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Julian Gayarre Singing Contest Finals : Teatro Gayarre de Pamplona. 19.9.2008. (JMI)

Pamplona does other things besides the well known Bull Running during the San Fermin fiesta in July. Apart from concerts (in November,  Juan Diego Flórez is due to appear) and some opera,  every two years there in is an International Singing Contest, name after Julian Gayarre, one of the great tenors of operatic  history who was born in the neighbouring village of  Roncal. The contest is one of the most prestigious in Spain and celebrated its 12^th anniversary this year. During the first ten contest the Jury  was always headed by José Carreras, while for the last two he has been replaced by Teresa Berganza.

This year the Contest took place between 12 and 20 September, with a total of 72 contestants participants, 6 of who were selected for the finals. The event ended with a concert in memory of Pablo Sarasate, also  born in Pamplona, to mark the 100^th anniversary of his death.

The first prizes for both male and female competitors were not awarded this time, which I consider a right decision from the Jury. Second prizes were awarded to the Spanish soprano Auxiliadora Toledano and to the  American baritone  Christopher Bolduc.

Cordovan  Auxiliadora Toledano (29) is a light soprano, whose voice is not particularly outstanding, but she  sings with great taste and expressiveness and has a rare capacity to  communicate with the audience. Her appearance should also help her to have a future in the difficult world of opera. She is a promising singer, who has still to mature, with the top notes that are a little tight and metallic. She sang  “Qui la voce sua soave” from Puritani much better than merely correctly and her performance of the recitative, aria and final  cabaletta from La Sonambula, was both moving and bright.

The Canadian lyric soprano  Inga Filippova-Williams (28)  has a pleasant and homogenous voice. She was at her best in “Dove Sono”.  though less suited to the Manon Lescaut aria “In quelle trine morbide”. She too is a good singer, well prepared, but with some lack of personality.

South African Golda Schulz (25 years) showed an interesting voice in the middle range but  suffered from more than one pitch problem. She sang “E strano”, showing an easy top register and was rather erratic in Pamina’s aria, although much improved in the second half. She is still young and has time to study and improve.

Lyric baritone  Christopher Bolduc (28) carried off  the male prize without difficulty, considering the mediocrity of his competitors. He has a pleasant voice, is extremely musical and has  remarkable diction. His sounds in the upper range are too open at the moment and he delivered Valentin's aria “Sainte medaille” perfectly corrfectly but was very much better in “Largo al Factotum”.

Cho-Chul Lee from Korea has a  pleasant light lyric tenor in the middle range, but showed serious problems in projectin high notes. I did not like him much in “Leve toi,  soleil”, but he improved in “Che gelida manina”. He sang  uniformly forte and I was surprised to see him in the final.

The Armenian tenor Armaz Darashvili would have been the winner of the competition, if it had been Voice Contest instead of a Singing Contest. He clearly had the best voice of all of the finalists, but his lack of musicality, vocal irregularities and awful diction were equally remarkable. He sang “La Paterna Mano” from forte to fortissimo throughout and his  “Recondita Armonia” was plagued with pitch problems. A pity.

The singers were  accompanied by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, conducted by Cristóbal Soler. They were seldom more than efficient.

José M Irurzun

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