Seohyun Go wins the Guildhall Gold Medal
I was lucky enough to attend the Guildhall Godlier Medal last Thursday May 8). The announcement of the winner from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a follows:
Guildhall School of Music & Drama is thrilled to announce soprano Seohyun Go as the winner of this year’s Gold Medal, the School’s most prestigious music prize for outstanding musicians
The prize is awarded to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years, and this year saw Seohyun and fellow finalists soprano Manon Ogwen Parry and baritone Redmond Sanders perform in a concert at Barbican Hall on Thursday 8 May.
The finalists presented a short programme accompanied by pianists Zany Denyer (for Manon Ogwen Parry), and Sooyeon Baik (for Redmond Sanders and Seohyun Go) in the first half, followed by a second half with Guildhall Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer.
Seohyun’s winning performance of works by Marx, Respighi, 임태규 (Taekyu Lim), Liszt, Richard Strauss, Mozart and Ravel impressed both the audience and the judges.
The concert saw outstanding performances by finalists Manon Ogwen Parry, Redmond Sanders and Seohyun Go. Across 23 works showcasing the finalists’ vocal talent, each performer shared a variety of songs and arias with the audience, reflecting their artistic influences own heritage, with a range of international repertoire including music by Meirion Williams, 임태규 (Taekyu Lim), and John Ireland.
The evening also featured the world premiere of alumnus Ben Pease Barton’s HOLME, supported by the inaugural Jane Manning – Anthony Payne Award, with text by fellow alumnus David Bottomley, featuring Guildhall mezzo-soprano Karima El Demerdasch.
So what happened? The evening featured three talented singers, as shown above, in wide repertoire. We should also credit the pianists, Zany Denyer and Seoyeon Baik, who worked so well with the three finalists (Denyer with Parry, Baik with the balance). Songs like Schubert's Erlkönig (Sanders) are not easy for the pianist, and Baik triumphed; Denyer was a sensitive and accrurate player.
Did the right person win? Debatable: Seohyun Go is a fabulous coloratura soprano, and all credit to he for choosing repertoire by Respighi, Marx and Liszt plus a piece from her homeland in the piano round and Richard Strauss (“Amor” fro Brentano-Lieder), Mozart ‘Non mi dir’ from Don Giovanni and an excerpt from Ravel's L'enfant et es sortilèges. The Strauss was a fine fit for Go, but the Mozart had a way to go interpretatively; she was back a home in the Ravel.
I was less taken by the other soprano, Manon Ogwen Parry. Her voice is free enough but the words need to come across in the music, not gesture (this is particularly in the Clara Schumann song, Lorelei).Both Richard Strauss' Cäcilie and the excerpt from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore worked well for her, but the Stravinsky (“No word from Tom ... Quietly night ... I go, I go to him”) was over-tremulous.
It was Redmond Sanders who got my vote, though, superb in Ireland's Sea Fever (his voice is consistent throughout its register, so there is no change of tone at the top), offering a fabulous sense of line in Tchaikovsky (None but the lonely heart, Op. 6/6) and.a real sense of fun in Charles Wolseley's The Green-Eyed Dragon. Only in Schubert Erlkönig could he had improved by greater differential of voices. His Mozart was the best of the evening (“Hai già vintage la causa” from Figaro). If he lost the odd syllable in the Humperdinck excerpt from Hänsel und Gretel, his Verdi Don Carlo extract (Posa's “O Carlo, ascolta”) was fully convincing. A pity the woodwinds of the Guildhall made so little of the remembrance motif back to Carlo and Rodrigo's friendship duet: here, it sounded ripe for brass band arrangement and should mean so much more.
I wish all three well, but it is Redmond Sanders who has my eye. I see he sang Antonio Figaro at Verbier in 2024 (under Gábor Takács-Nagy, who we recently met in Aix); Sanders has also sung at Grange Park (Corporal in Donizetti La fille du Régiment).