Jury

Members of the jury for this year’s BBC Cardiff Singer of the World:

David Pountney

• Chairman: jury member, both competitions

David Pountney was Director of Productions at Scottish Opera, 1975-1980, and at ENO, 1980-93, and Intendant of the Bregenz Festival 2003-14. He has been Artistic Director of WNO since 2011, where his recent productions include Lulu, Guillaume Tell, Mosè in Egitto, Pelléas Et Mélisande, La Chute De La Maison Usher, Figaro Gets A Divorce, In Parenthesis (including performances at the Royal Opera House) and La Voix Humaine. He has directed many world premieres, including three operas by Philip Glass, written librettos for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and others, and translated many operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian.

David continues to work as a director for many leading international opera houses, with recent productions including Strasny Dwor in Warsaw, Das Rheingold (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Charodeika (The Enchantress) in Naples.

He was made a CBE, a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres and Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Grace Bumbry

Grace Bumbry

• Chairman: jury member, both competitions

David Pountney was Director of Productions at Scottish Opera, 1975–1980, and at ENO, 1980–93, and Intendant of the Bregenz Festival 2003–14. He has been Artistic Director of WNO since 2011, where his recent productions include Lulu, Guillaume Tell, Mosè in Egitto, Pelléas Et Mélisande, La Chute De La maison Usher, Figaro Gets A Divorce, In Parenthesis (including performances at the Royal Opera House) and La Voix Humaine. He has directed many world premieres, including three operas by Philip Glass, written librettos for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and others, and translated many operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian.

David continues to work as a director for many leading international opera houses, with recent productions including Strasny Dwor in Warsaw, Das Rheingold (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Charodeika (The Enchantress) in Naples.

He was made a CBE, a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres and Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

• Member of both juries

The personality, charisma and authenticity of Grace Bumbry, American opera diva, is unrivalled. Her voice is especially famous for its incredible range, having starred as both Mezzo-soprano as well as Soprano. She studied voice in St. Louis, Missouri, USA with Kenneth Brown Billups and further at Boston University and Northwestern University, where she met Lotte Lehmann and went on to become her student and protégée at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.

In June of 1959, at 22 years of age, she gave her concert debut in London at Wigmore Hall. In April 1960 at 23 years of age she gave her operatic debut in Paris as Amneris in Verdi’s Aida, simultaneously being, reportedly, the first black singer ever to sing a major role in that house. In 1961 she became the first black singer to perform in Bayreuth, Germany at the Wagner Festival singing the role of Venus from Tannhaeuser, catapulting her into instant stardom at 24 years of age. There followed engagements with the most important conductors in all the important opera houses (among others, Vienna State Opera, Paris Palais Garnier, La Scala, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Chicago Lyric and MET) and Festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Orange, and Verona. She holds four Honorary Doctorate degrees, Kammersaengerin title from Austria, in France she has both l’Officier des Arts et Lettres and Commandeur des Arts et Lettres titles. In Italy she was awarded the Vincenzo Bellini award for her first ever Norma, plus the Puccini Award for Tosca and the Giuseppe Verdi Award for her outstanding contribution to Italian opera. In 2009 Grace Bumbry was presented the Kennedy Center Honors Award for her lifetime achievement from President Barack Obama. In 2010 she celebrated a further triumph as Monisha in Joplin’s Treemonisha at The Theatre de Chatelet in Paris.

In March 2012 she sang the Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and in January 2013 she starred in the title role of Pique Dame in Vienna at the Vienna State Opera to outstanding critical acclaim. She is an active vocal coach, teaching privately and as Master teacher at universities and colleges. She is also a sought after member of international vocal competition juries. She formed the Grace Bumbry Vocal and Opera Academy, which convenes from mid-July until mid-September. Grace is also founder of the Grace Bumbry Black Musical Heritage Ensemble and the newly formed International Ambassadors of Opera and Concert.

Sumi Jo

• Jury member for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize

Praised for the remarkable agility, precision and warmth of her voice, and for her outstanding musicianship, Sumi Jo has established herself as one of her generation’s most sought-after sopranos. She has been consistently greeted with exceptional accolades, by public and press alike, for her performances in the most important opera houses and concert halls throughout the world.

Sumi Jo is the one of the best selling classical singers in the world, with over 50 recordings to her credit, including a Grammy-winning Die Frau Ohne Schatten with Sir Georg Solti for Decca London and Un Ballo In Maschera for Deutsche Grammophon under Herbert von Karajan. She has performed at the Winter Olympics in Sochi and for the Pope in Korea, and appeared, performing as herself, in the film Youth by Paolo Sorrentino starring Michael Caine, which was released in the UK in January 2016. Sumi’s performance of the film’s signature song, Simple Song #3 won her nominations for the 2016 Golden Globe awards, as well as an Oscar in the Music - Original Song category.

