71st ROSL ANNUAL MUSIC COMPETITION AWARDS SOLO SINGERS PRIZE
Mezzo soprano Annabel Kennedy gave a stunning performance combining arias, Lieder and art song into a dramatic programme securing the second section win in the 71st year of the ROSL Annual Music Competition.
Tuesday night, mezzo soprano James Atkinson became the second section final winner of the competition, taking home £5,000 and claiming the second of four spots in the Gold Medal Final, which this year will take place at Wigmore Hall.
In the 71st year of the Royal Over-Seas League’s Annual Music Competition, four soloists competed in the Singers section final. Madeline Boreham soprano, Michael Ronan bass, Annabel Kennedy mezzo soprano and Dafydd Jones tenor delighted the crowd in the Princess Alexandra Hall. The task of choosing the winner and the soloist who would go onto compete for the Gold Medal and a further £15,000 went to the adjudicators James Clutton, Gillian Keith, Geoff Parkin and Maxine Robertson.
Annabel Kennedy was chosen as the winner, combining Massanet, Ireland, Dove, Bizet and Mahler into a captivating programme. Annabel Kennedy is studying at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera Studio as a Siow-Furniss Scholar supported by the Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship. She currently studies under the tutelage of Amanda Roocroft and Caroline Dowdle.
New for this year, ROSL has partnered with Making Music to offer our section final winners the chance to join the Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artist Award (PDGYA) for one year. As winner of the Singers Prize, Annabel will be featured in the new Recommended Artist Guide and have the opportunity to be booked for performances with Making Music’s member promoters.
Such was the talent onstage, that the adjudicators decided to award another prize to British soprano Madeline Boreham, who was awarded the Audrey Strange Memorial Prize for a Singer of Promise, dedicated in the memory of the first Director of Arts, Audrey Strange who ran the ROSL Arts programme and competition for 20 years.
If you missed the brilliant section final on Tuesday, you can catch up via our youtube channel here:
ROSL Annual Music Competition Section Finals take place each Tuesday 7-9pm at Over-Seas House, Park Place, St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LR.
- 14 February: Brass, Wind and Percussion – winner Emile Souvagie clarinet
- 21 February: Singers – winner Annabel Kennedy mezzo soprano
- 28 February: Keyboard
- 7 March: Strings
- 14 March: Strings and Keyboard Ensembles
- 21 March: Mixed Ensembles
- 28 March: Overseas Awards
- 14 June: Gold Medal Final – Wigmore Hall
