Winners

on 31 August, 2014

2000 THE WINNERS

GREAT PRIZE OF THE CITY OF DEN BOSCH
Veronica Amarres Mezzo-soprano RUS
MARGIE WEIDEMANN SONG PRIZE
Matjaž Robavs Baritone SVN
ARLEEN AUGÉR BEST ALL-ROUND INTERPRETER PRIZE
Matjaž Robavs Baritone SVN
ESSENT PUBLIC PRIZE
Steven Hans Vosschezang Baritone NL
ESSENT PRESS PRIZE
Steven Hans Vosschezang Baritone NL
CAROLINE KAART DUTCH TALENT PRIZE
Steven Hans Vosschezang Baritone NL
HONORARY DIPLOMA*
Insun Min Soprano KOR
Soojin Moon Soprano KOR
*Awarded to all finalists.

 

Veronica Amarres

  • 2000 BIO veronica Amarres Charlotte Werther
  • 2000 VERONICA AMARRES

“The choice of Veronica Amarres was supported by the applause that she garnered. She has star potential. She actually managed to make you forget her third-rate green dress from days gone by. Her Sibelius and Rachmaninoff are stunning, given that she is able to sing Rossini just as well. How proud her guest family was in the auditorium. They’ve hosted singers for years, but never one who took home a prize!” (Ivo Postma, De Gelderlander, September 9, 2000)

Russian mezzo-soprano Veronica Amarres (b. 1971), daughter of two well-known St. Petersburg musicians, made her debut as a pianist at the age of 12 on the stage of Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society. She graduated from the city’s Conservatory with distinction in piano and singing. As a pianist she owes much to Bruno Lukk, Valery Vassiliev and Christoph Eschenbach. She perfected her vocal technique in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Among her vocal teachers she counts Christa Ludwig, Grace Bumbry, Antonietta Stella and Rudolf Piernay, and she has taken master classes with Renato Bruson, Fiorenza Cossotto, Gianni Raimondi and Evgeny Nesterenko. She gained international recognition as an opera singer following clear victories first at the IVC in ’s-Hertogenbosch, then in the competitions named for Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballé, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Alfredo Kraus. She was one of Kraus’s last partners in Werther and, as such, one of his youngest Charlottes. Combining a high-profile career as a pianist with an equally successful one as an opera diva, she has recorded 6 CDs, sung in the UK premiere of a Dominick Argento opera and participated in festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, the Liszt Festival in Germany, the festival for the 500th anniversary of the founding of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro and festivals in Bulgaria and Chicago. She has worked with such conductors as Claudio Scimone, Peter Maag, Alberto Zedda and Zoltán Peskó.

Matjaž Robavs

  • 2000 BIO Matjaz Robavs eroika
  • 2000 Matjaz Robavs

“The most consistent singer in the tournament was Matjaž Robavs. His appearance in the semifinals was both exciting and touching, especially in ‘O du, mein holder Abendstern’ which he rendered marvelously in his warm, beautiful voice. He was not to blame for not being able to recreate this achievement in the finals, where he had to fight the very uneven accompaniment of the orchestra.” (Marjolein Sengers, Brabants Dagblad, October 3, 2000)

Slovenian baritone Matjaž Robavs studied with Professor Marcos Bajuk at the Ljubljana High School of Music and Ballet. Further studies ensued at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where 1988 IVC juror Helena Łazarska was his principal teacher. He participated in youth singing competitions beginning in 1991, and in 2000 he completed his studies with 1971 IVC Prize winner and alternate juror Robert Holl. The Song Prize and the Arleen Augér Prize in ’s-Hertogenbosch demonstrated his fine training. Robavs has since performed at festivals including Karintischer Sommer in Austria, Wratislavia Cantans in Poland, the International Baroque Festival in Croatia, the Wexford Opera Festival in Ireland, the Zomeropera Festival in Belgium, the Salzburg Festival, the festival in Baden-Baden and so on. He has performed at opera houses in Klagenfurt, Schwerin, Vienna (Volksoper), Ljubljana, Antwerp, Wexford and Frankfurt. His principal roles are Papageno, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, No. 4 in Das verratene Meer, Ping in Turandot, the Father in Hänsel und Gretel, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Dancaïre in Carmen and Germont and Baron Dauphol in La traviata. He performs on concert stages in Europe, Japan and Canada and has recorded for Slovenian, Austrian, Belgian and Japanese television. He has four solo recordings: Slovenian love songs, Slovenian patriotic songs, Slovenian drinking songs, and old Christmas songs. He sang the title role on Naxos’s recording of Weinberger’s Švanda dudák, the first recording of the opera in Czech.

