Past Song Prize Winners
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The Song Prize, awarded to the contestant giving the best performance of Lieder, art song or folk song during the entire Competition, was instigated in 1989 and was known until 1999 as the Lieder Prize. It was introduced to acknowledge that the performance of this repertoire requires a very different approach from that of opera. |
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1989: Bryn Terfel
The first recipient, Bryn Terfel, has gone on to become one of the megastars of the music world, in great demand in all the great opera houses throughout the world.
Opera roles he has made his own include Figaro Il nozze di Figaro, Jokanaan Salome, the title roles in Falstaff, Don Giovanni and The Flying Dutchman and Nick Shadow The Rake's Progress.
He is a consummate recital artist and his many recordings include award-winning song CDs with pianist Malcolm Martineau.
Bryn Terfel was awarded the CBE in the 2002 New Year's Honours List.
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1991: Neal Davies
Another Welsh baritone, Neal Davies, took the 1991 prize. He came to Cardiff having just left the Royal Academy of Music and had not worked professionally at all. He wasn't a finalist - proving the point that the Song Prize can be awarded to any singer in the Competition.
Neal now has a very busy career on both the opera and the concert stages in the UK and abroad. He sings a wide range of repertoire, from Handel oratorios to the great character baritone roles such as Dulcamara L'elisir d'amore and Leporello Don Giovanni.
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1993: Paul Whelan
New Zealander Paul Whelan continued the trend for baritone Lieder Prize winners. Before then, his professional career consisted of singing in the Glyndbourne chorus, but the prize brought him much concert work with conductors such as Simon Rattle, and he has also performed in opera houses all over the world.
Recent engagements have included Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the title roles in Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin for Australian Opera, Apollo Alceste at Netherlands Opera and Christus in a staged version of Bach's St John Passion at English National Opera.
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1995: Kirsi Tiihonen
Kirsi Tiihonen followed in fellow-Finnish soprano Karita Mattila's footsteps by winning a prize in Cardiff. She also broke the pattern of baritone winners of the prize. At 32, she was the oldest winner of the prize and her professional career was further on than previous winners, but her win brought her more important engagements throughout the world.
Her concert work has taken her to locations as diverse as Iceland and South Korea, and she works in opera houses throughout Europe. Roles include Donna Anna Don Giovanni, Desdemona Otello and Elisabeth Tannhäuser.
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1997: Christopher Maltman
After baritone Christopher Maltman from England won the prize he received a huge number of bookings for Lieder recitals and now works regularly in venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His career has gone from strength to strength both on the concert stage and in the opera house, where his acting skills make as much of a mark as his singing.
Opera engagements have included Ned Keene Peter Grimes and Sid Albert Herring at Glyndebourne, Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte and Count Le nozze di Figaro at English National Opera and Dandini La Cenerentola at La Monnaie, Brussels.
He has recorded extensively, and his recording of Schumann's Dichterliebe has received widespread acclaim.
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1999: Dae-San No
Korean baritone Dae-San No is currently an artist-in-residence at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, USA.
Engagements include solo recitals at Iowa and Washington DC, the title role of Rigoletto with the Annapolis Opera Company and the title role in Verdis Falstaff, at the Tanglewood Festival, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. He has also performed in concert and on the opera stage in New York, Toronto, Honolulu, London and Seoul.
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2001: Marius Brenciu
There were many firsts in 2001 - Marius Brenciu was the first singer to win both the prizes; he was also the first tenor to win anything in the Competition and the first Romanian to reach the Final.
Find out more on the past winners page.
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