Mere singing is not enough at Wigmore Hall

Iain Burnside, one of this year’s judges, believes a key factor in the competition is finding artists for whom imaginative programming plays as central a role as a beautiful voice – ‘how else can we expect audiences to tip up to recitals if they don’t talk to us as figures in the twenty-first century? A beautiful voice just isn’t enough.’

It’s a point expanded upon in this interview with Ann Murray DBE, shortly before she was upstaged by the wall behind her…

One theme that has emerged strongly in this year’s competition is the sheer amount of work the singer and pianist must do together to distil the intense emotions implicit in classical song. Doing this without traumatising (or, far worse, boring) the poor audience is no easy task, as juror Wolfgang Holzmair explains.

As I write this, the competition has reached the semi-final stage. We are waving goodbye to some of our favourite contestants and wish the remaining all the best in contending for a place in Thursday’s final.

SI