Baritones dominate first ever Glyndebourne Opera Cup

Clockwise top left: Dmytro Kalmuchyn, Cody Quattlebaum, Denis Milo and Hubert Zapiór

Baritones landed seven of the 24 slots for the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup on March 22. The field will be narrowed to 10 finalist for the March 24th competition, which will be broadcast on Sky Arts.

The Glyndebourne Opera Cup focuses on a different single composer or strand of the repertoire. In 2018 the featured composer is Mozart and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will accompany the singers at the final.

The field includes some popular barihunks led by Cody Quattlebaum (US), Hubert Zapiór (Poland), Dmytro Kalmuchyn (Ukraine), Denis Milo (Germany), as well as Jorge Espino (Mexico), Jake Muffett (UK), Carl Rumstadt (Germany), Charles Sy (Canada), Jack Swanson (US), Jacquelyn Stucker (US), Anita Rosati (Austria), Emily Pogorelc (US), Eléonore Pancrazi (France), Alexandra Nowakowski (US/Poland), Gemma Ní Bhriain (Ireland), Diana Newman (US), Mirjam Mesak (Estonia), Aurora Marthens (Finland), Elbenita Kajtazi (Kosovo), Samantha Hankey (US), Adriana Gonzalez (Guatemala), Francesca Chiejina (US) and Adèle Charvet (France).

Hubert Zapiór sings the Count's aria from the Marriage of Figaro:

The winner will receive £15,000 and the guarantee of a role within five years at one of the top opera houses represented on the competition jury.

The international jury for The Glyndebourne Opera Cup includes representatives from top international opera houses. Among them are Barrie Kosky, Artistic Director of Komische Oper Berlin, Sophie de Lint, Artistic Director of Zurich Opera and Director Designate of Dutch National Opera, David Devan, who runs Opera Philadelphia, Fortunato Ortombina, Sovrintendente of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and Joan Matabosch, Artistic Director of Teatro Real in Madrid. 

Acting as the competition’s honorary president is Dame Janet Baker, whose own early career was fostered by Glyndebourne. As well as presenting the prizes, she will adjudicate at the live final.

Six baritones/basses in Moniuszko finals

Leon Kosavic in Round 2 of the Moniuszko Competition

Almost 40% of the finalists in the 2016 Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition will be basses and baritones. Advancing to Saturday's final round will be Polish bass Krzysztof Bączyk, Polish baritone Andrzej Filończyk, Ukrainian baritone Dmytro Kalmuchyn, Croatian baritone Leon Kosavic (who has been featured on this site), Ukrainian baritone Oleksandr Kyreiev and Moldavian baritone Adrian Timpau.

 In the final round Filończyk will perform the Death of Posa from Verdi's Don Carlo and Moniuszko's "Czemuż mnie w chwilach" from Halka, Bączyk will sing "Damit dich niemand war" from Weber's Der Freischütz and "Gdzie wielkość Polski?" from Szeligowski's Bunt żaków, Kalmuchyn will perform "Ah, per sempre" from Bellini's I puritani and "Czemuż mnie w chwilach" from Moniuszko's Halka, Kosavic will sing "Per me giunto" from Verdi's Don Carlo and "Nakaż niech ożywcze słonko" from Moniuszko's Verbum nobile, Kyreiev is also singing Moniuszko's "Czemuż mnie w chwilach" from Halka and Thomas' "O vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Hamlet, and Timpau is singing Racmaninov's "Ves tabor spit" from Aleko and Kúrpinski's "Śpiewka Nikity Dobrzem zrobił" from Zamek na Czorsztynie.

Krzysztof Bączyk and Andrzej Filończyk sing the I puritani duet:

Leon Kosavic sings Ah! Per sempre:

You can watch the finals HERE on Saturday, May 14 starting at 6 PM CEST (9 AM PST/NOON EST)

Other finalists include Polish mezzo Kinga Borowska, Georgian soprano Salome Jicia, Korean tenor Keon Woo Kim, Russian mezzo Iuliia Mennibaeva, Polish soprano Sylwia Olszyńska, Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orlińska, American soprano Jacqueline Piccolino, British tenor Adam Smith, Polish soprano Ewa Tracz and Polish soprano Joanna Zawartko.

