment as Djihanian quite obviously possesses a beautiful voice given the right material.


Olga Kindler (Switzerland)


Dich, teure Halle (Tannhäuser) - Wagner
Il est doux, il est bon (Hérodiade) - Massenet
Ritorna vincitor! (Aida) – Verdi

The third soprano of the evening was also the competition's Wonder Woman as until last week she wasn't penned in as a competitor, but due to Poland's Szymon Komasa being taken unwell she came to the rescue, and has done more than make up the numbers by progressing to the Song Prize Final on Friday. How would she fare on the big stage? Her Wagner was clean and direct, her Massenet wandered slightly – although this may well have been due to the fact that I wasn't overly familiar with it. Her Verdi was probably a mixture of the previous two arias. I'm not sure if nerves, an understandable lack of preparation or a running out of adrenaline after the past few days took hold but I felt that Kindler was a level or two beneath what he can be.


Marcela Gonzáles (Chile)


Bel raggio lusinghier (Semiramide) - Rossini
Crudel, l'immergerò pria nel tuo seno ... Barbara! (Alcina) - Handel
Je veux vivre (Roméo et Juliette) - Gounod

Blingtastic with a necklace that blinded me from 99 levels away Marcela Gonzáles, the last competitor of the evening, took to the stage with a slightly large handicap in that she was soprano number four and, worse still, very much under the weather having had to pull out of the Song Prize competition. So it wasn't unsurprising that her performance was a notch or two below that of the others, as she pushed her voice in compensation for her illness. I understand that this is a competition, and that judgements have to be made on what is heard on the evening, but it would have been a nice touch if the organisers had announced to the audience beforehand that Gonzáles was singing whilst unwell, after all this is what is done for singers in the opera house when they sing with infections. This wouldn't have had an effect on the overall outcome as the judges are far too experienced to be swayed by audience behaviour, and would have allowed the many audience members unaware of Gonzáles predicament.


And so that was it. Off went the jury members, and the audience began their own deliberations. I was stuck between two of the singers, Miss England and Miss Switzerland. Not sure of who I thought would win I began to do some star spotting in the audience below, catching sight of Gwyn Hughes Jones, Wynne Evans, Llŷr Williams and (I think) Nigel Kennedy, or someone who looked like him. Okay, so they might not be Beonce or Rihanna but they’re stars to me and if you disagree I'll take you on in a Permathon Challenge.

Anyway, also in the house was WNO’s new Grande Fromage, David Pountney as a guest alongside Mary “Hand me a Hankie” King for BBC4’s coverage. Future guests include Mark Padmore, Gerald Findley, Sir Thomas Allen (Song Prize Final) and 2005 Winner Nicolle Cabelle will be joining forces with Joyce DiDonato for Sunday’s final. (In case you're wondering I've decided to only bold the competitors, as it's the 20 singers who are the stars of the competition after all.)

After gleaning all this from the programme I pricked up my ears at the sound of applauding as the jury made their way onstage. John Fisher got straight down to the all-important announcement, “The winner of tonight’s concert is…Meeta Raval!” Cue cheers and applause and a visibly delighted Raval hitting the stage. It was, on reflection, the correct decision in my eyes as I trundled out of the hall, because, of all the competitors on the evening she was the one who gave me that most precious of things…sheer enjoyment.

Time for me to pack my maraca and bagels. Take That Pt II is on again this evening.

Cardiff Singer of the World - Round 1

As some of you may have noticed I haven’t been posting for a while, this is due to an old hairdressing injury that’s being a bit of a bugger. Unfortunately I’ll have to put the blog into long-term hibernation, but I thought I’d go out with a tiny bang and do some waffling about goings on in deepest, darkest Cardiff. However, please be aware that these ramblings may be cut short without any notice. And they’ll be even rougher than usual. But less of me, and more of…

The football season has finished, so has the rugby, the NBA finals have concluded and the Stanley Cup Final might well be about to finish if the Canucks can see off the Bruins in six, which leaves your average sports fan with a gap in the calendar. Usually this void until the Tour de France begins would be filled with flirtations with fitness, but thankfully this is the year of the odd (number) and so attention turns towards Cardiff, and their Singer of the World competition.

In attendance at the competition will be agents, and representatives of the big houses throughout the world, all on the lookout for future opera stars. Also in attendance will be a judging panel will know a thing or two about singing. As will the audience.

