Main Prize: Final Round

It's the fifth and final concert in the competition! Some thoughts:

Mezzo-soprano Maria Isabel Vera
Wow! A voice to make one sit up and listen. Without doubt, the mose complete performance of the week. Azucena's aria was absolutely stunning. Dazzling Dalila. Hail to the Cardiff Singer of the World 2007??! My favourite so far.

Bulgarian baritone Ivo Yordanov
Onegin was a good choice for his talents. Some suspect intonation/tuning spoiled it however. Herod's Aria from Massenet's Herodiade was similarly well-acted and had its beautiful moments, but here his Russian-sounding instrument and accent seemed wrong for the music. A bit immature.

Finnish soprano Helena Juntunen
Mimi's aria was OK but a wayward vibrato, tuning problems and a general lack of legato and tone undermined the performance. She does have a certain attack about her, however, that was briefly compelling. Marguerite's aria is extremely difficult and one must admire the energy she threw at it. But there's not enough tone in her portamenti, which are frequent.

Jacques Imbrailo: baritone from South Africa
The aria from Handel's Rinaldo was approached with enormous attack and demonstrated 
terrific coloratura. Dynamic contrasts were frequent and expressive; he acted the aria vividly.
The Serenade from Don Giovanni was very nicely done indeed, Imbrailo's elegant tone and facial expression working a treat. Perhaps it was a strange choice, though - not really a showpiece.
to end, Yeletsky's aria from the Queen of Spades was more ambitious and hugely effective. I agree with Edward Seckerson that one might want more at the bottom, but I nevertheless felt moved and engaged by his performance.

Miranda Keys - Australian Soprano
Ripping performance of Elisabeth's aria from Tannhauser. Tremendous energy and power. The Berg Early Song had a bad mistuning in one high note but the voice was still impressive. The big aria from Attila was also given a formidable performance, but again some defective notes.

The winner: Maria Isabel Vera

A just choice.

But I'm less happy about the choice of finalists:
Miranda Keys (Concert 5)
Maria Isabel Vera (Concert 5)
Elizabeth Watts (Concert 1)
Levente Molnar (Concert 1)
Shen Yang (Concert 3)

For me, Molnar and Keys were not the equals of others in the competition. I'd have put Imbrailo through, and I think the Japanese soprano from last night deserved the chance to go through, even though she's not my favourite. Ah well.