Matija Meić takes two prizes at Mirjam Helin Competition

Matija Meić took the top prize for Finnish song interpretation and 2nd overall for men

Even though three of the four male finalists were baritones, the top prize for a male singer at the 7th Annual Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition was awarded to tenor Beomjin Kim, who we commend for his stellar performances. However, the €3 000 prize for the best performance by a non-Finnish singer of a Finnish song went to Croatian baritone Matija Meić. Meić placed second behind Kim, followed by fellow Croatian Leon Kosavic and Ukranian Dmytro Kalmuchyn.

First prize for a female singer went to the Ukranian soprano Kateryna Kasper, who was followed by Russian soprano Ekaterina Morozova, Korean soprano Sunyoung Seo and Russian soprano Elena Guseva. 

A total of €133 000 was awarded in prizes and the laureates receive invitations to perform in Finland and abroad. The members of the Jury voted independently and did not discuss the performances during the voting procedure. In adjudicating the Final performances from all three rounds were taken into account.

Forty-six singers from around the globe took part in the Competition this year, with the jury selecting 19 for the semi-finals and eight for the final round. The chairman of the 2014 Jury was the Artistic Director of the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Jorma Silvasti. Other jurists included Franz Grundheber, Maria Guleghina, Ben Heppner, Robert Holl, Andrea Rost, Nathalie Stutzmann and Deborah Voigt.

The prize winners will perform at a concert on August 15th at Tampere Hall accompanied by the Tampere Philharmonic under the baton of Hannu Lintu.

You can listen to Majita Meić's performance HERE,  Leon Kosavic's performance HERE, and Dmytro Kalmuchyn's performance HERE.

Introducing Ukrainian barihunk Dmytro Kalmuchyn

Dmytro Kalmuchyn

We were blown away by Ukrainian barihunk Dmytro Kalmuchyn's performances in the first two rounds of the Mirjam Helim International Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland. We were even more amazed to learn that he just recently turned twenty-one. His set of Richard Strauss songs would be a fantastic performance for a singer twice his age.

Kalmuchyn hails from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine in the historic region of Podolia, where he began singing with the Children's Music School.  He eventually became the lead singer of the "Podilski Solovyi” (Podillya Nightingales) children's chorus.

In May 2010, at the age of 17, he made his solo recital debut with the Khmelnytskyi Regional Philharmonic Society. That same year, he became a first-year student of voice at the Lviv National Musical Academy. He won the Theodore Teren-Yuskiw Young Singers Competition and the Grand Prix of the competition "Art of the XXI century."

You can watch his semi-final performance at the Mirjam Helim International Singing Competition HERE. He sings Sibelius' Svarta rosor, a Richard Strauss set (Zueignung, Nichts, Die Nacht, Die Georgine, Geduld, Die Verschwiegenen, Die Zeitlose and Allerseelen), as well as Bellini's Or dove fuggo io mai...Ah, per sempre io ti perdei from I Puritani.

Four more baritones compete in Mirjam Helin Competition

Four more baritones performed on the second day of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. Once again, all of the performances are available online.

Ukrainian baritone Dmytro Kalmuchyn sang with Tuula Hällström at the piano. He performed J.S. Bach's Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde, Schumann's Der Soldat, Rachmaninov's Notš petšalna and Mozart's Fin ch'han dal vino from Don Giovanni. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

Korean baritone Insu Hwang performed with Eunmyung Baek at the piano.  He sang Händel's Arm, arm ye brave from Judas Maccabaeus, Schumann's Ballade des Harfners, Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre and E sogno? o realtà from Verdi's Falstaff. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

British baritone Thomas Humphreys sang with Raya Kostova at the piano. He performed Händel's The trumpet shall sound from the Messiah, Schubert's Der Zwerg, Gounod's Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust, and Rachmaninov's Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

Russian baritone Kirill Goriunov sang with Ilmari Räikkönen at the piano. He performed Händel's Dignare, o Domine from the Dettingen Te Deum, Schubert's Frühlingsglaube, Rachmaninov's Ja opjat odinok and Verdi's O Carlo, ascolta from Don Carlo. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

The preliminary round continues through August 7th with 46 singers competing to get into the semi-finals on August 9-10. The finals will be held on August 13 with the prizewinners performing on August 15th. Tickets for all rounds are available online or at the Lippupiste ticket shop.