Another soprano, you might think, and yes, the members of the Association of the Belgian Music Press indeed chose Sarah Defrise as Young Musician of the year 2021. Three years earlier it was also a soprano, Emma Posman, who received the prize. You should know that the Association alternately honors a musician from the Dutch-speaking region and the following year someone from the French-speaking part of the country. And each time that prize is crowned with a matinee concert in Bozar.
Last Sunday it was time again. Sarah Defrise gave a magnificent recital and to begin with sang a number of "Ariettes oubliées" by Debussy. Very delicate music but the program was building nonetheless. First still with a song by Bernard Foccroulle, Quatre mélodies d'après Verlaine, then followed such a typical Annelies Van Parys arrangement of one of Wagner's songs, which she gave the title Wesendonck Lieder Heute. But Sarah Defrise shone especially in the Brentano Lieder by Richard Strauss. All of it subtly accompanied by Stéphane Ginsburgh, her faithful pianist and partner. The presence and voice of Sarah Defrise are impressive. Also remember especially her performance as the "teenager" in that exceptional De Munt / La Monnaie production, the "lived-filmed-opera" by Jean-Luc Fafchamps "Is this the end". That also launched her international career.
Actually, you cannot say that Sarah Defrise was discovered by the Belgian Music Press, because talent is not discovered but manifests itself. Press and public can only crown that talent. And Martine Mergeay, grande dame of the French-speaking section of Union de la presse musicale belge, did so by handing her the medal of the Association with her name engraved on it. And the audience affirmed that with thunderous applause.
WHO: Sarah Defrise [soprano] and Stephane Ginsburgh [piano]
WHAT: 'Sarah Defrise: Prize of the Association of the Belgian Music Press 2021' with Claude Debussy (Ariettes oubliées), Bernard Foccroulle (Quatre mélodies d'après Verlaine), Annelies Van Parys (Wesendonck Lieder Heute), Richard Strauss (Brentano Lieder, op. 68)
WHERE: Bozar, Henri le Boeuf hall
WHEN: 30 October 2022