Swiss bass MILAN SILJANOV wins top prize at 2015 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition
After a week of public heats, talks and masterclasses at Wigmore Hall, 28-year-old Swiss bass Milan Siljanov was awarded £10,000 for winning the 2015 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition (10 September 2015).
The competition – judged by a star-studded panel of jurors including Iain Burnside, Wolfgang Holzmair, Graham Johnson, Angelika Kirchschlager, Sir Ralph Kohn, Christoph Prégardien, Thomas Quasthoff, Maxine Robertson, David Stern and Ailish Tynan – saw the £5,000 Pianist’s Prize given to Siljanov’s accompanist Nino Chokhonelidze.
Kate Howden and Sachika Taniyama were awarded the Jean Meikle Prize for a Duo, while twenty- two year old British baritone James Newby won the Richard Tauber Prize for best interpretation of Schubert Lieder.
Twenty-two singers and accompanists under the age of 33 competed this year, hailing from a huge range of countries as far-flung as South Africa, America, Japan and Georgia. The exceptional level of the 2015 entrants, as well as the variety of nationalities taking part, are testament to the International Song Competition’s reputation as a hugely prestigious, globally significant platform for celebrating young talent in song recital.
Milan Siljanov performed songs by Bennett, Mahler, Sviridov, Poulenc, Schoenberg, Warlock and Wolf in the finals this evening. He was also the First Prize and Audience Prize winner of the Lied-Duo competition at the 50th International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogernbosch, the Netherlands. He is currently continuing his vocal studies on a full scholarship, generously supported by The Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was a finalist in this year’s prestigious Gold Medal competition at the Barbican Hall and will give his debut at Tonhalle Zurich, Switzerland, this year.
John Gilhooly OBE, Director of Wigmore Hall and Chairman of the Jury, said:
“The International Song Competition continues to be central to Wigmore Hall’s commitment to preserving the song recital and nurturing the next generation of performers, and this year’s singers and pianists have shown extraordinary talent, passion and dedication over the past week. Many of the world’s greatest artists started out on the Wigmore Hall stage, and I’m certain all the 2015 competitors have bright futures in song. Over the course of the week, however, we felt that Milan Siljanov had the greatest potential, and is a wholly deserving recipient of the prize. We look forward to following what I’m sure will be a very successful and fulfilling career.”
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Notes for Editors
Jury for 2015 competition
John Gilhooly OBE Chair (Director, Wigmore Hall) Iain Burnside Wolfgang Holzmair Graham Johnson OBE Angelika Kirchschlager Sir Ralph Kohn (non-voting) Christoph Prégardien Thomas Quasthoff Maxine Robertson David Stern Ailish Tynan
Honorary Patrons
Dame Janet Baker Barbara Bonney Christine Brewer Joyce DiDonato Dame Anne Evans Ann Murray DBE Thomas Quasthoff Sir András Schiff Peter Schreier
About the Kohn Foundation
The Kohn Foundation was established in 1991 by Sir Ralph Kohn to provide financial support for scientific and medical research, in innovation, the arts, education and humanitarian aid. The Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition has been fortunate enough to enjoy total financial support from the Foundation since the competition was set up in 1997. Sir Ralph Kohn is a medical scientist and musician. He obtained his PhD at Manchester University and subsequently spent some years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Health in Rome, working and publishing with two Nobel Laureates. After a further research year at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, he joined the pharmaceutical industry as a Senior Executive in Research & Development, and subsequently Management. He established the first Independent Medical Research Organisation in the UK for the clinical evaluation of new drugs and received the Queen’s Award. He has received many scientific honours and awards, including Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS), Academy of Medical Sciences, British Pharmacological Society and European Academy and Doctor of Science.
Sir Ralph was awarded the Medal of Honour of the City of Leipzig by the Lord Mayor in June 2011 for his substantial contributions to the music of J.S. Bach. He was knighted in 2010 for ‘Services to Science, Music and Charity’.
About the Jean Meikle Music Trust
The Jean Meikle Music Trust was established in 2005 in memory of Jean Meikle, a passionate lover of song and chamber music in all its forms, and a devotee of Wigmore Hall. The Trust seeks to encourage the art of song through performance and education. Recent grants have been awarded to Leeds Lieder+, for their outstanding education work, and to the Oxford Lieder Festival, for their enterprising music club scheme. In 2015 JMMT is proud once again to fund the Song Duo Prize at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, awarded to the most outstanding singer/pianist partnership in the competition. http://www.jeanmeiklemusictrust.org
About the Richard Tauber Prize
The Anglo-Austrian Music Society was founded in London in the autumn of 1942 by a small group of Austrian refugee musicians and British friends – initially as a means of surviving in exile, but also to promote the appreciation and understanding of Austrian music in Britain. Over the years, the Anglo- Austrian Music Society has sponsored appearances by such renowned artists as Elisabeth Schumann, Maggie Teyte, Kathleen Ferrier, Richard Tauber, Bruno Walter, Clemens Krauss, Gerald Moore, Myra Hess, Josef Krips, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Richard Tauber’s last stage appearance was as Ottavio in Don Giovanni with the Vienna State Opera company at Covent Garden on 27 September 1947 on a visit arranged by the Anglo-Austrian Music Society. In 1950 the Anglo-Austrian Music Society established the Richard Tauber Fund in memory of the great Austrian tenor. Since then the Society has made 30 awards. Preliminary auditions were held in London and in Vienna, and the public final audition was held at Wigmore Hall, which was also the venue for the prizewinning recital. Previous Richard Tauber Prizewinners have included Simon Keenlyside, William Dazeley, Jane Irwin, Jonathan Lemalu, Anna Leese, Christopher Ainslie, Robin Leggate, Alexander Oliver and Richard Angas.
The Anglo-Austrian Music Society has decided in future to award a Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder as part of the eminent Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. http://www.aams.org.uk