Sumi recently sang gala concerts with Hawaii Symphony Orchestra in October 2015, and sang alongside Elina Garanca to open the new Guangzhou Opera House. Sumi has also given a concert tour with the Academy of Ancient Music, performed New Year’s Day concerts with the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, gala concerts in Moscow, St Petersburg, London, Krasnoyarsk, Latvia, Almaty in Kazakhstan, and recitals at the Sala Sao Paolo, Opera du Rhin Strasbourg, Roy Thomson Hall Toronto, Chatelet Theatre Paris, Smetanova Litomysl Festival in the Czech Republic, and in Korea, Tokyo and Australia.

At the Metropolitan Opera New York, Sumi Jo has been heard in the title role of Lucia Di Lammermoor, Gilda in Rigoletto, Olympia in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, Rosina in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia and Oscar in Un Ballo In Maschera. Audiences at Teatro alla Scala have heard her in bel canto specialties such as Le Comte Ory and Fra Diavol. At the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires she has appeared as Gilda, Zerbinetta and Queen Of The Night; with the latter role Sumi also made her Wiener Staatsoper debut. Sumi’s recent opera engagements include Fiakermilli in Arabella at Hamburg State Opera, Madame Mao in Nixon in China at the Chatelet Thaetre Paris, Juliette in Romeo Et Juliette at Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro, Fiorilla in Il Turco In Italia at Hamburg State Opera, Rosina in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia and the title role of Auber’s Manon Lescaut at Opera Royal de Wallonie in Liege, and title role Lucia Di Lammermoor for Opera di Firenze.

Born in Korea, Sumi Jo studied in her native country before enrolling in the Conservatory of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she graduated with honors in October 1986. Sumi Jo has won many prestigious awards including first prizes at international competitions in Seoul, Naples, Enna, Barcelona and Pretoria and the Carlo Alberto Cappelli International Competition at Verona. She was elected as Artist for Peace of UNESCO in 2003.

Sumi’s engagements in 2016-17 and beyond include concerts in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, a solo gala concert tour of Asia, performing with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic and Sjhanghai Symphony, a charity recital at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a tour with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and recitals in Clermont-Ferrand and Montreal.

Thomas Quasthoff

• Member of both juries

For almost four decades, Thomas Quasthoff has set the standard on international stages, moving the hearts of countless listeners with his artistry. He ended his outstanding career as a singer in 2012. However, he has retained his close ties to singing and music as a teacher at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin and in various master classes.

In addition to his teaching commitments he has also discovered several new talents, appearing as a narrator, comedian, moderator and even actor. One of the most remarkable singers in his field, Quasthoff was a frequent guest of such orchestras as the Berlin and the Vienna Philharmonics and many other fine orchestras. He could regularly be enjoyed at all major music venues, working closely with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Thomas Quasthoff’s 1995 debut at the Oregon Bach Festival laid the foundation for his highly successful career in the USA. Returning numerous times for appearances with the most important orchestras and festivals, he regularly appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall following his outstanding recital début there in January 1999 (Winterreise by Schubert). Thomas Quasthoff gave his highly acclaimed opera debut in 2003 in the role of the Minister/Fidelio with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle at the Salzburg Easter Festival. His extraordinary debut at the Vienna Staatsoper in the role of Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal under Donald Runnicles followed in spring 2004. In January 2005, he returned to Vienna in the same role to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Thomas Quasthoff has been artist-in-residence at Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and the Lucerne Festival, as well as in Baden-Baden, Hamburg, London Wigmore Hall, and the Barbican Centre.

He released his new soul/blues/jazz program Tell It Like It Is in 2010, bringing him to numerous concert venues throughout Europe. Quasthoff has something to say - and not just musically. Since his great success in the fall of 2012, where Thomas Quasthoff appeared for the first time as an actor in the role of Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Or What You Will he continues to play this role at the Berliner Ensemble. Further highlights of the past seasons included concerts with the Belcea Quartett in Hamburg, Berlin and London where he performed in Haydn’s Seven Last Words as speaker, as narrator in Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle or in Schönberg's A Survivior From Warsaw with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Cornelius Meister. In July 2014 Thomas Quasthoff was highly acclaimed as Bassa Selim in Mozarts Die Entfürhung Aus Dem Serail at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. The 2014/2015 season saw Mr. Quasthoff and soprano Christiane Karg dedicating their joint artistic forces to the work of French poet and novelist Louise de Vilmorin, while at the Vienna State Opera he contributed and recited texts by Joseph von Eichendorff to a recital with tenor Michael Schade.

