This competition has been a part of my (television watching) life since it began and I have about an 80% hit rate at spotting winners which isn't bad. Especially since it has twice been very very close to call ( Terfel vs Hvorostovsky and Whelan vs Dam Jensen. In the latter case OH has always maintained that 'it was the frock wot won it', which seems rather hard on Whelan who went perforce with the standard male uniform of black tie. )
When son no 1 moved to Cardiff in the autumn of 2011 we thought that we might actually go to this year's competition and combine visiting family with an amazing operatic/singing experience, but alas! he has moved twice since then, so we dropped the plan. However next time we might go regardless...
Meanwhile last evening saw the first of the televised concerts and I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with the whole thing. None of the singers had 'it'; it being that elusive quality that just stops you in your tracks as soon as someone opens their mouth and means you have to listen. The round winner, a mezzo soprano from the USA, was the best of an indifferent bunch. She has technique and control to die for, but listening to her was boring as all get out.
Many of the problems stemmed from bad repertoire choices. The English soprano sang Eva from Meistersinger and Tatyana from Evgeny Onegin. As an aside I sincerely hope that no-one sings anything else from this opera all week because so help me, if Petroc Trelawney says Yoojean Oneegin one more time I'm going to throw something at the telly. Yevgyenny Onyegin, Petroc, how hard can it be? Anyway if you wanted to pick two female parts in opera that really were exactly the same you couldn't do better than Eva and Tatyana. Although it did showcase her ability to sing in German and Russian.
The tenor fouled up his chances before he even opened his mouth by choosing to start with 'O mes amis' from La Fille Du Regiment. This contains no fewer than 9 top Cs and is a big sing even for experienced tenors whose voices lie high. We heard Juan Diego Florez sing this in San Francisco a few years ago; imagine our astonishment when the lady sitting behind us whipped out her mobile phone in the interval and rang a friend to tell them that Flores had hit 'every single one'. He had, but did she really need to spread the word quite so quickly and fervently? Ah well. Anyway if I were a tenor at the beginning of my career taking part in the biggest competition for young singers that there is, I don't think I would choose Oh mes amis. The inevitable happened, he missed some, and it preyed on his mind, and of course, that having taken so much out of him, his remaining choices were less than beautifully sung.
The only other noteworthy performance, for all the wrong reasons sadly, was the bass baritone from Croatia who unadvisedly sang some Handel. I'm not sure why he thought that Handel should be sung the way he sang it, but it shouldn't. He did have a wonderful voice, perhaps not best suited to the repertoire he chose, but he'll make a great Figaro soon, and later on if he looks after his voice, he'll be an amazing Verdi baritone. I could almost hear him singing Posa in Don Carlo as it was.
It is invidious and unfair really to comment on the frocks the two women wore since the men have it easy in this respect, but I will just say that neither lady did herself any favours with her choice of outfit. Concert 2 is tonight; I'm hoping for more exciting things.
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