Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Wigmore Hall, review: 'Stratospherically high' standards
The entrants of this year's Kathleen Ferrier Awards are singers to watch out for
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.To sit through this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Awards final was to feel like the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland – ‘Everybody has won, all must have prizes’. Every year this competition sifts out the young stars of tomorrow – Victoria Wood’s mezzo-soprano daughter Grace Durham was a semi-finalist – but never in my experience have the standards been so stratospherically high. The judges themselves acknowledged this problem, by awarding two equal first prizes to baritone James Newby and tenor Alessandro Fisher.
Newby’s Papageno's Aria was intensely idiomatic, the sad clown incarnate, and he invested in Erlkonig with dark dramatic force, while his account of Butterworth’s Is My Team Ploughing was exquisitely nuanced. Fisher’s performance was supremely accomplished, delivering songs in French, Russian, German, and Italian with equal ease – and his high notes were floated with exceptional grace. Meanwhile New Zealander Bianca Andrew carried off the Song Prize for a provocatively brilliant cabaret number, and Ashok Gupta’s winning of the Accompanist’s Prize was well deserved, but the other five pianists were in virtually the same class.
Some now very famous singers started their careers by entering but failing to win this competition: sopranos Nardus Williams, Anna Rajah, and He Wu – each unforgettable in their own way – are singers I will be now looking out for.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments