A Higher Standard

MALCOLM MILLER reports from the
Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation
International Song Competition

'The art of the song recital is alive and flourishing', observed John Gilhooly OBE, as he introduced the jury decisions at the finals of the biennial Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition on 10 September 2015, continuing: 'a new young generation of singers have shown us that anyone who says the song recital is dead, is dead wrong'. Indeed the distinguished jury including world famous singers (Holzmair, Kirchschlager, Prégardien, Quasthoff), conductors (David Stern), pianists (Graham Johnson OBE, Iain Burnside), and agents (Maxine Robertson) during the preceding week, had listened to more than twenty young singers with accompanists, drawn from an initial entry of over one hundred and fifty from around the world. Five were chosen for the finals, each performing a thirty minute selection to regale a large and eager Wigmore Hall audience, who cheered as the results were announced.

The competition was founded eighteen years ago in 1997 at the initiative of Sir Ralph Kohn FRS, FRAM, DMus, whose dual passions as scientist and singer (with a notable discography in duo with Graham Johnson) are reflected in the Kohn Foundation's philanthropic support of many significant musical projects, not least the John Eliot Gardiner 'Bach Cantata Pilgrimage', and the Bach Cantata Series at the Royal Academy of Music, now in its seventh year...

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