From September 2013 onwards Thomas Quasthoff went on to conquer the cabaret stage together with cabaret artist and author Michael Frowin and pianist Jochen Kilian. They sounded out the public opinion and put art and culture, society and events of the day, types and thesis under the cabaret artist’s microscope.

Projects of the 2015/2016 season included amongst others Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder under Ingo Metzmacher in Hannover. Thomas Quasthoff could be heard together with Florian Boesch in a literary recital around Heinrich Heine in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Graz. The innovative Verbier Festival and its artistic director Martin T:son Engstroem invited Thomas Quasthoff to make his conducting debut in July 2015 with Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion. Highlights of the upcoming season are Jazz concerts with Frank Chastenier (piano), Dieter Ilg (double bass) an Wolfgang Haffner (drums) in Zurich, Vienna and Essen as well as Schoenbergs A Survivor From Warsaw with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in Munich.

Thomas Quasthoff was a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold from 1996–2004, and has taught at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin ever since, where he dedicates himself passionately to the upcoming generation of singers. This devotion inspired him to launch the Das Lied international song competition, which will take place next in February 2017. Master classes will bring him again to the festival Heidelberger Frühling, to the Verbier Festival to the Summer Campus in Rostock as well as to the Aldeburgh Festival. Thomas Quasthoff began his vocal studies with Professor Charlotte Lehmann and Professor Ernst Huber-Contwig in Hannover, Germany. His national and international music awards include, alongside many others, first prize in the ARD International Music Competition Munich (1988), the Shostakovich in Moscow (1996), and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize (Edinburgh International Festival 1996). He received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the President of Germany in 2005, the European Culture Prize for Music at the Dresden Frauenkirche, the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in 2009, and the Gold Medal of London’s Wigmore Hall in 2011. In addition, he was conferred the title of Österreichischer Kammersänger in 2009.

Starting in 1999, Thomas Quasthoff had an exclusive recording contract with the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG). His CDs have been awarded many prizes and three of them have received a Grammy: Mahler’s Lieder Aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn (together with Anne Sofie von Otter) under Claudio Abbado, orchestrated Schubert Lieder (with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, also under Claudio Abbado), and in spring 2006 for his Bach Cantatas together with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Six of his recordings have been honored with an Echo Award. In December 2014 his latest album was released by Deutsche Grammophon: Quasthoff has united the cool and relaxed song sound of the jazz singer with his penchant for fine poetry in a new concept album: Mein Weihnachten is a vocal excursion into the cool and swingin’ early holiday season in the USA with a literary interpretation of our Christmas.

Anu Tali

• Jury member for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize

Described by the Herald Tribune as “charismatic, brilliant, energetic”, Anu Tali is one of the most intriguing young conductors on the international scene today, belonging to a new generation of artists who are constantly searching for fresh musical ideas.

In August 2013, Tali became Music Director of the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida. Alongside her duties in Sarasota, recent highlights include her debuts with Houston Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as well as an invitation to the Lucerne Festival where she will debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Invitations to Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Aalborg Symfonieorkester corroborate her strong position in the Nordic countries. She continues in her role as Chief Conductor of the Nordic Symphony Orchestra, which she founded in 1997 together with her twin sister Kadri Tali, to develop cultural contacts between Estonia and Finland and to unite musicians from around the world. Today the Nordic Symphony Orchestra has members from fifteen countries, featuring musicians from some of the world’s leading orchestras.

Tali appears regularly with orchestras worldwide including the Japan and Tokyo Philharmonic orchestras, Orchestre National de France, New Jersey, Gothenburg and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras. In Germany she worked with Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Berliner Konzerthausorchester, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Ensemble Modern. Following a major success with a production of Carmen at Magdeburg State Opera, she was invited to conduct the Freiburger Barockorchester in a production of Gluck’s Telemaco at the Schwetzingen Festival and Theater Basel. She also recently conducted acclaimed semi-staged performances of Goebbels’ Songs Of Wars I Have Seen with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta at New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s Southbank Centre and in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Seattle and Barcelona.

