In a way, it was a victory waiting to happen when 24-year-old Grisha Martirosyan won the tenth Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition at the National Concert Hall on Tuesday.

The Armenian baritone had been hotly tipped during the preliminary rounds. He was first to sing on the final night and, even more tellingly, scooped the Audience Prize of €1,000 in advance of being declared overall winner and securing another €10,000 to the approval of a highly animated audience. His performance of arias by Leoncavallo, Gounod and Massenet was as sparkling as his jacket, while his commanding delivery belied his years and experience.

The home favourite, mezzo-soprano Aebh Kelly (25), also had a sensational week. She was cheered to the rafters after taking second place and receiving €6,000. This matched the previous achievement of Tara Erraught, who on this occasion was a member of the jury. Kelly has the ability to blaze a similar trail of success.

Third prize went to the British tenor Aaron Godfrey-Mayes. He sang probably the most popular programme of the evening and even had the temerity to take on Donizetti’s Ah! Mes Amis with its run of trilling high Cs (I lost count) in true Juan Diego Flórez style. Godfrey-Mayes has a lovely florid tone that will travel far.

I particularly loved two performances during the week. My favourite was by the Polish mezzo-soprano Zuzanna Nalewajek. Even the usually infallible Lyric FM presenter Liz Nolan tripped over her surname, but Nalewajek’s creamy tone was so seductive that I didn’t really care what she was singing. She made the final, and deservedly so.

My other highlight was Israeli soprano Dalia Besprozvany, who didn’t even reach the semi-finals. This deprived me of one of my favourite arias, Tchaikovsky’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin. Among the Irish entrants, Carolyn Holt also made a great impression, as did baritone Rory Dunne.

The six finalists were tenor Aaron Godfrey-Mayes (UK), mezzo-soprano Aebh Kelly (Ireland), mezzo-soprano Zuzanna Nalewajek (Poland), baritone Grisha Martirosyan (Armenia), bass-baritone Changdai Park (South Korea) and soprano Laura Lolita Peresilvana (Latvia). All were backed by a magnificent National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of maestro Laurent Wagner, who once ruled the rostrum for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The overall prize fund was €25,000.

Sadly, there were some late cancellations, but the competition still attracted a record number of applications with singers entering from 37 different countries. The make-up of the jury also reflected its international prestige, comprising chairperson Jane Carty (Ireland), orchestra conductor Richard Bonynge (Australia), Christina Scheppelmann, general director of the Seattle Opera (Canada), David Gowland, artistic director of the Royal Opera House (UK), Isla Mundell-Perkins, casting director of Staatsoper Hamburg (Germany), Tara Erraught, mezzo-soprano and on the board of directors at Irish National Opera (Ireland), and Jonathan Friend, artistic adviser of the Metropolitan Opera in New York (USA).

One aspect of the competition’s success that may escape notice was the heroic year-long shift that pianist and répétiteur Dearbhla Collins put in as its artistic administrator. She worked assiduously throughout the pandemic, searching out the very best of young performers across Europe, Britain and the United States.

On a strictly business level, it was encouraging to see that the main prize of €10,000 came from a single sponsorship for the first time in the competition’s history, with funding by Hinch Irish Whiskey of Ballynahinch, Co Down. Even a whiff revealed superb high notes.

https://www.businesspost.ie/life-arts/dick-oriordan-armenian-baritone-sparkles-to-take-e10000-prize/