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.
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.
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.
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.
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