My Fabulous Ferrier Experience

Charlotte-First-Round

The Kathleen Ferrier 18th Annual Bursary for Young Singers competition yesterday October 27th, 2013 was a fantastic experience.  It was a special date because it was the 60th Anniversary of the death of Kathleen Ferrier.  The event is organised and managed by the Kathleen Ferrier Society and to mark this occasion they created a special Audience Prize of £60 to mark the 60 years.

Charlotte-and-George

Dr Linda Hirst became the new President of the Kathleen Ferrier Society on January 1st 2013, she was joined on the adjudication panel by Elizabeth Gale and Nicholas Clayton.

Charlotte-and-George
Mulțumesc to George 10am to 10pm was a big commitment from him

Olga Ivakina also from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and myself were the only two girls in the final from the fifteen original competitors and by all accounts it was a day with a very high standard of singing.  We did our best but couldn’t quite beat the Baritones to the top three prizes.  During the tea break my mum had tried to manage my expectations and had told me how fabulous all of the boys in the final were.  First prize was awarded to James Wafer from the RCM in London, second prize to James Newby from Trinity in London and third prize to Huw Montague Rendall from RCM so keep your eye out for these boys.

Charlotte-Final

I was honoured to receive the special audience award which was simply marvelous.  I’d had so many people come up to me to say they’d enjoyed my eighteen minute program and had their fingers crossed for me.  The judges took an extra fifteen minutes to decide keeping us on tender hooks for 45 minutes.  They awarded us all with a book to mark the occasion which was lovely.

Olga-nad-Greta
Greta Jakobsonaite ( Olga’s Accompanist ), Olga Ivakina and George Todica ( my Accompanist )
Charlotte-and-Maurice
Maurice Hargreaves came all the way from Hazel Grove to watch from 10 am until 10 pm. He said he really enjoyed the competition and I appreciated his support.
Charlotteand-Merriel5
It was nice to meet up with Merial Cunningham and Joy Naylor our singing teacher from JRNCM.

My Accompanist was George Todica

My first round songs were :

Handel – Recit & Aria: ‘Servasi alla mia bella’ & ‘Amor commanda’ (‘Floridante’)

Strauss – ‘Zueignung’

Strauss – ‘Freundliche Vision’

Dvorak – ‘Songs  My Mother Taught Me’ in Czech

MacMillan – ‘Scots Song’ 1991

Songs for the final :

Songs my Mother Taught Me

Freundliche Vision

and

Hageman – Do Not Go My Love

71 thoughts on “My Fabulous Ferrier Experience”

  1. Congratulations Charlotte, a nice price for a nice competition and the picture you are radiant as each concert.
    Congratulations and earnestly meet and hear you one of these days. You are fabulous.

    All the best for you
    Pascal

    Reply

      1. Hi Charlotte, I am very selective and very faithful …… I hope you sing in France, and I also hope to come and listen to you ….. Britain and the USA, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Germany ….. life is so full of surprises,-)

        All the best for you

  2. Acceptance takes a person a long way, sometimes when I don’t win something my mother used to say, God has planned something better for you and it always happens(there may be a chance that my mother’s good wishes work wonders for me ;)).Stay blessed 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hello Gaurab, I enjoyed your ‘Pep talk’ post from yesterday 😉 . My Mum always says find out how you could have improved it and work harder next time 🙂 – only joking Mum.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. das goot 🙂 or did I mean das boot? Anyway – somebody has to be a star, why not be prepared so that you never say, if only I ….

    1. Hi Dan, I’d like to have won the top prize, but I am very proud to be the first person to ever be awarded an audience prize at this competition. I had very good feedback from the audience members and even got a chance to get some tips off the judges.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  6. Congrats. There were two sets of judges there and you won with audience judges. Since I would imagine for most of your life you will be singing for more audiences than judges this was the prize for a lifetime vs the judges which was more a prize for a moment. You were stunning as well. 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thank you Colleen, it was a fabulous venue with a very large, extravagant room. I respect the technical expertise of the judges but it was super to know that I connected with the audience 🙂

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  7. Congratulations on achieving what you did, and on having the maturity to respect the decision. There is no shame in being outdone by someone who has gone further than you: the shame is in losing the will to be the best you can be in yourself.

    This isn’t a competition, this is art. The true prize is your listeners ears.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Martin, I agree with you. This is sometimes what people forget when they enter competitions and why there are some upset feelings, I was at my best for this stage in my development and I’m still a teenager (for another 12 days anyway) so I have plenty of time to improve.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  8. Your concerts are 12,000 miles away – bit far to travel – but I did spent a delightful evening at the Adelaide Entertainment Center last week when some friends and I went to the Andre Rieu Concert. This is the fourth time we have attended these Concerts and it’s still a “magic” event of song, music and some laughter. Dinner and a concert, a good night out.

