Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition announces 2021 winner
Florence Lockheart
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Australian soprano Cassandra Wright has been announced as the winner of this year’s competition, with second prize going to Welsh soprano Jessica Cale
Bampton Classical Opera has announced Australian soprano Cassandra Wright as the winner of this year’s Young Singers’ Competition. The competition’s second prize has been awarded to soprano Jessica Cale and the winner of the accompanists’ prize is Ilan Kurtser, who accompanied Cassandra Wright.
The decision was reached after the competition final last Sunday (28 November) at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, with a panel of judges including tenor Bonaventura Bottone, Royal Academy of Music vocal teacher Jennifer Dakin, and accompanist and conductor Phillip Thomas.
The Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition was launched in 2013 to celebrate the 20th birthday of Bampton Classical Opera. The company aims to nurture young talent and identify the finest emerging singers currently studying or working in the UK.
Cassandra is awarded £2,000 for her winning programme which included Mozart’s Se il padre perdei, Strauss’ Das Rosenband, Op 36 No 1, Stravinsky’s No word from Tom and Rachmaninov’s What happiness. Judge Bottone said: ‘Her performance showed her beautiful use of vocal colours and musical phrasing. She effortlessly moved between the elements, portraying each character clearly and conveying the text with care.’
Wright studies at Royal Academy Opera and has performed as a soloist with Academy Symphony Orchestra. She is a Leeds Lieder Young Artist and a member of the Academy Song Circle as well as a winner of the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
Welsh Soprano, Jessica Cale, receives £1,000 as winner of this year’s second prize. First prize winner of the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and joint audience prize winner at the London Handel Festival International Singing Competition, Jessica is a graduate of the Royal College of Music International Opera Studio.
Ilan Kurtser, winner of the competition’s £600 accompanists’ prize is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music and is a recipient of the Academy’s Bicentenary Scholarship. He is a member of the Academy Song Circle, a Leeds Lieder Young Artist and the winner of the two major Academy piano accompaniment prizes as well as the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards Help Musicians UK Accompanist’s.