Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Two Barihunks in Wigmore/Kohl Finals

Jonathan McGovern - (credit: Maximilian Fuhrig)
Dominik Köninger

Two barihunks have survived to the Final Four in the Wigmore Hall/Kohl Foundation International Song Competition that we reported on a few days ago. Jonathan McGovern, who we first featured when he starred in Nico Muhly's "Two Boys" is one of the finalists. The other is German baritone Dominik Köninger who was new to the site. The first prize winner will receive £10,00, with the next two finishers receiving £5,000 and £2,500 respectively.

The final round will take place on Thursday, September 8. The finalists can perform songs in any language as long as the lied was written after 1900. They have up to 30 minutes to perform their selections. The non-baritones in the finals are mezzo Dorottya Lang and tenor Stuart Jackson.

Born in Heidelberg, the German baritone Dominik Köninger studied in Karlsruhe with Prof. Roland Hermann. Since his debut in 2004, he has performed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Hamburg State Opera, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Theater an der Wien or Bavarian State Opera. Starting with the 2012/13 season, Dominik will be an ensemble member of the Komische Oper Berlin and he will make his debut at NNT in Tokyo in 2013.

Here is Köninger singing Mozart's "Hai gia vinta la causa... Vedro mentr'io sospirio" from "Le nozze di Figaro":



Winner of the 2nd Prize at this year's Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Jonathan McGovern read Music at King’s College London and continued his studies with Philip Doghan and Audrey Hyland. He was winner of the gold medal and 1st Prize at the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition 2010. Recent highlights include recitals at Chester Music Festival, St James’ Piccadilly, the Forge Camden, Kings Place and the National Portrait Gallery. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music Song Circle, and will join the Britten–Pears Young Artists in September for a new production of Albert Herring. He made his ENO debut this summer as Jake in the world-première of Nico Muhly’s opera Two Boys.

We couldn't find an audio or video clip of Jonathan McGovern to share with you. Admittedly, we find this a bid odd for a singer.

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