Tomas Kildišius and Ani Ter-Martirosyan win Young Artist Platform

Yesterday, the festival started early with the third Young Artist Platform. And how exciting it was, as all the participants made high-level music. It was up to the jury - consisting of Annett Andriesen, chairman, Hans Eijsackers, Henk Neven, Aaron Wajnberg, Mirjam Wijzenbeek and Kenne Peters - to choose, after careful deliberation, which duo will be allowed to perform at our own festival as well as the Oxford Lieder Festival. So what do they look for? Annett Andriesen explained that it is of course the level that matters, but also the cooperation between singer and pianist. After all, together they can take a song to a higher level and make the audience enjoy it even more. Baritone Tomas Kildišius and pianist Ani Ter-Martirosyan mastered this art extremely well as far as the jury was concerned. They were therefore declared winners of this audition.

But two other winners emerged: soprano Jessica Harper and pianist Anna Alvizou received an honourable mention for their interpretation of the obligatory work by Composer of the Netherlands Martin Fondse. Still unusual in classical music, his composition left room for the musicians to improvise on their own. With three options to guide the musicians, all the duos set to work, with surprising and, above all, divergent musical interpretations.