Via The Journal Of Music: Soprano Julia Muzychenko-Greenhalgh has won the the 11th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, which took place on Tuesday 28 January at the National Concert Hall.
Muzychenko-Greenhalgh is a graduate of St Petersburg Conservatory and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. In 2022, she placed second in the Salice D'oro Singing Competition and in 2021 she won the Jacques Offenbach Grand Prix.
The Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition was established in 1995 by Irish soprano and vocal coach Veronica 'Ronnie’ Dunne, who passed away in 2021. The competition is held every three years in Dublin and offers over €30,000 in prizes to its winners.
The final was broadcast live on RTÉ Lyric FM and presented by Liz Nolan. Watch below:
The event involved six singers, each performing three arias with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wyn Davies. Muzychenko-Greenhalgh performed Che’il bel sogno di Doretta from Puccini’s La Rondine, Obéissons quand leur voix appelle from Massenet’s Manon, and ‘È strano… ah, fors’é lui… sempre libera’ from Verdi’s La Traviata.
Mezzo-soprano Anna Kelly was awarded second prize. Kelly is a first-year student of the Artist Diploma Program in Opera Studies at the Juilliard School in New York, where she is a recipient of the Tatiana Troyanos Scholarship. She performed Smanie implacabili from Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Letter Scene: Werther, Werther from Massenet’s Werther and Wie du warst! Wie du bist! from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.
Third prize was awarded to bass-baritone Hanseong Yun, fourth prize was awarded to soprano Charlotte Bowden, fifth was awarded to mezzo-soprano Maria Hegele and sixth was awarded to mezzo-soprano Judith Le Breuilly.
Julia Muzychenko-Greenhalgh, Sabina Higgins, Maria Hegele and Anna Kelly
(Pic: Mark Stedman).
From left to right: Hanseong Yun, Judith Le Breuilly, Charlotte Bowden, President Michael D. Higgins, Julia Muzychenko-Greenhalgh, Sabina Higgins, Maria Hegele and Anna Kelly (Photo: Mark Stedman).
Additional prizes
A number of other prizes were awarded on the night. Bowden won the Dublin Song Series Prize for the best song in the semi-finals; Yun won the William and Alison Young prize for the best oratorio in the semi-finals; the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Prize for the best Mozart aria (from any round of the competition) went to soprano Nikolett Mráz; and the Dermot Troy prize for the highest-placed Irish competitor went to Dublin tenor Cathal McCabe, who also won the Jane Carty prize for the most promising competitor, aged 25 or under.
The Audience Prize was awarded to Kelly; the Mascarade Talent Development Prize, which provides a one-week residency at Mascarade Opera in Florence, including a bursary, was awarded to baritone Armand Rabot; and Muzychenko-Greenhalgh was awarded the BVOF Prize which offers a professional engagement at the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival (recital or principal role).
The members of the jury were baritone Sir Thomas Allen (chair); Jonathan Friend, Artistic Advisor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Irish National Opera; Tobias Hasan, Artistic Director of Staatsoper Berlin; David Lomeli, Chief Artistic Officer of Santa Fe Opera and consultant to Bavarian State Opera in Munich; conductor Carlo Rizzi; Christina Scheppelmann, General Director of Seattle Opera; and soprano Suzanne Murphy.
Frind out more about the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition here, and read more from the Journal Of Music here.