    Reply

    1. Hello John, I’d love to attend more concerts, your Andre Rieu event sounds wonderful. Creating joy and laughter is what it’s all about. My brother blogged all about your bush fires in Australia I hope you weren’t close to the problems.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  9. Wow, getting to the final is wonderful; the audience prize is even better! This is a message casting directors will take note of. I shall look out for those baritones. Time is on your side and you will be ready for the limelight when your turn with the judges comes, as it surely will.

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your positive words Hilary, all of the eight UK conservatoires that send singers to this event select their students through competitive audition, not just from the UK, musicians audition from all over the world. The singers audition for approximately sixteen vocal places at each college and Stephen Robertson (Head of Vocal Performance) took a bit of a gamble with me. I’d not been a member of any church choir or been to a specialist music school. I came late to a second instrument and joined the Junior Royal Northern College of Music, again through audition, on Saturdays from the age of 16 in order to improve my sight singing, aural, composition and piano skills. Many of the conservatoires like you to take a gap year and join at 19 but I was super keen to make a start at 18 because I have an early birthday in November.

      Just to be selected as one of two singers to represent the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was an honour as I’m sure it must have been for the other singers representing their conservatoires. I wish I had managed to bring back a top prize to reward his faith in me but I will in the future.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Hi Don, they were very good performers, I enjoyed watching them. After I sang in the morning I joined the audience to watch the other performers. I still think I was the best 🙂 LOL

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  12. Well done Missy H, a well deserved accolade from the ‘real folk’ – your audience. All good experience to keep your feet on the ground and help you reach for the stars. Go girl!!

    UNCLE SPIKE

    Reply

    1. Cheers Uncle Spike, onward I go. I enjoyed my extra practise lessons with George in preparation and having a target/goal to aim for, I definitely work better in this way. So I’ll have to keep giving my Mum palpitations (I actually think its worse for her than me, I was chilled and she does my worrying on the day) and keep entering as many opportunities as I’m able.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  13. Congratualtions Charlotte! 🙂 It must feel great to recieve the audience award, yes? 🙂
    Too bad about the baritones though… but baritones tend to have amazing voices (we had two of them here last year and they were both awesome. You kind of melted when you heard them sing. xD)

    Reply

    1. Cheers Dylan, I had a great time; a weekend stay in a lovely hotel overlooking the fast flowing River Ribble; the pure adrenaline rush of a competition; good friends joining in the fun and a fabulous cooked breakfast each morning.

      All the best
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thank you Maria, I’ve not stopped since I got back to Glasgow, I got off the train and went straight into lessons 🙂 then a rehearsal for the Opera surtitles.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thank you 🙂 I was very happy and excitedly turned to the audience and said thank you and nearly forgot to shake the lovely ladies hand presenting me with the award.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  19. All in all even though you didn’t win the top prize, I can only imagine what a great opportunity and wonderful experience this was. Always glad to read about your advances in your musical field. Congratulations 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hello Patricia, it was a great opportunity, I met up with Joy Naylor my singing coach from the Junior Royal Northern College of Music Saturday school and Merial pictured above. It was great to see the other singers from all around the UK and listen to their favoured repertoire. Thank you.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  20. Charlotte you were awesome, I been to lots of music festivals over the years with you but this was the toughest one yet. When you swept in wearing that beautiful red dress you took my breath away and held it until you finished your programme. I had not heard any of those songs before but they were delightful. I really wish I could have made the final to listen to you sing again. Look forward to seeing you soon. xx

    Reply

    1. Hi Gill, I appreciate you coming to the Concert Hall in the morning, it is a very impressive venue isn’t it. It was a long day 😉 When I’m on the opera stage I’ll expect you to stay all three acts lol, unless of course I die in the first act, which sopranos can often do.Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. I was thrilled to win it. It is important to be able to fill seats but at my stage of development it is also good to pit yourself against your peers from all around the UK under the watchful eyes of three very much experienced judges. I would have liked to see my adjudication sheet as you do in other music festivals 🙂

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thank you – That is very true. The winner won a annual bursary that will enable him to do some wonderful things like go to International competitions, last year that would have covered nearly a whole years tuition fees so it is a very special competition as we are all on at least four year courses.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Hi Krishnan, have you seen the videos in the performance videos section, or there are tracks in the right column below Recent Comments. I’m hoping to record a couple of these tracks soon ;). I really enjoyed learning the new German pieces.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  28. Sounds like a fantastic day. It must have been a great feeling to represent your conservatoire, and amazing to get the audience award! And your accompanist was easy on the eye, wasn’t he? 😉

    Reply

    1. It was fantastic and George has become a new friend but when I’m singing melliflously I don’t want him drawing the eye lol ;). Only joking George – I’m trying to use my new word yakinamac taught me, he he.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply
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  32. KEEP THAT KIND PERSONNA THEN THE LOVELY BEING OF KATHERINE WILL SWELL AND WE WILL SIT IN AWE AND SIMPLY LISTEN.

    Reply
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