Barihunks dominate Moniuszko Vocal Competition

Andrzej Filonczyk and Leon Kosavic

Barihunks took two of the top prizes at the Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition and five total prizes, as Andrzej Filonczyk won First Prize for male singers and Leon Kosavic won Third Prize. Andrzej Filonczyk also won the prize for Most Promising Polish Singer and another prize affording him the opportunity to perform with the orchestra. Leon Kosavic also won the Best Polish Performance by non-Polish singer

Second Prize for men went to countertenor Jakub Orlinski and First Prize for women went to Salome Jicia. 

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.