Eight singers from around the world will compete in Seattle Opera's Second International Wagner Competition on Saturday, August 16. The first competition held in 2006 was dubbed "Wagnerian Idol", reflecting the audience-vote component to the competition. Seattle Opera is internationally well-known for its focus on the works of Richard Wagner, including the company's signature performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The company's next complete Ring cycle will be performed in August 2009.
Each of the finalists—aged between 25 and 39—will perform two arias accompanied by the Seattle Opera Orchestra conducted by Asher Fisch, Seattle Opera's principal guest conductor. Full program details are listed below. The finalists were selected via a series of international auditions. They are competing for two cash prizes of $15,000. In addition to the two main prizes, there is an "Audience choice" prize and an "Orchestra choice" prize.
The 2008 finalists are:
Erin Caves, tenor, from Stockton, California
Jason Collins, tenor, from Beaufort/Seneca, South Carolina
Deborah Humble, mezzo-soprano, from Adelaide, Australia
Darren Jeffery, bass-baritone, from Cambridgeshire, England
Peter Lobert, bass, from Jena, Germany
Michael Weinius, tenor, from Stockholm, Sweden
Nadine Weissmann, mezzo-soprano, from Berlin, Germany
Elza van den Heever, soprano, from Johannesburg, South Africa
The alternates are:
Carla Thelen Hanson, soprano, from Rochester, Minnesota
Joni Henson, soprano, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
The judges for Seattle Opera's second International Wagner Competition are an
international group of authorities in all aspects of opera production—Hans-Joachim Frey, the
general director and chief executive officer of the Theater Bremen, which includes Oper
Bremen; tenor Ben Heppner, well known for his acclaimed performances of the Wagnerian
repertoire; stage director Peter Kazaras, a Seattle Opera Artistic Director of the company's
Young Artists Program; Pamela Rosenberg, the administrative director of the Berlin
Philharmonic and former general director of San Francisco Opera; Stephen Wadsworth,
frequent director of Seattle Opera productions, including its highly praised 2001 and 2005 Ring
cycles and upcoming 2009 Ring; and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner
and an artistic advisor to the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
The second International Wagner Competition is once again made possible by a generous contribution from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.
The first International Wagner Competition, held in August 2006, was created by Seattle Opera's General Director Speight Jenkins to identify and recognize qualified, emerging opera singers who demonstrate clear promise of an important career in the Wagnerian repertoire. The winners of the 2006 competition were soprano Miriam Murphy from Dublin, Ireland, and baritone James Rutherford from Dulwich, England. -- www.seattleopera.org
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