And then there will be me.

Or I should say, and then there was me, because I've just got back from St Davids Hall and I'm busy writing this with the aid of a bowl of cornflakes and a mug of Horlicks. So, the first night – what was it like I’m hearing you say as you sense a lot of meandering words coming from my keyboard. The answer, unsurprisingly, was very good. Very good indeed Mr Ambassador, because with these singers you spoiled us.

Tonight, the runners and riders were...

Anna Leese (New Zealand)

Song to the Moon (Rusalka) - Dvorák
Donde lieta uscì (La bohème) - Puccini
L'altra notte in fondo al mare (Mefistofele) - Boito
Mercè, dilette amiche (I vespri siciliani) - Verdi

First up Anna Leese. Let’s face it, who wants to open a singing, or any other competition? The audience is at the start of a mammothish week, your nerves are going to be playing havoc with you and by the time the 20th singer has sung you’ll be “What’s her name, the one at the beginning…” Oh, and you’ve just opened OHP’s Euegene Onegin the night before. Fortunately for The Leese she should be well remembered by the audience. The key, apart from a beautiful clean, clear soprano was her well-balanced, and slightly brave programme. I say brave because if you want to stamp your mark on a competition and announce your arrival most people would be inclined to go for a HELLO I’M HERE kind of number, but the choice of the Dvorák demonstrated a singer confident in her ability to take an audience with her, which she did with ease. My only tiny quibble would be that the lower part of her voice wasn’t quite enough to carry some of the lower passages, especially at the end of the Russalka.

Okay, I fell asleep and it’s now Tuesday. And I’m in a bit of a rush…apologies for the munchkiness nature of the following reviews.


Vazgen Ghazaryan (Armenia)

Il lacerato spirito (Simon Boccanegra) - Verdi
Son lo spirito che nega (Mefistofele) - Boito
Ves' tobor spit (Aleko) - Rakhmaninov
Studia il passo ... Come dal ciel precipita (Macbeth) - Verdi

Second up was Armenian bass, Vazgen Ghazaryan, with a mouth watering programme of some highlights in the bass repertoire. Owning a deep end of the pool bass he had a wonderful range, coupled with a chocolate chewable texture. An expressive performer he took well to the characters he had to perform, although his stunt whistling needs some looking at. Overall a very enjoyable singer, and one with lots of promise, but I would have liked a touch more variety in his programme to showcase his undoubted talents in a way more beneficial to him.


Olesya Petrova (Russia)

Adieu, forêts (The Maid of Orleans) - Tchaikovsky
Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila) - Saint-Saëns
Acerba voluttà (Adriana Lecouvreur) - Cilea


I’m not one to shy away from making a fool of myself, but I think the winner may already have stepped on stage in the guise of Russian mezzo soprano, Olesya Petrova, the last competitor before the interval and the traditional breakdancing throwdowns took place on level 99. I’m going to bang on a lot about programme choice this week and Petrova’s was a master class in making all the correct decisions before a competition. That said, she could have sung the Spice Girls’ B-sides and still sounded sensational. For voice aficionados my quick breakdown – 20 Tog voice, breadth of range like the Veldt (low notes to mmmmmmmmmmmm for) and a voice so effortlessly natural it could get you arrested in Scotland. Any quibbles? She could have sung for another hour.


Maria Radoeva (Bulgaria)

Agitata da due venti (La Griselda) - Vivaldi
Bel raggio lusinghier (Semiramide) - Rossini
Quando m'en vo' (La bohème) - Puccini
Alleluja (Exsultate, jubilate) - Mozart

Once the block rockin' beats had died down it was time for Bulgaria’s Maria Radoeva to strut her soprano stuff. And strut it, she did. If I was to name her programme I would have called it Coloratura Mashup. Her breath control during the Vivaldi had me looking for an oxygen tank at the back of the stage and she’ll certainly be baroquing at a place near you in the future. My Negative Comment from Talentless Critic moment would be that I would love to see a touch more relaxation in her shoulders, which could allow a greater freedom to her sparkling voice – although this could understandably be put down to nerves.


