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BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2009: Japan wins the first concert round and Russi wins the second.  (MS)

Eri Nakamura - Winner of the first concert round

Japanese soprano Eri Nakamura won the opening concert round in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World on Sunday evening.

Chairman of the panel of international judges John Fisher made the clearly popular announcement at the end of the concert in St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Mr Fisher, chief executive and artistic director of Welsh National Opera, presented the 30 year old soprano with a Welsh crystal trophy to make her achievement, as he did for the second round winner Ekaterina Shcherbachenko the next day.

Eri shared the first concert with two other sopranos, 25-year-old soprano Dana Bramane, Latvia and 27-year-old soprano Emiliya Ivanova, Bulgaria along with 30-year-old baritone Etienne Dupuis, Canada and 23-year-old bass Fernando Javier Radó, Argentina.

Eri is a graduate of Osaka College of Music and is currently a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The 31-year-old soprano immediately won the hearts of the packed audience with sparkling singing of the bright Quel guard il cavaliere from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale followed by emotionally charged arias from Massenet’s Manon and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Ekaterina Shcherbachenko - Winner of the second concert round

Russian soprano Ekaterina Shcherbachenko won the second concert round on Monday.   She  was the last of the five singers performing and the  other four  were  31 year old English mezzo-soprano Anna Stephany, 27 year old Mexican baritone Octavio Moreno, 28 year old baritone, South African Dawid  Kimberg and Korean tenor Ji-Min Park, aged 30.

A graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, Ekaterina made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre, as Natasha in War and Peace. She then joined the Bolshoi company and roles she performs there include Liù (Turandot), Micaëla (Carmen), Iolanta (Iolanta) as well as Tatyana and Mimì as well as Natasha.  Ekaterina has also worked at Opéra National de Lyon, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Her future plans include touring with the Bolshoi in 2009, as Tatyana, to Tokyo, La Scala Milan and Ljubljana. In her spare time, Ekaterina enjoys reading and travelling.

These two winners were the first selected from the 25 singers who are competing for the title BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and to receive a £15,000 prize, which is provided by the City and County of Cardiff. The Competition is organised by BBC Wales.

Although winning their concers, neither Eri nor Ekaterina is guaranteed a place in next Sunday’s final as the judges wait until they have heard all 25 singers before selecting their top five. It is possible that two singers may go through from the same concert round or the winner of a concert round  will not be selected for the final five. Indeed this happened in 2007 when fellow Japanese soprano Mari Moriya won her concert round but did not reach the final.

The 25 singers who represent nations as far afield as Chile and Russia, Australia and Italy have been selected from more than 600 singers from around the world who took part in auditions in 44 locations in more than 30 countries for the biennial competition.

This year all singers taking part will also be eligible to benefit from a new bursary to help towards the development of their musical careers. A follower of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, Annie Sankey, has left the competition a bequest and a new bursary in her name to support singers who take part in the competition has been established. Menna Richards, Director BBC Cymru Wales said, “The bursaries will help support the studies of competitors, including helping with travel and the purchase of musical scores”.

Twenty of the singers are also taking part in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize which has its own final at St David’s Hall on Friday, June 12th.

Both competitions are receiving extensive coverage by the BBC across the networks including BBC Cymru Wales, Radio 3, BBC TWO and BBC Four and online. For full details see: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/cardiffsinger/.

Mike Smith

Pictures © Brian Tarr

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