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)

Winners

on 31 August, 2014

1992 THE WINNERS

GREAT PRIZE OF THE CITY OF DEN BOSCH
Not awarded
OPERA PRIZE
1st prize Angelina Ruzzafante Soprano NL
1st prize Yue Liu Bass CHN
ORATORIO PRIZE
Not awarded
SONG PRIZE
1st prize Not awarded    
2nd prize Cornelia Hosp Soprano AUT
3rd prize Catherine MacPhail Soprano FR
3rd prize Etsuko Matsushita Soprano JPN
DUTCH MUSIC AWARD
Etsuko Matsushita Soprano JPN
ERNA SPOORENBERG OPERA ENCOURAGEMENT PRIZE
Larisa Rogovets Mezzo-soprano UKR
GRÉ BROUWENSTIJN DUTCH OPERA TALENT PRIZE
Angelina Ruzzafante Soprano NL
MARKUS HERDINK ORATORIO ENCOURAGEMENT PRIZE
Ewa Wolak Alto PO

 

Angelina Ruzzafante

  • 1992 BIO Angelina Ruzzafante Gelders orkest  Jan Stulen2
  • 1992 BIO ANGELINA RUZZAFANTE High res portrait

“Angelina sang with crystal clarity and perfect intonation, very controlled and without the slightest sign of nerves.” (Wil Derkse, Brabants Dagblad, August 31, 1992)

“I believe I still have a lot to learn, and I have not yet arrived where I want to be.” (Angelina Ruzzafante to Wil Derkse, Brabants Dagblad, August 31, 1992)

Dutch soprano Angelina Ruzzafante (b. 1965) completed her vocal studies at the Maastricht Academy in 1992 with honors and went on to train with Francisco Araiza, Mya Besselink, Ingeborg Hallstein, Reinhard Leisenheimer and Nelly Miricioù. She first triumphed at the Cristina Deutekom Competition 1992 and then entered her name into a very select list of Dutch First Prize winners in ’s-Hertogenbosch that began in 1954 with Annette de la Bije. The Netherlands suddenly had a new star in the operatic firmament. Ruzzafante began her career at Theater Hagen and achieved international success in opera houses and concert halls including Amsterdam, Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Mexico City, Caracas and Pamplona. Her repertoire includes Mozart’s Konstanze, Queen of the Night and Donna Anna; Puccini’s Mimì and Suor Angelica; Strauss’s Daphne; and Wagner’s Elsa. Since the 2009–10 season she has been a member of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, where she appeared as Elvire in La muette de Portici (later recorded on CD), Liù in Turandot, Rosalinde inDie Fledermaus, Emma in Khovanshchina, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Mimì in La bohème, Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, Waldvogel in Siegfried and Marguerite in Faust. In the 2012–13 season she appeared in the title role of the German premiere of Massenet’s Esclarmonde. Dessau’s 2013–14 season opened with Ruzzafante’s role debut as Norma. She has made several CD recordings, including complete recordings of Wolf-Ferrari’s Das Himmelskleid and Weber’s Silvana. She has recorded a solo album with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.

Ewa Wolak

1992 BIO EWA WOLAK“Although she still has much to learn, she was one of the few participants that knew how to make music.” (Adriaan Hager, Trouw, August 31, 1992)

Polish alto Ewa Wolak (b. 1968) received her musical training at the Academy of Music in Kraków in viola and voice. She completed her studies at the Hochschule für Music in Karlsruhe. In addition to winning the Markus Herdink Prize at the IVC, she was among the prizewinners of the International Maria Callas Grand Prix in Opera in Athens and received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage. Since 1998 she has been engaged at the Badisches Staattsheater Karlsruhe, where she is a permanent resident soloist. There she has sung the title role in Carmen, Gaea in Daphne, Olga inYevgeni Onegin and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff; at the Deutsche Oper Berlin she has sung Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, La Cieca in La Gioconda and Erda in Das Rheingold. Wolak has performed many Händel opera and oratorio roles: Eduige in Rodelinda, Bradamante in Alcina, Irene in Tamerlano, Carilda in Arianna in Creta and the title parts in Amadigi di Gaula and Solomon . In addition, she has sung Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, the Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Marcellina inLe nozze di Figaro, Leonora in Scarlatti’s Il trionfo dell’onore, Costanza in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata and Marthe in Gounod’s Faust.

Wolak has appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Komische Oper Berlin, as well as in Trieste and Montpellier. In recent years she has repeated many of these roles in Karlsruhe and Berlin; she has also appeared as Schwertleite in Die Walküre, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Fricka in Die Walküre and Das Rheingold. In 2010 she performed Mozart’s Requiem. A frequent concert artist, Wolak has appeared in numerous festivals all over Europe, including the Karlsruhe and Göttingen Händel Festivals, Warsaw Autumn, the Tyrol Festival, the Vilnius Festival and Wratislavia Cantans.

Horiana Brănişteanu

1992 QUOTE HORIANA BRANISTEANU“Since completely objective juries do not exist, we call upon the aid of mathematics to approach the maximum degree of objectivity. It is really very simple: we count the numbers and come up with the totals. Below a certain total for specific prizes such as the First, Second and Great Prize, that prize can’t be awarded.” (1971 IVC First Prize winner and 1992 IVC juror Horiana Brănişteanu on the meager harvest of awards this year, Brabants Dagblad, August 31, 1992)