The 2024 Final took place in Wigmore Hall on Friday, 26th April 2024. At the end of the evening, David Syrus, Chair of the Jury, announced the winners. The other members of the Jury were Graeme Broadbent, Christopher Glynn, Susan Gritton, and Ruby Philogene.
All photographs below are by Emma Brown.
WINNERS OF THE 2024 COMPETITION
L to R: |
FIRST PRIZE
|
SECOND PRIZE
|
FERRIER LOVEDAY SONG PRIZE
|
HELP MUSICIANS ACCOMPANIST’S PRIZE
|
We are deeply saddened by the passing of soprano Kathryn Harries. We are honoured that Kathryn was able to join the jury on the Preliminary Rounds this year, and grateful for her generous support to the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. As a recitalist, coach and former Director of the National Opera Studio, Kathryn leaves a lasting legacy with her contributions to opera and music. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones.
The 2023 Final took place in Wigmore Hall on Friday, 21st April 2023. At the end of the evening, Elaine Padmore, Chair of the Jury, announced the winners. The other members of the Jury were Michael Chance, Pamela Lidiard, and Russell Smythe.
L to R: 
Dafydd Jones (Ferrier Loveday Song Prize) Harry Rylance (Help Musicians Accompanist’s Prize) Matina Tsaroucha (Joint Second Prize) Felix Gygli (First Prize) George Curnow (Joint Second Prize)
First Prize: Felix Gygli
Swiss Baritone Feliz Gygli is a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio London and a recent graduate of the GSMD under the tutelage of Prof. Rudolph Piernay. In the 2023/24 season, he will be a member of the International Opera Studio of the Opernhaus Zürich.
Click the thumbnail for a picture of Felix Gygli and his pianist, Jong Sun Woo.
Joint Second Prize: Matina Tsaroucha & George Curnow
Soprano Matina Tsaroucha is studying for her Master’s at the Royal College of Musica as an Elaine Hughes-Jones scholar. She holds an honours degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
George Curnow is a Welsh tenor currently on the opera programme at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Mark Wildman.
Click the thumbnail for a picture of George Curnow and his pianist, Harry Rylance.
Ferrier Loveday Song Prize: Dafydd Jones
Welsh tenor, Dafydd Jones, is studying for his Master’s degree under the tuition of Nicky Spence and Caroline Dowdle at the Royal College of Music.
Help Musicians Accompanist’s Prize: Harry Rylance
Harry Rylance is a British-Korean pianist based in London. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Joanna MacGregor and graduated in 2020 with a DipRAM and the RAM Silver Medal before being appointed as a Chamber Music and Répétiteur Fellow. He is currently a Musicians Company Young Artist and works regularly for Glyndebourne and the International Meistersinger Akademie.
Jury Members
The Jury this year was chaired by Elaine Padmore, former Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival Opera, Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera and Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She was joined by Michael Chance, a countertenor with an international reputation and an extensive discography, and Artistic Director of the Grange Festival; Pamela Lidiard, Deputy Head of Keyboard Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a widely experienced performer with both instrumentalists and singers; and, Russel Smythe, a baritone with a substantial performing career across the world in both opera and concerts, who now lectures and teaches at the Royal College of Music, London. In the Preliminary Rounds, they were joined by Kathryn Harries, a soprano with a successful career as recitalist and concert artist and who was Director of the National Opera Studio in London for many years.
The Ferrier Competition 2022 Semi-Final will take place on Wednesday, 20th April beginning at 13:30 at Wigmore Hall. The running order on that evening for the successful candidates from the preliminary rounds, together with the accompanist for each, is shown below. Pianists marked with an asterisk (*) are candidates for the Help Musicians Accompanists’ Prize.
| Singer | Voice | Pianist |
|---|---|---|
| Holly Teague | Soprano | *Alessio Enea |
| Hannah Bennett | Mezzo-Soprano | *Richard Gowers |
| Charles Cunliffe | Bass Baritone | *Francesca Orlando |
| Emma Roberts | Mezzo-Soprano | Lucy Colquhoun |
| Emily Christina-Loftus | Soprano | *George Ireland |
| 20 Minute Interval | ||
| Joel Terrin | Baritone | *Cole Knutson |
| Esme Bronwen-Smith | Mezzo-Soprano | *Avishka Edirisinghe |
| Elena Zamudio | Soprano | *Bradley Wood |
| Alaric Green | Baritone | Emelia Noack-Wilkinson |
| Charlotte Bowden | Soprano | *Roelof Temmingh |
The final will then be on Friday, 22nd April, beginning at 18:00, also at Wigmore Hall.
Tickets for the semi-final and the final are available from the Wigmore Hall Box Office. The phone number is 020 7935 2141. Tickets can also be ordered online from the Wigmore Hall website.
