To me, it was always going to be between Jacques Imbrailo (South Africa, baritone) and Miranda Keys (Australia, soprano). I felt if it was - who would I most like to listen to right now, it would be Jacques (curses for thinking that Owen Wingrave tickets would be available close to the performance date). Who would be the big star in,say, ten years time, I would say Miranda Keys.
We were not sure at all about María Isabel Vera (Chile, mezzo). Her Trovatore aria was impressive, but she seemed to lose it a bit in the Dalila. I gather from the telly people that she has a massive voice. That didn't come over on the telly, in fact, having heard them say that I wonder if her sound was turned down, and turned down too much because at times she seemed inaudible over the orchestra - a timely reminder of the unreliability of a TV broadcast...except that, ultimately, we probably all hear more electronically reproduced music than live.
Ivo Yordanov (Bulgaria, baritone) - incidentally, a former Operalia contestant - was okay, but nothing special. It seems unfair to damn with faint praise. Every single one of the 25 competitors are something special, many of them will develop into much better singers, all of them would provide me with an enjoyable evening in the opera house or concert hall. Few of them have that elusive star quality.
Helena Juntunen seemed to have a certain star quality, but her technique let her down. Actually, it was pretty obvious from her body language and general demeanour that she was very dissatisfied with her performance, which is unfortunate, but in a competition, it's how you do on the night - as it is for any performance with a paying audience.
I really liked Jacques,and not just because he's a Jette Parker Young Artist at the ROH. I tried to compare his Ya vas lyublyu with Dima Hvorostovsky and Gerald Finley, and, of course, it didn't compare. But I would be more than happy to hear him sing it in the absence of either of those (and he certainly nailed that long high note at the end better than my Gerald did at Covent Garden last autumn!). I also found his Deh, vieni alla finestra to be flawless, although (seemingly contradictory, but not!) with scope for improvement.
Miranda Keys finished the evening and her Dich, teure Halle in particular was impressive. I was in two minds, because overall I thought she gave a very impressive performance, but I thought that quite a few times she was way off pitch. However, this was in a flamboyant way that can be forgiven in singers who give their all, but I wondered how significant that would be for the judges.
I was surprised that María Isabel Vera won, but will have to accept that she must have come over much better in the hall than on the TV. The Row K Jury agreed with the GertCottage jury in voting for Jacques Imbrailo; Jimmy turned against Miranda Keys because of her appalling choice of dress which really did her no favours. She seems to be a Lisa Gasteen wannabe.
We then awaited the decision for who would actually make the final. I decided it would be Shen Yang, Mari Moriya, Miranda Keys, and two out of Elizabeth Watts, Jacques Imbrailo, and David DQ Lee. (If I had been able to hear all 25 without knowing who had won heats and so on, my own choice might have been quite different...). But I had garnered the opinion of an insider last night who had suggested the judges were on crack and this insider questioned the choice of three of the five finalists.
The finalists are Elizabeth Watts (England, soprano), Levente Molnár (Hungary, baritone), Shen Yang (China, bass baritone), María Isabel Vera and Miranda Keys. I think I can guess which three my insider questioned...
I have decided that I shall vote for Jacques Imbrailo in the audience vote, reluctantly pushing aside Mari Moriya. I am sticking to my Shen Yang to win; but this jury has shown itself to be less than predictable, so who knows. If he performs as well as he did on Tuesday (live)/Wednesday (TV) it would be injustice if he doesn't win.
But for all the also rans,I hope they have enjoyed the experience, and got something out of it, and I also hope that some of these names will become familiars in my local opera houses and concert halls over the coming years.
Song prize final tomorrow; Grand Final, Sunday.
