The Kathleen Ferrier Awards
Winners 2009
The results of the 2009 Awards are as follows:
WINNER:
SARAH-JANE BRANDON
Soprano
Accompanist: Gary Matthewman
Sarah-Jane Brandon (25) soprano from South Africa, is currently the Stephen Catto Memorial Scholar supported by a Lucy Ann Jones Award at the BBIOS, RCM where she studies with Janis Kelly.
Roles include Countess Le Nozze di Figaro, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Sandrina La Finta Giardiniera, Maddalena La Resurrezione and Lisaura Alessandro. She was the recipient of the 2008 Maggie Teyte Prize and Miriam Licette Scholarship and has performed in the Wigmore Hall, Crush Room ROH, and Bridgewater Hall. She is supported by the Josephine Baker, Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial and Countess of Munster Trusts.
SECOND PRIZE:
MONICA BANCOS
Soprano
Accompanist: Gary Matthewman
Monica Bancož (26) Romanian soprano, is currently a student at the BBIOS where she studies with Nicholas Sears. Her roles there have included Forester's Wife and The Owl (Cunning Little Vixen) and Arminda (La Finta Giardiniera ).
Concert performances include Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem under Leif Segerstam and Britten War Requiem with Michael Andre. Future projects include Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream) for BBIOS, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Nottingham Harmonic Society, Dvorak's Te Deum and Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass. Monica is a member of the Josephine Baker Trust Scheme, and she is a Pidem Scholar at the RCM.
SONG PRIZE:
ANGELA BIC
Soprano
Accompanist: Robin Davis
Angela Bic (28) soprano, is currently studying with Lillian Watson at the Royal Academy of Music Opera School on a full scholarship. From 2002-8 she studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, with Prof. Dorothea Wirtz.
Competition successes include third prize in the 2005 Paula Salomon Lindberg Lied competition in Berlin, first prize together with Robin Davis in the 2007 Euriade Song-Duo Competition in Kerkrade, Holland and first prizes in the Academy's Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks award, the Isabel Jay and the Blyth Buesst competitions. Angela has recently made her professional debut as Ortlinde in Wagner's Die Walküre at the Freiburg Opera House.
MBF ACCOMPANIST'S PRIZE:
ROBIN DAVIS
Robin Davis (26) was organ scholar at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and gained a 1st class Mathematics degree before going on to study piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek at the RAM. He graduated with a DipRAM and is currently Meaker Fellow there, having won the Elena Gerhardt Lieder and Brenda Webb awards for accompanists, and, together with soprano Angela Bic, first prize in the Euriade Song-Duo competition in Holland. A tutor at the Hereford International Summer School, he has played in the Purcell Room, the Wigmore Hall and King’s Place. Upcoming projects include concerts in Korea and Rhapsody in Blue with the EMG orchestra./ singer Angela Bic.
Photo credits: Robert Piwko