2002 THE WINNERS

Lenneke Ruiten

So many prizes, it’s almost embarrassing … it was my first vocal competition, although I’ve had a lot of experience in flute competitions. That’s why I isolated myself from the jury. I didn’t even read their biographies because I was afraid that the level they had achieved in their careers would intimidate me. I especially appreciated the Young Jurors Prize. It’s nice to see that in Den Bosch the audience is very mixed. I believe young people like classical music if they get the chance. Take me – I’m a Jim Morrison fan and fanatic; I was rejected for the conservatory twice before I finally made it! For now I will first continue my studies, and then … I aim as high as possible, so long as it doesn’t interfere with my personal happiness. I will not allow myself to get lost in this business.” (Lenneke Ruiten to Hans Visser on her dazzling IVC triumph, Noordhollands Dagblad, October 1, 2002)

Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten (b. 1977, Alkmaar) studied voice with Maria Rondèl and Meinard Kraak at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and opera at the Bavarian Theatre Academy in Munich. She also took classes with Elly Ameling, Robert Holl, Hans Hotter, Robert Tear and Walter Berry. In 2002 Lenneke won no fewer than five principal prizes at the IVC in ’s-Hertogenbosch, including the Great Prize of the City, the press prize and the audience prize. Since then she has established herself as one of the leading divas of what could be considered a new golden age of Dutch vocalists. Ruiten made her operatic debut as Susanna in a Munich production of Le nozze di Figaro. With The Netherlands’ Nationale Reisopera she sang Yniold in Pelléas et Mélisande, and then Ksenia in Boris Godunov. In Schleswig-Holstein she sang Mozart’s Blondchen; then, in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Elisa inIl re pastore and Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor. She made a very successful debut with the Dutch National Opera inDie Frau ohne Schatten (2008) and created the role of Gabriel there in the world premiere of Rob Zuidam’s opera Adam in Ballingschap ( Adam in Exile, 2009). At the Festival de Beaune she sang Despina in Così fan tutte and Armida in Rinaldo. She sang Pamina and Almirena (Rinaldo) in Lausanne and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos (featuring Renée Fleming) in Baden-Baden. In 2011 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Die Frau ohne Schatten under Christian Thielemann. In 2011–12 she sang at the Landestheater Salzburg in the opera production Musica Speranza. In 2013 she sang Zerbinetta in St. Gall and Stuttgart, toured The Netherlands as Fiordiligi and sang Ophélie in Hamlet at De Munt in Brussels. As of this writing she is making her Donna Anna debut in a new Don Giovanni production at the Salzburg Festival (photo, with Andrew Staples).

Ruiten is also in great demand as a concert soloist. She has worked with such orchestras and ensembles as the Vienna Philharmonic, the English Baroque Soloists, the Monteverdi Choir, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and the Wiener Akademie with conductors including John Eliot Gardiner, Christian Thielemann, Marek Janowski, Ton Koopman, Helmuth Rilling, Ottavio Dantone, Frans Brüggen and Alessandro De Marchi. She has performed in major festival throughout Europe: the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms, the Bachfest Leipzig, the Prague Spring Festival, the Brighton and Aldeburgh Festivals, the Holland Festival and the Luzern Festival. Lenneke also has a special passion for lieder. She works with pianists Thom Janssen and Rudolf Jansen and has sung recitals in the Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall and Frankfurt’s Kaisersaal. She has made several CDs, among them Mélodies françaises and Brahms Lieder and a 2010 album featuring concert arias by Mozart.

Kyle Ketelsen

“A place in the finals and a nomination for the Dutch Song Prize with a composition by Micha Hamel gave the experienced baritone Kyle Ketelsen wings. A Dutch Song Prize for an American whose knowledge of The Netherlands stops at windmills, tulips and wooden clogs? ‘I have studied the multitonal song endlessly,’ says Ketelsen, who normally excels in Verdi and Puccini.” (Brabants Dagblad, September 26, 2009)

1983 THE WINNERS

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 12^th-century chant of Hildegard von Bingen to Richard Strauss, as well as Handel operas, Bach cantatas, medieval music and 17^th-century Spanish music.

Eliz‹abeth 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

“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)