10th June 2012 - Opera
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| Anthony Roth Costanzo - First Prize Men's Operalia |
Congratulations Anthony Roth Costanzo
Just wanted to record (OK jump up and down with excitement) the news from Beijing that American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo is a winner in the men's competition. I was delighted to hear that he had reached the finals having seen him earlier this year for the first time in The Metropolitan Opera's The Enchanted Island Live in HD (reviewed here http://annez-reflectionz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/enchanted-island-met-opera-live-in-hd.html ) broadcast, singing the part of Ferdinand. I was at the time developing a real "thing" for the countertenor voice - am now a fully-fledged countertenor fan - so am truly over the moon now to see a countertenor walking away with first prize at this competition. Anthony shares the award with Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin, each gaining the same number of points from the judges. American tenor Brian Jagde also put in a very impressive performance as did Chinese baritone Yunpeng Wang and both shared second place in the men's competition.
Video clip showing Anthony singing "Stille amare" from Handel's opera Tolomeo in the competition final - no wonder the judges could not resist him!
I would also like to give a shout to American soprano Janai Brugger took first place the ladies part in this competition, well-deserved, I loved her performance.
