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Dmitri Hvorostovsky (16 October 1962 – 22 November 2017) dies at 55
Seen and Heard-International is saddened to have heard of the death – after a courageous fight against cancer – of the wonderful Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, at much-too-early age of 55.
A Great Tradition Lives: Ann Murray’s Masterclass at the V&A (Royal College of Music)
Like all the world’s greatest teachers, Gioacchino Rossini was much more focused on what he could get out of a pupil than what he could put in. But the maestro was also a composer, in my spare time, he used to quip. So it was not unknown for him to to put something into the pupil too.
Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Conducting Legacy
One mourns the recent passing of Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek (24 February 1946 – 31 May 2017) not only because he was a wonderfully discerning musician, but also because he perpetuated a conducting legacy that linked back to the great Czech composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
2017 Elizabeth Connell Prize Winner Announced
KATIE LOWE from England Cheshire born 31 year old English soprano Katie Lowe has won the 4th annual Elizabeth Connell Prize for aspiring Dramatic Sopranos held in Sydney Australia on 16 September. Ms Lowe receives $30,000 and an audition at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. The Finalists were chosen from live auditions held in London, New York, Zurich, Paris and Melbourne and competed over 3 rounds in Sydney for the prize. Ms Lowe sang the “Immolation Scene” from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and “Suicidio” from La Gioconda by Ponchiello in the Final Round.
Catriona Morison, 31-year-old mezzo soprano from Scotland, is the first British winner of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
Louis Frémaux (13 August 1921 – 20 March 2017) – an obituary by Rob Barnett
As ever, the bare bones of any person’s life tell us but a small part of the individual’s story and heritage. Louis Frémaux is no different in that respect. That said we need to lay them out:
– Born in Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais, France in 1921 and he studied at the Valenciennes Conservatoire.
– War service in the Resistance and then as a Foreign Legion Captain in the French armed forces in Vietnam (1945-46)
– Resumed his war-interrupted studies, this time at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Fourestier where he took first prize in conducting in 1952.
The 26th Annual Singing Competition Final – Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Award for Singers at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester on 28th February 2017
NICOLAI GEDDA (1925 -2017)
His daughter, Tania, announced the death of Nicolai Gedda on January 8 at his residence near Lausanne, Switzerland. His death occurred a few months after that of his first wife, the pianist Nadia Gedda-Nova – Tania’s mother – and a few days after that of Georges Prêtre with whom he collaborated several times, notably as Don José in the recording of Carmen alongside Maria Callas.
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