Şerban Vasile (Romania)

Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo (Così fan tutte) - Mozart
Vien, Leonora (La favorita) - Donizetti
Vy mne pisali ... Kogda by zhizn domashnim krogdom (Eugene Onegin) - Tchaikovsky

Closing out the evening was Şerban Vasile, a Romanian baritone, from…Romania. I don’t know if he's a betting man, but if he is I hope his luck is better than it was last night. On most nights he would have been the winner, as he gave an assured and entertaining performance. His programme choices fitted him like a glove, especially the Donizetti and I would have no quibbles in dipping my hand in my pocket to see him on stage. Quibbles? His luck.


And so, as the jury went off to have a cheese and onion buttie and a flat can of Strongbow, the crowd sat and waited for the judgement. This interlude will allow me to point out a new development for the audience in the hall, and that's the introduction of a whacking great screen behind the orchestra, allowing you to see the competitors in close-up during their performances. This is good in one way as it’ll save a lot of neck craning and give you an idea of the performers acting skills. Buuuuuuuut, on the other hand, this could be a disadvantage to those singers who aren’t as clued up in the acting stakes as some of their fellow competitors. Just a thought.

But, lo and behold, the jury are now out on stage. John Fisher’s doing his bi-lingual bit*, now he’s bringing the house down with a short story about a vicar, a lion tamer and a stripper called Johnny Tripod, and now the percussionist is drum rolling with his kettle drums Roman galley stylee…the winner, is…, …, …, Olesya Petrova!

Not much guess work needed really. Despite the great performances of the other competitors there was only ever one name to be called out. You can catch her performance this evening on BBC4, or you can catch her now on the iPlayer with BBC 2 Wales’ nightly highlight shows, live from level 3 – the sea level level. Unfortunately for folks outside of the UK the iPlayer still isn’t available to you (I know), although you can (I assume) listen to a delayed recording of Friday's Song Prize Final on Saturday (and catch the Song Prize concerts on BBC Radio 3 beginning with the first concert) as well as listening to the final live on Sunday.


*Please, please can Welsh speakers not clap after every bit of Welsh. I’m a Welsh speaker but I’m aware that an English version will appear straight away, and it’ll save a lot of bulging bladders if we all applaud together instead of separately.

Going for Gold

Photo courtesy of Opera Omnia Productions

Congratulations to soprano Natalya Romaniw (Welsh 2009 CSW entrant) on winning the Guidhall School’s Gold Medal. Taking on fellow students – Ashley Riches, Victor Sicard and Koji Terada in a no-holds barred singathon, Romaniw, rich in Ukranian and Welsh heritage, was given the nod by the judging panel - a dodgy looking lot comprised of Jonathan Vaughan, Sian Edwards, Dame Janet Baker, Edward Gardner and Edward Seckerson – a case of two Ed’s better than one! Boom-boom! #TumbleweedMoment…

Romaniw follows in the footsteps of other Welsh winners, including Bryn Terfel and Gary Griffiths – soon to be making his professional debut as an Associate Artist of WNO in the role of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte later this month. I wonder if a dynamic, wandering pitch hair expert will make the grade next time around?

"Tonight, Simon and Big Hair, I'm going to sing..."

If you want to know who is singing who at BBC CSW 2011 then you're in luck my lovelies. Individual programme details are available to peruse at your hearts content by visiting the competitors individual pages. However, despite my hopes, no-one is taking on Lorenzo Da Ponte's translation of a true classic...

It's Just Like Reading Geoff Hamilton - David Pountney Blogs

And God created Gardening God

Following in the footsteps of other artistic luminaries such as Katie Price (Paradise –shortlisted for the Tango Prize), Naomi Campbell (Swan – longlisted for the Joan Wilder Prize) and Sharon Osbourne (Revenge – nearly listed for the Senokot Prize), David Pountney declined my offer of coaching as he embarks on blogging the eponymous David Pountney’s Blog*.

Whether or not he comes to rue his decision depends on how much he would miss having to fend off accusations of stupidity, and slack use of the comma. As it is, the man with the arguably the best Rabbie’s in opera, has made an interesting foray into the world of blogging. And, to the best of my knowledge**, is the only head of a major opera company who has taken to blogging while in office.

His first instalment – the first of many I hope – is refreshingly honest with his thoughts on WNO’s financial situation, while at the same time brimming with excitement at moving the company forward, and also includes an interesting sideline in horticulture.


*Please note Daily Mail journos – this, of course, is an attempt at humour, not a statement of fact.

**I haven’t got a clue.