TV preview: Cardiff Singer of the World 2021
On 16th June 2013 the third singer in the first heat of the Song prize took the stage at Welsh College of Music and Drama. After her first few notes, I was sure that we were hearing that year’s winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World. Jamie Barton, a 31-year old US mezzo was unknown to most of the audience, but her voice, her personality and her stagecraft were immediately apparent. She did indeed go on to win the Cardiff Singer’s Trophy the following Sunday, after – slightly more controversially (she beat the English favourite!) - winning the Song Prize too.
2013 was my third visit to Cardiff for the bi-annual competition. It’s been held since 1983, and from Karita Mattila, its first winner, its prize-winners – and many also-rans - make up a formidable selection of the best opera singers of the last 40 years. 1989 was the famous battle of the baritones. I can clearly recall seeing Bryn Terfel on TV make his first appearance in the heats. He was 25, sang thrillingly and had the Welsh crowd behind him – as ever, knowledgeable as well as partisan! But Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the glamorous Georgian – only a year older - had the edge. You can still see his wonderful performance in the final on the Cardiff Singer YouTube channel.
Famous Wagnerians, Lisa Gasteen, and Anja Harteros were among the winners in the 1990s, with Nina Stemme a finalist in 1993. “Home” competitors – Christopher Maltman, Elizabeth Watts and Andrew Kennedy from England, Neal Davies from Wales, and Ailish Tynan from Ireland all won the Song Prize. But the first UK winner – also sharing the song prize - was Catriona Morison in 2017. For the small – but increasingly vocal band of Scots supporters - there was a slow build-up to Catriona’s victory. There hadn’t been a Scots singer in the competition for several years, and it was good to see her acquitting herself well in the Song Prize heats and be chosen as one of the finalists. She turned in a lovely performance in the fourth round of the main prize, but the Australian singer Kang Wang was declared the winner of the round. Then one of the competition’s arcane rules played in Catriona’s favour. As well as the four heat winners, another singer is chosen as a “Wild-Card.” To everyone’s astonishment – not least Catriona’s - she got her chance in the final. This was closely fought, and unusually was a battle of the Brits, with the English soprano, Louise Alder, considered a likely winner. Louise has a lovely voice as Edinburgh Festival audiences knew from her Queen’s Hall concert the previous year. But on the night, Catriona with a daring programme choice edged it. The woman next to me that year, was a fellow tennis fan, and I teased her by saying that, like Moira Salmond, after Andy Murray’s victory, in 2012, I had a Saltire in my handbag… I didn’t, but it was a memorable night.
Cardiff Singer is a wonderful live occasion, made special by the presence in the hall of a knowledgeable and friendly audience, and the judging panels of International singers and other opera professionals. It predates the recent televised music competitions in which audiences in the hall and at home judge the performers, so is perhaps difficult to explain Cardiff Singer’s attraction to those who haven’t seen it. Some years ago an Audience Prize was instituted, and often it is awarded to someone whose appearance in the heats has been overlooked by the judges. Jacques Imbrailo, the South African baritone, was one of the first winners of the Audience Prize and remains a credit to these discerning viewers in the hall and at home.
The Competition has been televised since the beginning, although the BBC’s coverage of it has not been as extensive in recent years. This year an hour and half long broadcast of the main prize comes from St David’s Hall every night on BBC4, although only the first heat and the final are at 7.30, with the others at 10 pm. (How many other pressing live arts events are taking precedence on BBC 4, I wonder?) The Song Prize heats are on Radio 3, with the final on BBC4.
Despite the challenges of lockdown, and Zoom auditions, somehow the preliminary judging panel have put together an international group of 16 singers, who have quarantined and are ready to take part. It will be a strange experience for them, in the small Dora Stoutzer Hall at the Welsh College for the Song Prize heats, and even more so with orchestra, and TV crews in an empty St David’s Hall. I’m not sure if consideration was given to selling tickets for a few hundred audience members, which might have cheered up proceedings considerably. But perhaps that might have tempted fate… I am told that the South African contestant, Masabane Cecilia Rangwasnasha, a former Jette Parker Young Artist, is someone to look out for. It won’t be the same, but it should still prove some of the most inspiring music on television. Watch and enjoy!
Details of the contestants and the broadcasts can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/cardiffsinger
