2008 THE WINNERS

Pretty Yende

“One promising talent is the South African nightingale Pretty Yende, who produced one immaculate high note after another.” (Marjolein Sengers, Brabants Dagblad, September 29, 2008)

“She impressed with the high notes of her nearly a capella recitative from Massenet’s Manon.” (Frits van der Waaa, De Volkskrant, September 30, 2008)

“I’ve rarely encountered anyone so disarmingly focused on what she wants as the extraordinary young soprano Pretty Yende who happens to be touring Britain at the moment in the Cape Town Opera production of Porgy and Bess . It has one heart-stopping performance in the cameo role of Clara, who sings the best tune in the show (‘Summertime’) and then vanishes into the background texture, never to be noticed again. And in this case it’s sung by Ms. Yende, who is 24 years old, a Zulu from a remote South African township, and a spectacular voice which has spent the past year or two going round the European singing competitions and sweeping up the prizes like a Dyson de luxe. When this Porgy tour is over, she goes straight to La Scala, Milan, to join their young artists programme.” (Michael White, The Telegraph, October 30, 2009)

There’s no better summary of the beginnings of the sparkling South African Zulu soprano Pretty Yende (b. March 6, 1985, Piet Retief, Mpumalanga) than the Michael White quote above. Yet only eight years before that Porgy and Bess performance, Yende didn’t even know what an opera was – until she heard a British Airways advertisement that featured the Flower Duet from Lakmé. Within a year she had discovered enough about opera to make it into Cape Town University on a performance track. She graduated cum laude and won two prizes at the 2008 IVC, and in 2010 she won the Operalia. In 2012 she sang the role of Musetta in La bohème at La Scala, and on January 17, 2013, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut replacing an indisposed Nino Machaidze as Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory opposite Juan Diego Flórez – to be continued online!

Hansung Yoo

“He was the most consistent vocalist. He is intelligent and has a voice that enables him to do about anything he wants.” (Marjolein Sengers, Brabants Dagblad, September 29, 2008)

“When he enters the stage he look rather small, but once he opens his mouth Hansung Yoo turns into a giant. At the IVC he conquered all hearts with his unexpectedly mature and sonorous baritone and his articulation. Regardless of whether he sings arias by Rossini or Donizetti or a song by Brahms or Beethoven, his ability to release the music from the notes, his understanding of lyrics and his ability to color make him a fantastic artist. We may be witnessing the birth of a star.” (Frits van der Waa, De Volkskrant, September 30, 2006)

South Korean baritone Hansung Yoo (b. 1985) studied first at the Korean National University of Arts with Hans Choi and later at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Germany with Michaela Krämer. Even during his studies he was already focusing on the great baritone roles such as Papageno, Belcore, and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. Those roles and Rossini’s Figaro now form the heart of his operatic repertoire. He also loves the song and oratorio repertoire, from Bach to Schumann, Schubert, Händel, Wolf, Liszt and Duparc. He recorded a CD with songs that reflect his desire to discover different style periods. In his very own way he brings to life Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Duparc’s Mélodies on an album recorded in The Netherlands following his winning of the Record Company Award as one among his unprecedented six IVC prizes. He has won many prizes for his singing in South Korea, as well as, in 2007, the Schubert Liedwettbewerb and, in 2012, the ARD Musikwettbewerb. He has toured extensively in his native country, Germany and The Netherlands. During the 2013–14 season he sang in the Staatstheater Kassel as, among others, Papageno, Schaunard and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus.

Falko Hönisch

“Among song interpreters, Falko Hönisch, 30, distinguished himself. He was rewarded with the Song Prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of a specially composed Dutch song, ‘Querela pacis’ by Roel van Oosten. Hönisch is a singer for the ages; he excels in precise, bracing nuances, and he knows how to communicate a story through music.” (Frits van der Waa, De Volkskrant, September 30, 2008)

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)