Steven Hans Vosschezang

IVC 2000 STEVEN HANS VOSSCHEZANG 2“Steven Hans Vosschezang was the clear favorite of the audience. What he still lacked technically in the ‘Largo al factotum’ he made up for with confidence and a keen sense of humour.” (Marjolein Sengers, Brabants Dagblad, October 3, 2000)

Winners

on 31 August, 2014

1983 THE WINNERS

GRAND PRIZE OF THE CITY OF DEN BOSCH
Judith Malafronte Mezzo-soprano USA
SOPRANO PRIZE
1st prize Not awarded Soprano  PO
2nd prize Mila Krustnikova Soprano  BGR
2nd prize Alison Pearce Soprano  UK
2nd prize Nellie van der Sijde Soprano  NL
MEZZO/ALTO PRIZE
1st prize Judith Malafronte Mezzo-soprano USA
2nd prize Elizabeth Campbell Mezzo-soprano AUS
TENOR PRIZE
Not awarded
BARITONE/BASS PRIZE
1st prize Not awarded    
2nd prize Harald Bjørkøy Baritone NOR
2nd prize John Hancorn Baritone UK
COUNTERTENOR PRIZE
No candidates
HONORARY DIPLOMA (THIRD PRIZE)
Tamás Csurja Bass-baritone HUN
Suzanne Rodas Soprano USA
TOONKUNST ENCOURAGEMENT PRIZE
Andrea Poddighe Baritone ITA/NL
FRIENDS OF SONG PRIZE
Jorine Samson Baritone NL
BUMA FOUNDATION PRIZE
1st prize Not awarded  
2nd prize Chieko Okazaki Mezzo-soprano JPN
JANINE MICHEAU FRENCH REPERTOIRE PRIZE
Marga Melerna Mezzo-soprano NL
GRÉ BROUWENSTIJN DUTCH OPERA TALENT PRIZE
Not awarded
ELLY AMELING SONG PRIZE
Elizabeth Campbell Mezzo-soprano AUS
ERNA SPOORENBERG PRIZE
Judith Malafronte Mezzo-soprano USA
TROS BROADCASTING PRIZE
John Hancorn, Judith Malafronte

 

Judi th Malafronte

Judith Malafronte“The ‘Day of the Mezzos’ became a veritable triumph for the overwhelming American mezzo Judith Malafronte, whose reputation is already established. Malafronte, age 32, has a bell-like voice and fabulous technique, especially in coloratura. The only one to receive a curtain call during the finals, she triumphed even before the jury had a chance to honor her.” (Ferd op de Coul, “Sensationeel optreden Malafronte,” September 1973)

American mezzo-soprano Judith Malafronte (b. August 20, 1951, New Haven, Connecticut) told critic Ferd op de Coul that she had to overcome some fears in order to return to Den Bosch, where in 1982 she had lost in the semifinals. Said Malafronte:

“A little voice inside my head kept bugging me to try again. So many things happened that year, so many people gave all sorts of advice, and I got confused. … I am glad I got the chance to show the people here what I have been doing for the past year. … I learned my trade from Giulietta Simionato, an amazing, indestructible and energetic living legend who taught me to approach each role in any given language individually. … More theoretical and technical things I studied with Nadia Boulanger. I prefer tragic roles to comic opera because in my heart I am a serious person and then, well, comic roles are much more difficult because timing is crucial for the effect. … The IVC was not my Dutch debut: in Utrecht, some years back, I performed in the world premiere of a Steve Reich composition.”

Malafronte had an impressive career in opera, oratorio, and recital. Her operatic roles include major mezzo parts in Serse, Scarlatti’sL’Aldimiro, Dido and Aeneas (singing both Dido and the Sorceress), Tamerlano, L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. She recorded for BMG, DHM, EMI, and Koch in a wide range of repertoire, from the 12th-century chant of Hildegard von Bingen to Richard Strauss, as well as Handel operas, Bach cantatas, medieval music and 17th-century Spanish music.

Eliz‹abeth Campbell

Elizabeth Campbell“Malafronte may be the star of this IVC, yet one should not overlook the excellent competition from considerable talents such as Elizabeth Campbell whose rendition of a song cycle by De Falla was a first-class achievement.” (Ferd op de Coul, “Vier Prijzen,” September 1983)

“The Australian Elizabeth Campbell made a tremendous impact with some Schoenberg songs, rendered with great dramatic power, rich coloring and an enormous compass.” (Ferd op de Coul, “Slotconcert Imponerend,” September 1983)

Australian mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Campbell graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and completed her studies in London and Europe. Apart from winning Second Prize and the Elly Ameling Song Prize in Den Bosch, she represented Australia in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. She made her operatic debut as Carmen with West Australia Opera. Her operatic repertoire includes leading roles in Così fan tutte, Evgeni Onegin,Carmen, Serse, Giulio Cesare, Alcina, La clemenza di Tito,Boris Godunov, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Les Troyens, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Werther, Hänsel und Gretel,La forza del destino, Il trovatore, Madama Butterfly, Lulu, Peter Grimes, Die Fledermaus,L’incoronazione di Poppea, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Capriccio, Rigoletto, Andrea Chénier, The Turn of the Screw and Dead Man Walking, as well as the world premieres of Richard Mills’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996), Batavia (2001) and The Love of the Nightingale (2002) and Moya Henderson’s Lindy (2002). Campbell is one of Australia’s leading concert artists and recitalists. Additionally, she has performed at Covent Garden, toured the United States with the Sydney Symphony and given recitals at Wigmore Hall and in The Hague and Antwerp. Currently she is shifting her repertoire to more mature roles. Her recordings include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Messiah, Giulio Cesare, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and South Australia’s Ring cycle.

Nellie van der Sijde

NellievanderSijde“The Brabant Orchestra under Jan Stulen accompanied Brabant-born Nellie van der Sijde with Mozartian charm in ‘Porgi amor’ from Le nozze di Figaro , and she sang it to perfection. Her light, agile voice and her musical understanding are magnificent not only in arias but also in lieder, as could be heard in Wolf and, even better, in Schubert’s ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade,’ very accurately accompanied from the piano by Frans van Ruth.” (Ferd op de Coul, Brabants Dagblad, September 8, 1983)