This year’s NEUE STIMMEN prizewinners’ concert took place in Berlin on Wednesday evening. Six young NEUE STIMMEN singers presented themselves and their skills to an audience from the worlds of culture, politics and the media. They included Elke Büdenbender, former Bundestag President Rita Süssmuth, the ambassadors from Latvia and Albania, among others, as well as the members of the Liz Mohn Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Andreas Pinkwart and Helga Rabl-Stadler. Numerous guests from the cultural and opera industry also attended the concert and were able to see for themselves how far the singers have come since their first placings in the NEUE STIMMEN competition in October 2024.
The fact that singers can present themselves and network in front of a large audience of experts and on a prominent stage at a concert like the one at the State Opera is part of the NEUE STIMMEN ‘Creating Careers’ initiative. It is important to Liz Mohn not only to discover talents, but also to support and promote them in the long term.
In her welcoming speech, founder Liz Mohn also emphasized: ‘Music has the power to touch people and build bridges – across languages, cultures and borders. Today we live in a world torn apart, in which many people have fears. In these challenging times, culture gives us hope, inspiration and a sense of connection and security.’
The fact that music has once again brought people together was evident in the special atmosphere and mutual support among the singers on and behind the stage. The evening’s artists – Anita Monserrat, Magdalena Lucjan, Martina Russomanno, Ian Rucker, Finn Sagal and Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha – come from England, Poland, Italy and the USA and became friends during the intensive rehearsals and the concert.
Entertaining and varied concert against a classical backdrop
Under the knowledgeable and humorous moderation of Holger Noltze and accompanied by pianist Markus Zugehör, the singers transported the audience into a world of great emotions. They showed an impressive artistic variety under the title Shéhérazade in the beautiful rococo ambience of the Apollosaal. Artistic director and pianist Manuel Lange had prepared the concert and programme under the direction of Marcin Lakomicki, an experienced director at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Manuel Lange cancelled at short notice before the concert, so special thanks were due to the versatile pianist Markus Zugehör.
The stage of the Apollosaal became a narrative space that evening. Like the character Shéhérazade, the young singers took the audience on a sonorous journey through several centuries of music history: from Ravel’s sensitive ‘L’indifférent’ to Mozart’s lively arias from ‘Così fan tutte’ and ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ to songs by Gustav Mahler, Francis Poulenc and Karol Szymanowski.
Magdalena Lucjan’s performance was particularly moving, as she combined her technical precision with emotional depth in ‘Zeffiretti lusinghieri’ from Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ and the Polish art song ‘Samotny księżyc’. Finn Sagal not only impressed with his warm baritone, but also with his charismatic stage presence – whether as Guglielmo or in the musical classic ‘If ever I would leave you’.
The rousing finale with Offenbach’s ‘Minuet and Infernal Gallop’ from ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’ brought an exhilarating end to an evening that continued to resonate for a long time after the performance with long-lasting applause and the encore ‘Libiamo ne’lieti calici’ from ‘La Traviata’. The evening ended with a reception in the State Opera’s ‘Konditorei’.
As part of the ‘Opera Europas’ initiative for the promotion of emerging artists the concert will be streamed on OperaVision from 24 May 2025. The initiative is supported by the European Union.
Caption: Founder Liz Mohn and Elke Büdenbender with the NEUE STIMMEN prizewinners Ian Rucker, Martina Russomanno, Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha, Magdalena Lucjan, Anita Monserrat and Finn Sagal (from left to right)
