Dominik Köninger Keeps Baritone Winning Streak Alive in Competitions

Dominik Köninger

German barihunk Dominik Köninger has kept the baritone winning streak alive by winning the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. Köninger won £10,000 for his first place finish. As we've been reporting, baritones Jonathan Beyer, Gabriel Preisser, Andrei Bondarenko, Mark Diamond, Philippe Sly and Konstantin Shushakov have been cleaning up at various vocal award competitions. We've dubbed this the "Golden Age of Baritones" and Köninger's win only reinforces our claim that we're in the greatest era ever for low voices.

Even the prize for best duo (singer and accompanist) went to a baritone, as Jonathan McGovern and his accompanist Timothy End walked away that coveted prize. The duo was awarded £5,000 for winning the prize.

Unfortunately, the competition posts video of the awards celebration, but not of any of the singing (a curious omission).  Below the video we've added two sound clips of Köninger, so that you can actually hear his artistry. He's performing Johann Strauß's "Brüderlein" and Ravel's Chanson épique. Here is the announcement of the winners:



 



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Ukrainian Baritone Andrei Bondarenko Wins Cardiff Song Prize

Andrei Bondarenko

24-year-old Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko has has won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize.  Bondarenko bested four other young singers in the competition. Bondarenko, has been a member of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers since 2007.

Bondarenko sang a diverse program that included Robert Schumann and Georgi Sviridov. The Song Prize jury was chaired by John Fisher, former chief executive and artistic director of Welsh National Opera, and included Marilyn Horne, baritone Håkan Hagegård, Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg and BBC Radio 3's Adam Gatehouse. This wasn't his first win at a major competition, he previously won the 2006 International Rimsky-Korsakov competition and took first prize at the international vocal competition "Art in the 21st Century" in Vorzel (Ukraine).

Future highlights will include his debut with the Glyndebourne Festival & Touring Opera. 

Here is his prize-winning song program:

Here his performance from the aria competition:



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