Today was the first of the two competitions that I participated in at this year’s International Eisteddfod in Llangollen. The music festival has taken place every summer since 1947 and gathers entrants from all over the world to take part in a variety of traditional dance, choral and solo voice competitions.
This morning was the vocal solo over 18’s category and I was on first thing. I took to the stage about 9;15 am and the competition ran until about 12:00 noon.
The two songs that I performed were “Scotsong” by James MacMillan which is a beautiful contemporary song and “Quando M’en Vo” which is Musetta’s aria from the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini. I think this is a cheeky little number which she directs at Marcello, in front of her bohemian friends, in order to make him feel jealous.
Unfortunately I did not get through to the final where they film the contestants so instead I thought I would share the recording of “Quando M’en Vo” from my recent recital in Rochdale accompanied by Russell Lomas.
Here is the recording of my performance of the “Scotsong” from the Kathleen Ferrier Society competition last year.
Tomorrow I will be performing in the category “The Voice Of The Future” with another early start 🙂