True to tradition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition concludes with a series of concerts by the laureates in several Belgian cities and the release of a cd-box with fragments from their performances in the different stages of the competition.
The official closing concert at Bozar, in the presence of the royal couple, on 4 June, was, to be honest, rather modest. Stefan Blunier conducted the Belgian National Orchestra in the overtures to Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Bizet's "Carmen" and accompanied the first six laureates, each of whom had two turns scheduled. The Chinese bass Ao Li, the third laureate, only got one but was allowed to perform three arias in succession and brought both Leporello and Masetto and Don Giovanni himself to life in Mozart's opera. Rocio Perez, laureate number four, sang "Amor" by Richard Strauss and Gilda's "Caro nome" from Verdi's "Rigoletto" and Héloïse Mas, laureate number five, the short "Brangänes Lied" from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" but concluded the first part with a moving interpretation of "O ma lyre immortelle" from Gounod's "Sapho". So far this short but still satisfactory first part. In the second, laureate number two, mezzo-soprano Eva Zaïcik, would take her turn. But we were informed that she was ill and that the program would be somewhat reorganized. Her two numbers were replaced by two unannounced fragments from "Carmen" (an instrumental entr'acte and the card trio) well performed by the orchestra and Héloïse Mas, Marianne Croux and Rocio Pérez. Marianne Croux (laureate number six) also performed Puccini's "Quando m'en vo" from "La Bohème" and Delibes' "Les filles de Cadix" with flair in between. Then it was the turn of the first laureate Samuel Hasselhorn. He proved during the competition that opera is not really his preferred repertoire, and now too he chose an oratorio fragment (Mendelssohn's "Elias") and a song (Schubert's "Erlkönig"), two relatively short pieces that clearly left the audience somewhat unsatisfied. But there would follow a duet from Mozart's "Così fan tutte" with Hasselhorn and Mas. That was indeed printed in the program! But that would be for another time, a laughing Hasselhorn finally informed us. And so there was nothing for it but to leave the table hungry!
What a difference with the laureates' concert that Opera Vlaanderen offered with its own Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Oksana Lyniv in Ghent and Antwerp! Here both Samuel Hasselhorn and Eva Zaïcik were absent, apparently prevented by prior commitments. But the program offered here was varied and well-stocked and gave the laureates more turns. Moreover, to replace Zaïcik and Hasselhorn and achieve better vocal balance between female and male voices, two singers from the Young Ensemble Opera Vlaanderen were added: Flemish tenor Denzil Delaere and Finnish bass Markus Suihkonen. They performed arias from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tchaikovsky's Jevgeni Onegin and Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and did so admirably. The laureates: sopranos Rocio Pérez and Marianne Croux, mezzo-soprano Héloïse Mas and bass Ao Li integrated seamlessly into the program that showcased four operatic repertoires: Mozart, Italian bel canto opera, Russian opera and French opera. Their arias and duets alternated with instrumental pieces, excellently performed under the direction of the young Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who also accompanied the singers superbly. The audience clearly enjoyed it and the closing applause was genuine!
The cd-box (QEC 2018) offers two cds, on which all twelve laureates are featured. The first six are naturally more prominently present and their performances fill the first cd with fragments from the final evenings, accompanied by the orchestra of De Munt under Alain Altinoglu. Charlotte Wajnberg (who received the Canvas/Klara Audience Prize) also has a place on it. The second cd features all the other laureates as well (with piano accompaniment) and of course especially the first laureate Samuel Hasselhorn who is heard exclusively in song and oratorio. Those who followed the competition might have preferred to find a different fragment on the cd. Of course the choice is something personal but a nice reminder of the 2018 Singing Competition the box (with photos and biographies) certainly is.
- WHAT: Closing concert and cd-box QEC 2018
- WHO: Laureates KEW 2018
- WHEN: 4 June 2018
- WHERE: Bozar, Brussels
- RELEASE: 5425019970208
