Italian and World Languages Song Competition

The Classical Voice department offers four annual Song Competitions for current students of the Victoria Conservatory of Music to perform, compete, and receive feedback from renowned and respected adjudicators

First and Second Prizes as well as Honourable Mentions are available to be awarded for each competition.

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Italian and World Languages Song Competition

Please note: Entrance to this event in Alix Goolden Performance Hall is at 900 Johnson Street. Admission by Donation.

About the Italian and World Languages Song Competition

The Classical Voice Department provides this opportunity for students of all ages and abilities to perform one Italian Art Song and one Art Song in any language of their choosing that is not French, English, or German.

Student participants perform in Alix Goolden Performance Hall and receive feedback from adjudicators.

Italian and World Languages Song Competition Programme

Junior & Intermediate 5:30pm

Senior A & B 6:30pm

Adjudicators

Isaiah Bell

Isaiah Bell performs across North America as a Classical tenor. Some recent opera appearances include Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian at the Canadian Opera Company, The Barber of Seville’s Almaviva for Vancouver Opera, Mark Morris’s production of Curlew River at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Des Moines Metro Opera. Concert engagements include regular appearances with the Toronto Symphony, San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Oratorio Society of New York. He also curates solo recitals that integrate traditional repertoire with spoken poetry and original compositions. Isaiah complements his performance practice with composing and writing for the theatre. Currently he combines all these disciplines in his semi-autobiographical solo show The Book of My Shames, a co-creation with director Sean Guist around Isaiah’s own words and music. The piece, which tours in orchestrated and cabaret versions (Tapestry Opera/Pride Toronto, Pacific Opera Victoria/Intrepid Theatre, Opera Kelowna, Regina Symphony), has been described as “impossibly beautiful”, a “fascinating creation,” and a “comic, wrenchingly personal tour-de-force.”

Some of Isaiah’s upcoming projects include the world premiere of Julien Bilodeau and Michel Marc Bouchard’s La beauté du monde at Opéra de Montréal, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Florida Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia, and concerts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Valley Concert Society, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Victoria Baroque, and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. In the spring of 2023 he will premiere a new arrangement of The Book of My Shames with Pacific Opera Victoria and City Opera Vancouver.

Nancy Argenta

With a repertoire spanning three centuries, Nancy Argenta has been hailed not only as the supreme Handel soprano of our age but also for her performances of works by such diverse composers as Mahler, Mozart, Schubert and Schoenberg. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Ozawa, Gardiner, Davis, Blomstedt, Pinnock, Hogwood and Norrington. She has sung with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and the Toronto, Montreal, and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

In opera, concert and recital, she has appeared at many leading festivals including Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, and the BBC Proms. Her discography of over 50 recordings includes Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Mass in B Minor, Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio (Gardiner), Purcell’s King Arthur (Pinnock), and Mozart’s Requiem, Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni (Norrington). A an EMI/Virgin Solo Artist she has recorded Schubert Lieder, Scarlatti Cantatas, two discs of Bach Solo Cantatas as well as two of Purcell songs, the first of which O Solitude, was honoured with a Classic CD award. As a devotee of the song repertoire of all periods, Ms. Argenta tours widely as a recitalist, presenting songs with original keyboard accompaniment of harpsichord, fortepiano, or modern piano. As well as teaching privately since 1986, Nancy was on the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) from 1994-2003, and has given classes in Germany, Japan, Israel, England, Spain and Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree (Performance) from the University of Western Ontario and has trained in advanced pedagogy with Dr. Meribeth Bunch. She is Co-artistic director of Nelson Courses for Singers. As a teacher her priorities are a free and natural sounding technique and a straightforward and heartfelt delivery of music and text.

Alex Chen, Piano

Alex Chen is a collaborative pianist and vocal coach whose personal approach and intellectual curiosity bring fresh perspectives on a diverse body of musical works. In the words of mentor John Hess, he is “an immensely musical and sensitive player” with “a deeply inquisitive mind”.

Alex has an MMus from the University of Western Ontario in Collaborative Piano, an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano Performance, and a BSc from the University of Guelph. He is currently on faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in addition to working as a freelance pianist for students at the University of Victoria.

His experiences include work in art song recital, playing as an opera répétiteur, collaborating with choirs, and exploring the instrumental duo & chamber music canons. Distinguishing himself as a performer and researcher, Alex held a Canadian Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). His scholarship supported his work in art song recital programming. As the first phase of his research, he created and performed song cycles formulated from disparate works by Rachmaninov and Brahms. For his second phase, he delivered a stirring recital titled “Demons & Dichterliebe” that juxtaposed supernatural bewitchment and obsessive love.

Among his many projects, Alex has been involved as a pianist and coach with the Accademia Europea dell’Opera (an experience funded by a Create and Explore Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts), the Victoria Conservatory’s Collegium program, and the Western University Opera Workshop. These collaborations have culminated in performances of Le nozze di Figaro, Serse, and Die Zauberflöte. Moreover, Alex has worked with singers and ensembles on numerous other arias, opera scenes, and choral performances.

In his spare time, Alex enjoys singing the odd song, performing in the chorus for Pacific Opera Victoria, and going on hikes in search of birds.

Mark your calendar for our final voice competition of the 2022/23 school year!

29th Annual French Art Song Competition “La mélodie française”