The registration deadline for the 2nd International Lied Competition “Bolko von Hochberg” ended on December 31, 2023. 69 duos (136 artists) from all over the world have registered, for which we would like to thank the young artists.
The level of the participants this year is high, like it was in 2022. Among the artists we could encounter impressive voices, good technique for singers and pianists, very interesting biographies of versatile personalities, coming from the most diverse cultures of the world.
Young and experienced artists
Statistically speaking, an important cluster of artists were born in 1991 (33 years old). A total of 15 singers and 15 pianists from various duos were born this year. Many musicians (45 of the total 69 singers) were born between 1990 and 1996.
Eight experienced, talented singers were born between 1985 and 1989.
And now the most positive news: Sixteen (16) singers, mostly with pianists of the same age, are younger than 26 years old.
The youngest participant in the competition is a 22-year-old Polish baritone!
From almost every continent on earth
The artists come from almost every continent (except Africa).
From the American continent, artists registered from the USA, Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina. We have an artist from Australia.
This time many artists have registered also from China: six singers and three pianists. With 7 Japanese artists, 1 from Hong Kong, 1 from Taiwan, 1 from Malaysia and a total of 18 singers and pianists from South Korea, the Lied artists from Asia in our competition make a total of 37. We thank the artists for their contribution to promoting western classical music and singing in Asia. They are currently building a very good school and bridge across the continents!
But ultimately the majority of applicants come from Europe, and even from the neighboring countries Germany and Poland. A total of 22 artists come from Germany (17), Austria (1) and Switzerland (4) while 16 come from Poland.
This confirms the role of the Lied Competition “Bolko von Hochberg” for the cultural international understanding, friendship and cooperation between Poland and Germany.
From the rest of Europe we have: two artists from Belarus, two from Belgium, a pianist from Bulgaria, two artists from Cyprus, two from the Czech Republic and one from Slovakia, seven from Greece, three Italian (pianists), one from Ireland, one from Norway, three from Russia, two from Serbia, one from Croatia, one from Lithuania, one from the Netherlands, four from Spain, one from Sweden, two artists from Ukraine and five from England and Scotland.
The choice of the Songs
Due to the selected repertoire, we were pleased to see that many applicants were interested in the Italian songs in the repertoire and chose many pieces by Schubert, Rossini and Beethoven.
The most popular, however, was Franz Liszt with the “Tre Sonetti di Petrarca” based on the poems of the great Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca for “Laura”.
We admit at this point that this was the artistic director's intention when designing the competition: to encourage opera voices to discover the world of art song and to encourage Lied singers to integrate the dramatic quality of the music into their song art. In fact, Liszt's three sonnets are particularly demanding pieces, something between large opera-arias and Lied. We are very pleased to hear these songs several times in May and from outstanding voices in Görlitz.
We were also very pleased that Beethoven's “Ariettes” and Schubert's Italian songs based on poems by Pietro Metastasio were often chosen.
Generally we will be listening to a lot of Schubert in May. The song “Auf dem See” D543 based on a poem by Goethe was chosen most often by the artists, especially for the first round, as was “Im Frühling” D 882 (Ernst Schulze).
The selection of numerous songs by Hugo Wolf was also very pleasing, not only from the “Spanisches Liederbuch”, but also from the “Goethe” and “Eichendorff Songs”.
The famous “Widmung”, “Lotosblume” and the “Venezianische Lieder” from Schumann's “Myrthen” Op.25 were very popular.
From the French repertoire, many singers particularly liked the beautiful, rare song “Psyché” by Emile Paladhile and of course Melodies by Henri Duparc, especially “Chanson triste” and “L’invitation au voyage”. We will also often hear “A Chloris” by Reynaldo Hahn.
We were also pleased with the choice of songs by the female composers Anna Teichmüller and Mathilde Kralik von Meyerswalden. In May we will also hear new compositions by Eynar Pessen (Jan Kochanowski songs) and the Christmas carol by Ramon Gil Gonzáles/Lope de Vega.
And now we come to the central theme of the competition, the song of the English Renaissance and Shakespeare. The most popular were the “Four Shakespeare Songs” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and the “Three Shakespeare Songs” by Roger Quilter, followed by the Shakespeare collection “Let Us Garlands Bring” Op. 18 by Gerald Finzi. Ivor Gurney's “Five Elizabethan Songs” were also very often chosen, especially the beautiful “Sleep” based on a poem by John Fletcher. By the way, some sopranos will also sing Richard Strauss' “Drei Lieder der Ophelia”.
This means that the Second International Song Competition “Bolko von Hochberg” on the theme “Orpheus: Spirit of the Renaissance” is a success in terms of the interest of outstanding young artists in song art and promises a wonderful experience in May.
We would like to thank all artists who will take advantage of this opportunity and wish everybody a good preparation and much success in their future plans for 2024.
Comments