Outstanding Young Singers Emerge in Brussels Competition

Korean soprano Haeran Hong took first place prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition this last weekend in Brussels at La Monnaie with the De Munt Symphony Orchestra under conductor Carlo Rizzi. Her program for the final concert was comprised:
SEMI-FINALS
Mozart "Giunse alfin il momento –
Deh vieni, non tardar" Le Nozze di Figaro
Händel "Se tanto piace al cor" Ariodante
Wolf "Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken - Du denkst mit einem Fädchen mich zu fangen"Italienisches Liederbuch
Liszt "Oh! quand je dors"
Schubert "Im Frühling"
Rossini "La fioraia fiorentina"
FINALS
Massenet "Je suis encore tout étourdie" Manon
Mozart "Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben" Zaïde
Mozart "Bester Jüngling" Der Schauspieldirektor
Ravel "Je réchauffe les bons" L’enfant et les Sortilèges
Bellini "Care Compagne, teneri amici – Come per me sereno –
Sovra il sen la man mi posa" La Sonnambula

Russian soprano Elena Galitskaya took Third Place in the competition with a program that included:
SEMI-FINALS
Mozart "Geme la tortorella" La Finta Giardiniera
Bellini "Eccomi in lieta vesta – Oh! Quante volte"
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Fauré "Notre amour"
Wolf "Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen" Liederstrauss: Sieben gedichte aus dem buch der lieder von Heinrich Heine
Tchaikovsky "Otchego eto prezhde ne znala" Yolanta
Donizetti "C’en est donc fait" La Fille du Régiment
FINALS
Händel "E pur così in un giorno –
Piangerò la sorte mia" Giulio Cesare
Mozart "Una donna a quindici anni" Così fan tutte
Rimsky-Korsakov "Vielikii Tsar" The Snow Maiden
Rossini "Una voce poco fà" Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Puccini "O mio babbino caro" Gianni Schicchi
Gounod "Ah, je veux vivre" Roméo et Juliette



To watch a high definition video of the superb singing in the finals, click here and select a name from the pull-down menu. Biographies are after the jump.