Wagnerian Idol

Richard Wagner

Last night, we went to Seattle Opera's inaugural International Wagner Competition. I had never been to a vocal competition and had no idea what to expect. At the last moment, they created an Audience Choice award so we got to vote for our favorite singer.

There were eight finalists - a mix of men and women and voice types - competing for two prizes of $15,000, plus the Audience Choice award. The program had selections from nearly all of the Wagner canon (except Rhinegold and Gotterdammerung). Each singer sang twice - once before the intermission and once afterwords.

It was different listening to voices in order to evaluate them. In an opera, while I certainly notice the vocal performance, you are also wrapped up in the drama.

For the Audience Choice award, they set up a row of ballot boxes in the lobby area, one for each singer. You voted for your favorite by putting your ballot in his or her box. So, this was hardly a secret ballot and it was interesting watching the voting.

In the end, the audience vote was so close they had to do a recount! I was sure it was between the two singers who in the second half had put in riviting, time-stands-still performances.

The winners:

• James Rutherford, Orchestra's Choice, Audience Choice, and Judges' Award
  
• Miriam Murphy, Judges' Award

My vote went to James Rutherford. Drake (and a couple of friends we ran into) voted for Paul McNamara. He was my favorite from the first half - it was just hard to overlook the performances that Rutherford and Murphy gave in the second half.

But regardless of the outcome, it was a fantastic evening of some of Wagner's greatest music. Steven Wadsworth (director of Seattle's current Ring production and one of the judges) made special note of the performance Asher Fisch pulled out of the Seattle Symphony.