And so to the concluding drama; judgement.  There were a ton of prizes ($270,000 in all) and the “lesser” ones got announced first.  So here’s the list of everybody except the winners of the two main competitions:

• Best Canadian in aria: Emily D’Angelo
• Best Canadian in art song: Rihab Chaieb
• French mélodie: John Brancy
• German Lied: Julien van Mellaerts
• Oratorio: Andrew Haji
• Opera aria: Mario Bagh
• Pianist: João Araújo
• People’s choice – aria: Emily D’Angelo
• People’s choice – art song: Clara Osowski

And so to the art song results.  I had found this pretty much impossible to pick and one of the four finalists was going to be very unlucky to miss out on a prize.  So here’s how the judges called it:

• First – John Brancy
• Second – Julien van Mellaerts
• Third – Clara Osowski

So Gemma Summerfield was the unlucky one.

And finally, aria.  Here’s how it went:

• First – Mario Bagh
• Second – Emily D’Angelo
• Third – Konstantin Lee

I totally get this.  As a competition result it makes sense and I think it’s fair but it does raise a question or two.  South Korea is churning out some amazing voices but not too many singers I’d want to see on an opera stage.  Given a choice between a ticket for a show with Haji or Brancy versus either of the Korean tenors (let alone the three Fafners), I’d go with Andrew and John every time.  Maybe the conservatories or whatever in Korea need to do some thinking about how to give their singers stage training and experience?

So, an eventful week of wonderful music.  I could have managed without the other stuff though.

Photo credits: Tan Lan Truong