Report | CMIM Day 1: The Competition Begins

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Français (French)

The Montreal International Musical Competition (CMIM) is officially launched! May 25 marked the beginning of the first rounds in the Voice – Aria category. Ten candidates entered the competition out of the 24 selected. They included Hedvig Haugerud, Ruby Dibble, Karoline Podolak, and Ihor Mostovoi, whom we had already identified in our predictions.

Afternoon Session

The verdict? Many of these singers gave it their all, instead of letting their enthusiasm cool. This was the case for Mexican bass Daniel Noyola. The first to take the stage, the performer occupied the space well, both with his body and his voice, but he sometimes lacked precision in his high notes. Moreover, the contours of his melodic lines, in the more virtuoso passages, suffered from the slight reverberation of the Bourgie Hall, which, let’s not forget, is a former church.

Norwegian soprano Hedvig Haugerud also performed her repertoire with emotion, but her voice was too emphatic and ill-suited to the acoustics of the venue, particularly in an aria from Wagner’s Die Walkure. A relative lack of nuance also marred the performance of Australian mezzo-soprano Fleuranne Brockway. She initially appeared timid on stage, but delivered an exalted and entertaining interpretation of one of Mozart’s most famous arias for her voice type, “Parto, ma tu ben mio” from La clemenza di Tito.

American mezzo Ruby Dibble and Canadian soprano Karoline Podolak stood out best in the first session, offering a wider range of colors. Dibble, whose timbre is very full, took advantage of her performance to recreate an opera scene with very broad gestures and body movements. We were straying somewhat from the formal framework of a recital-style competition, and perhaps this will work against her.

Evening Session

Overall, the evening session was more robust. The performances of Russian soprano Julia Muzychenko-Greenhalgh, a phenomenal virtuoso in Lakmé, and British baritone Theodore Platt, captivating in a scene from George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, were the most remarkable. The musicality and attention paid to each language make Platt a serious contender for the final.

Columbian baritone Laureano Quant was the other pleasant surprise of the evening. He’s a singer with a real sense of power and a natural flair for opera; he deserves a place in the semifinals. In comparison, Ukrainian/Canadian baritone Ihor Mostovoi’s high notes lacked color and focus.

A final word on the excellent Ian Tindale. The accompanist, an outstanding artist, made his piano sing brilliantly, particularly in “O, from Mein Holder Abendstern,” while partnering with Theadore Platt.