Mikhail Timoshenko wins Wigmore Hall Song Competition

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. 

John Brancy recitals look at Freud, WWI

John Brancy flexing his vocal chops and his barihunk guns

American barihunk John Brancy has two fascinating recitals coming up before the end of the year.

On November 11, he'll join the gifted young soprano Janai Brugger at the New York Festival of Song for "Art Song on the Couch: Lieder in Freud's Vienna"  at the Merkin Concert Hall. NYFOS, Tuesday November 11th,  2014, 8pm  Merkin Concert Hall. The concert features music by Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, and others.

The program will explore German lieder in the early years of the 20th century as it took on a new psychological and musical complexity. The duo will be joined at the piano by Michael Barrett and the always entertaining Steven Blier.

Visit the NYFOS website for ticket information.

On December 10th, Brancy will return to Vocal Arts DC for a recital honoring the centenary of World War I. The concert is titled "Silent Night: A World War I Centenary Tribute in Song" and features songs from England, Germany, Austria, France & America. He'll be joined by Peter Dugan at the piano. The program includes music by Butterworth, Gurney, Orff, Alma Mahler, Ravel, Poulenc, Debussy, Ives and renditions of "My Buddy" and "Danny Boy"

The gifted young singer, was the winner of both the Sullivan Foundation and Marilyn Horne Song Competitions before graduating from Juilliard. Brancy has also already made solo recital debuts at both Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and has appeared in opera in Paris, Dresden, and Frankfurt.

Tickets are available online.

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