By Lyn Bronson
Winners: Alize Rozsnyai, Chunggil Koo & Devon Guthrie
The Carmel Music Society celebrated its 33rd Annual Competition yesterday at Sunset Center. After hearing eight vocal finalists during the morning and afternoon auditions, the distinguished jurors, Jake Heggie, Camille Kolles and Stephen Wadsworth, awarded the $5000 Grand Prize to soprano Devon Guthrie, the second prize of $2000 to baritone Chunggil Koo and the third prize of $1000 to soprano Alize Rozsnyai.
After a presentation ceremony on stage in which the jurors were presented to the audience and checks and certificates were presented to the three prize winners, the audience had an opportunity to hear the three winners sing the same repertoire they had performed earlier in the day during the auditions.
Hearing the singers in reverse order, we first heard third prize winner soprano Alize Rozsnyai, 19, a student at Indiana University, accompanied by pianist Kumi Uyeda. Rozsnyai departed from the order of the evening’s printed program by beginning her selections with a lovely rendition of Massenet’s Pour en faire (from Cendrillon) followed by a deeply felt performance of Amor by Richard Strauss. She ended her selections with the brilliant aria “Let the bright Seraphim” from Handel’s Samson.
Next we heard second-prize winner Korean baritone Chunggil Koo, 28, a graduate student at the World Mission University, whose dramatic skills were especially evident in his beautiful performance of Schubert’s Auf dem Flusse and his powerful projection in the aria Tutto e disposto from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. His closing selection was a brilliant and moving performance of “San-Ah” from Shin’s “Farewell to the Mountain.” Koo’s pianist, who gave him excellent support, was Daniel Faltus.
After intermission we heard Grand Prize winner, soprano Devon Guthrie, 22, a candidate for a master’s degree in vocal performance at the Juilliard School of Music, who performed her audition selections with pianist Wayne Hinton. Guthrie demonstrated to us her powerful flexible voice and beautiful projection throughout her vocal range. Supremely self confident, she alternately charmed us with her display of sensitive emotions or blew us away with her impressive vocal virtuosity. After a warm and generous applause from the audience she sang one encore, an aria by Charpentier.
Those who were present during the morning and afternoon auditions had an opportunity to hear the other finalists. Leading off the auditions was soprano Michelle Caravia, 25, a pupil of Marvelee Cariaga in Long Beach, California. Caravia, accompanied by pianist Paul Jarski, impressed us with her lovely lyrical qualities in Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito by Montsalvatge and her brilliant performance of the Alleluja from Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate.
Soprano Renée Calvo, 31, accompanied by pianist Suzanne Shick, gave us a lovely expressive Glück das mir verblieb, from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, and a spirited “They Might Not Need Me” by Lori Laitman.
Soprano Liisa Davila, 28, accompanied by pianist Tatiana Scott, sang a beautifully sweet and tender “Laululle” by Yrjö Kilpinen and ended her selections with an impassioned and dramatic performance of Chère Nuit by Alfred Bachelet.
Soprano Katharine Terray, 32, a recent graduate of Cal Arts in Los Angeles, accompanied by pianist Daniel Faltus, made a powerful impression with her sensitive renditions of songs by Bach, Rorem and Strauss, plus her brilliant performances of Gounod’s Ah! Je veux vivre and the Alleluja from Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate – her high notes at the end gave us goose bumps.
Ending the afternoon auditions we heard soprano Marielle Murphy, 20, accompanied by her talented pianist sister, Alana Murphy. Marielle, a student at the Eastman School of Music, displayed the loudest and most powerful voice heard during the auditions. She wowed us with everything from songs by Liszt and Rorem to “knock-’em-dead” arias by Handel and Rossini.
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