Her Majesty Queen Sonja has presented the prizes, and we congratulate Kristina Mkhitaryan with the 1. prize in the 2013 Queen Sonja International Music Competition!

Her Majesty Queen Sonja presented the prizes to Kristina Mkhitaryan 1. prize in the 2013 Queen Sonja International Music Competition. The 2. prize was awarded to tenor Andrew Stenson from the United States, and the 3. prize to Mélissa Petit, soprano from France. The other two finalists, Brandon Cedel, USA, and Hamida M. Kristoffersen, Norway.

By Henning Høholt

Photos: Marius Nyheim and Henning Høholt

The 2013 Queen Sonja International Music Competition received approximately 200 applications to this year’s competition, from singers from over 45 nations. A national screening jury consisting of professor Svein Bjørkøy from the Norwegian Academy of Music, Toril Carlsen, soprano and vocal teacher at the Acadamy of Opera at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and Ingebjørg Kosmo, mezzosoprano and soloist at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, evaluated all the applications and through careful deliberation, decided which candidates to invite to Oslo in August. According to the screening jury, the level of this year’s applicants was exceptionally high.

There is a maximum of four singers from each participating nation, and twelve of the contestants are nominated from our collaborating opera academies: The Lindemann Young Artists Programme, Metropolitan Opera, New York; The Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London; The Opera Studio, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; Internationales Operastudio, Opernhaus Zürich, Zürich; Young Artists Programme, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow; The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago.

1. Prize: Kristina Mkhitarian, soprano, Russia

Mkhitaryan graduated from the Galina Vishnevskaya Theatre Studio in Moscow in 2004, and has further studies from the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music. Mkhitaryan has toured and performed with several companies and is a member of the Young Artist Program of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. In May 2013 she made her debut in Bolshoi as Ksenya in Boris Godunov by Musorgsky.

In the finale she sung “Care compagne” (Amina) form Vincenzo Belini´s La sonnambula, and an aria from Snjegurotsjka ( The Snow Maiden) by Nikolai Rimskij-Korsakov. 

2. Prize: Andrew Stenson, tenor, United States.

Andrew Stenson is quickly building a reputation as one of the United States’ most exciting young tenors, with a brilliant tone, artistic intellect, and superb portrayals of a variety of roles. He is the recipient of a 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation.
During the 2013-2014 season, Mr. Stenson continues as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. His assignments in that house include Demetrius in The Enchanted Island.

In the finale mr Stenson sung the famouse aria “Ah, mes amis” (Tonio) from Gaetano Donizetti´s La fille du régiment, which is famous for its 9 high C´s in the end of first act, mr. Stenson had all the beautiful high C´, and did it very well, still he is a young singer. In the second part he showed an other part of his great talent by singing Don Ottavios famouse aria “Il mio tesoro intanto” from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts opera Don Giovanni.

(- The Enchanted Island is a pastiche of music by various baroque composers, including Händel, Vivaldi and Rameau, devised and written by Jeremy Sams after The Tempest and A Midsummer Night´s Dream by Shakespeare. It was premiered by the Metropolitan Opera on December 31, 2011.)

 

3. Prize: Mélissa Petit, soprano, France

In 2009, Petit entered the Universitiy of Musicology in Nice and worked as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Saint-Raphaёl. Since 2010 she has been a member of the International Opera Studio in Hamburg.

In March 2012 Mélissa won first prize and ‘prix spécial’ “Prix dé l’opéra dé Bordéaux” at the International Competition “Musiqués au Coéur du Médoc” in Bordéaux. Petit has performed several opera roles
.

In fact Mélissa Petit didn´t have an easy job, in the first part she performed “Piangerò la sorte mia” (Cleopatra) from Georg Friedrich Händel´Giulio Cesare, which is well known for the Norwegian audience through the famouse production by Stefan Herheim both performed as the last performance in the old operahouse, and later in the new operahouse.

In the second part she ended all the show with a fabolouse presentation of “Je veux vivre” Juliette´s famouse aria from Romeo and Juliette by Charles Gounod.

The two other finalists:

Brandon Cedel, (baryton), United States, sung in the first part “Ves tabor spit” (Aleko) from Sergei Rachmaninovs opera Aleko, and in the second part  “Il mulino il fonte” (Rodolfo) from Vincenzo Bellinis opera La sonambula.

Hamida M. Kristoffersen, soprano, Norway, sung two of the most beautiful soprano arias in the soprano repertoire: Liu´s aria “Signore, ascolta!” from Giacomo Puccinis last opera Turandot. and in the second part: Rusalkas aria “Mési´cku na nebi hlubokém” from Rusalka by Antonin Dvorák. Ms. Kristoffersen also received Ingrid Bjorners Stipendium which goes to the best Norwegian participant in the competition.

As an ouverture to the competition the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra conducted by its chief conductor John Helmer Fiore  performed a commisioned work written by the Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen: “Wagner Prelude”. An interesting work, which included a few bars from Das Rheingold in the very end, but also had some, for me, reminicenses of big orchestral music by the late Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim.

But still it was a good arrangement, but something was strange. In the beautiful opera hall i was feeling like in a TV studio. too long breaks between the singel numbers, as far as I know was that because the finalists were interviewed before going on stage, but we, the audience didn´t know and was not informed. That could have been taken care of by putting up a big screen, so we could know what was happening.

If this competition shall compete with the famouse International Singing competition such as the *Belvedere* , Domingos “Operalia” and the *Cardiff Competitions* it has still a long way to go. I feel that in France, the music media don´t know about the competition.

Another strange detail for me. Internationally, at for exemple the *Covent Garden Opera*, London, and at the *Royal Danish Opera*, Copenhagen it is the Opera chief who is making the representation hosting the Queen. (Where were Boye Hansen, the new opera-boss in Oslo?)(well, i noticed him sitting at the balcony).  In Oslo the  *Queen Sonja International Singing Competition* event is an artistic event in the operahouse. It is the opera chief, in Oslo Per Boye Hansen, who is representing the operahouse in artistic connections, not the director without any knowledge of opera. What can he tell his guest H.M. the Queen about what is going on if she ask? This is opera, – art – not administration.

Furthermore the representation in the council of the Festival is artistic. Of course, such kind of jobs are not for the administration manager. In these mentioned houses, I am sure the administrating manager is busy at his office with the administration of the house and the finance. These detail looks strange to me. 

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Please enjoy our review from La fille mal du Régiment at Opera Bastille  in Paris with Juan Diego Florez in the Tonio role:  http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2012/11/florez-and-dessay-in-the-daughter-of-the-regiment/