Tali’s debut recording, Swan Flight, (Finlandia/Warner Classics) earned her the 2003 ECHO Klassik Young Artist of the Year Award. Other recordings include Action Passion Illusion for Warner Classics featuring works by Rachmaninov, Sibelius and Erkki-Sven Tüür. Her most recent CD, featuring Tüür’s Strata And Noēsis, was released on ECM in January 2011 and met with significant critical acclaim. Born in Estonia, Anu Tali began her musical career as a pianist, graduating at the Tallinn Conservatory in 1991. She then trained as a conductor at the Estonian Academy of Music with Kuno Areng, Toomas Kapten and Roman Matsow. From 1998 to 2000 she studied at the St Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin and later with Leonid Kortchmar and Jorma Panula.

John Gilhooly

• BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize jury

John Gilhooly became Director of Wigmore Hall in 2005, making him, then, the youngest leader of any of the world’s great concert halls. He had been Executive Director of Wigmore Hall since December 2000 and has overseen the artistic, financial and administrative transformation of the Hall over the past 16 years. His tenure has produced record box office returns and the Hall’s highest ever membership levels and annual fundraising. As Artistic Director of Wigmore Hall, he programmes the largest chamber music and song series in the world, and he is noted for his commitment to outstanding emerging artists, diversity and contemporary music.

John Gilhooly has been honoured by heads of state and academic institutions. In 2013 he was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and in 2015 was made a Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland by the President of Finland. John has also received the prestigious Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, and the Order of the Star of Italy (Cavaliere), awarded by the President of Italy. In 2016 he was awarded the German Order of Merit, which is Germany’s highest civilian honour. He is a recipient of Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (2006), Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music (2012), Honorary Fellowship of the Guildhall School (2015), and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (2016).

Ailish Tynan

• BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize jury

Ailish Tynan trained at Trinity College, the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She was a Vilar Young Artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a BBC New Generation Artist. In 2003, representing Ireland, Ailish won the Rosenblatt Recital Prize at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

Recent highlights include Gretel Hansel & Gretel for Welsh National Opera; Anna Intermezzo in her debut for Garsington Opera; Handel Messiah on tour with the Academy of Ancient Music under Richard Egarr; Strauss Vier letzte Lieder at the Royal Festival Hall; Schoenberg String Quartet No. 2 on tour with the Callino Quartet and recitals at Wigmore Hall. Additionally, she was a guest commentator for the Song Prize Final at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

Operatic engagements include Gretel Hänsel Und Gretel and Madame Cortese Il Viaggio A Reims; Marzelline Fidelio (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Gretel Hansel And Gretel (Scottish Opera); Tigrane Radamisto (English National Opera); Papagena Die Zauberflöte (Teatro alla Scala); Despina Così Fan Tutte (Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse); Héro Béatrice Et Bénédict (Houston Grand Opera, Opéra Comique and the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg). Other operatic highlights include Sophie Der Rosenkavalier, Nannetta Falstaff and Atalanta Xerxes all for the Royal Swedish Opera; Miss Wordsworth Albert Herring (Opéra Comique and Opéra de Rouen) and Vixen The Cunning Little Vixen (Grange Park Opera).

Among her notable concert appearances are Mahler Symphony No.8 (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, Philharmonia under Lorin Maazel and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano); Mahler Symphony No.4 (Prague Symphony Orchestra under Jac van Steen and the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder) and Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Myung-whun Chung); Verdi Requiem (Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele under Michael Hofstetter); Haydn The Creation (CBSO under Andris Nelsons) and Vaughan Williams Hodie at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She performs regularly at the BBC Proms where she has performed Bella in Tippett’s A Midsummer Marriage (BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis) and Gliere’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits).

In recital Ailish works regularly with pianists including Iain Burnside, James Baillieu, Graham Johnson and Christopher Glynn, amongst others, giving recitals at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh, City of London, Gregynog, St. Magnus, Brighton and West Cork Music Festivals, and the Vinterfespill in Norway.

Her discography includes Fauré Mélodies (Opus Arte), Nacht Und Träume (Delphian), From A City Window Hubert Parry Songs (Delphian) and An Irish Songbook (Signum Classics) all with pianist Iain Burnside, Il Re Pastore for Classical Opera (Signum Classics), Michael Head Songs (Hyperion) with Christopher Glynn, Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music (EMI), Mahler Symphony No.8 under Valery Gergiev (LSO Live) and with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Lorin Maazel (Signum Classics).
Highlights in the current season include her return to the Royal Opera House as Madame Podtotshina’s Daughter in Shostakovich’s The Nose, and debut performances with international orchestras including Beethoven Symphony No. 9 for the Philharmonie Zuidnederland and Mahler Symphony No. 8 in Dresden.