He's the man!
Admittedly, I haven't seen the heat broadcast on Tuesday, and there are two more yet to be broadcast, but if any of those singers can match the extraordinary talent of this competitor I will willingly eat my hat.
Thirty seconds into his Vivaldi aria - which I don't know, but all Vivaldi sounds the same to me
As for the others, I did not like Wiard Witholt very much but would be interested to hear him in the Song Prize, suspecting that he could do extremely well. Sarah Jane Davies' singing of one of the Four Last Songs was exquisite, but her Handel (from Serse) did nothing for me, and the Cosi aria was lacking. It's a shame, because I've heard her live, and she sounded much better. Nor did she score very highly from the TrinnyandSusannah (Jimmy) of Gert Cottage, who opined that her dress didn't suit her, and was of the same unflattering design as Liz Watts'. Juhan Tralla gave a good solid unexceptional performance. I feel he would be super-reliable as a house tenor but has no star quality and I felt that he was singing in the masque far too much. Evelina Dobraceva raced into the lead in the Gert Cottage Frockwatch, and got special marks for being an Angela Gheorghiu wannabe. She has a lovely voice, a gorgeous free top, and was head and shoulders above the other three. But singing straight after Shen Yang merely served to highlight her limitations, and without being cruel, if she hasn't developed a je ne sais quoi by 32 she ain't never going to. Whereas 23-year old Shen demonstrated that je ne sais quoi and star quality are something one is born with. A soundbiter said "I feel tonight we have been in the presence of greatness" and it's hard to disagree. I found that elusive wow factor.
