British barihunk Huw Montague Rendall will be making his role debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart's the Marriage of Figaro at the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy, France.
Performing Figaro will be 25-year-old Russian bass-barihunk Mikhail Timoshenko, who won the Wigmore
Hall International Song Competition in September. The cast also includes Adriana Gonzalez as the Countess, Lilian Farahani as Susanna, Giuseppina Bridelli as Cherubino and Ugo Guagliardo as Bartolo.
Performances are on January 31 and February 2, 4, 7 and 9. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
Huw Montague Rendall performs Mahler:
He will also be performing a recital on February 11th at Salle Poirel à Nancy accompanied by Ensemble Stanislas and Hélio Vida on the piano. The program will feature French and English songs. Tickets are available online.
This summer, Rendall will perform Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at the Komische Oper.
Elitsa Desseva and Mikhail Timoshenko at Wigmore Hall
25-year-old Russian bass-barihunk Mikhail Timoshenko won the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, taking home the £10,000 prize money.
Timoshenko performed Holst's Ushas, Vaughan Williams' Let Beauty Awake, Copland's The Boatmen's Dance, Tchaikovsky's Podvig and Mahler's Ich hab' ein glühend Messer.
The £5,000 second prize place was awarded to 29-year-old British
soprano Harriet Burns, while third place, with a prize of £2,500, went
to British mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor. British tenor Kieran Carrel took
home fourth place. Michael Pandya, the 25-year old British pianist who partnered Harriet Burns, won the £5,000 Pianist’s Prize.
The Wigmore finals. Timoshenko appears at 2:03:00
Baritones have historically fared well at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. In 2017, three baritones swept the top honors, including Julien Van Mellaerts, John Brancy and Josh Quinn. In 2015, barihunks Samuel Hasselhorn and James Newby took Second and Third Prize respecively. In 2013, Gavan Ring walked home with the Second Place Prize. In 2011, Dominik Köninger launched his career by winning the top prize.
Timoshenko studied at the Mednogorsk Conservatoire and the Hochschule
für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. He has won numerous competitions
including first prize at the Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne
Competition in Graz, first prize at the Médoc International Singing Competition in Bordeaux, the Opera Prize by the Cercle
Carpeaux, first prize at the Maria Callas
International Competition and first prize at the Hugo Wolf Competition.
He joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2015 and during the
2015-16 season he participated in several of the Academy’s concerts
and recitals at the Bastille Amphitheatre. He sang in the French
premiere of Joanna Lee’s Vol Retour and performed the role of Plutone in
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.
Four baritones, including American Jared Bybee, who has been featured on this site, have advanced to the finals of the 34th International Hans Gabor Belevedere International Singing Competition in Amsterdam on July 4th. Joining Bybee are Lasha Sesitashvili from Georgia, Mikhail Timoshenko from Russian, and Zachariah Njoroge "Zak" Kariithi from Kenya. Bybee will be singing Prince Yeletsky's aria from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame.
Lasha Sesitashvili
Finalists will perform with the Het Gelders
Orchestra conducted by Ed Spanjaard. First prize receives € 7,000 in honor of Teresa Stich-Randall, second prize receives € 3,500 and third prize takes home € 2,500. Other prizes include an engagement in one of 12 opera houses, a special young artist award of € 500 and and € 800, awarded by Yasuko Mitsui to a singer of her choice.
Past baritone and bass winners include Dong-Hwan Lee in 2013, Brian Mulligan in 2006, Ilya Kuzmin in 2004, Burak Bilgili in 2002, Vladimir Atanelishvili in 1996, Stanislaw Schwez in 1994, Detlev ROth in 1992, Woiciech Drabowicz in 1990, Peter Edelmann in 1989, Trond Halstein in 1987, Carsten Stabell in 1985 and Harrie Peeters in 1983.
