The fifth Merikanto singing contest was organised at Art Centre Salmela in Mäntyharju (in the Mäntyharju church). The contest is meant for singers that are 38 years old or younger. I was able to attend the finals, where six singers (baritone Toni Hintsala, soprano Heta Sammalisto, baritone Henri Tikkanen, soprano Maria Turunen, baritone Kristian Lindroos and mezzosoprano Ruusu-Maaria Broussou) competed for the win.
Contests are always interesting events since the singers have
different voice types and both their backgrounds and interpretations are
different. It can be immensely intriguing to hear different interpretations
from different singers of the same song. Then it may be a matter of opinion
which one is better. And, of course, at least in this competition you could
hear what a difference a great accompanist makes to the song. Some of them were
simply better than others.
In the finals the competitors sing two songs from Oskar
Merikanto and one song from his son Aarre Merikanto. At least this time the
singers had chosen mostly different songs and some of them were less known, so
it was very interesting to hear them perform.
I have to say that it was rather easy to spot the best
singers from the crowd. Third place went to Toni Hintsala, who sang well, even
though I missed some depth from his interpretations. My favourite – Maria Turunen
– came second. She had a lovely, dark voice and she sang (again in my opinion)
beautifully also the song “Laatokka” (Lake Ladoga), which is usually sung by lower
male voices. I do not think anyone was surprised by the winner, who was
Kristian Lindroos. He has a lot of performance experience and is already an establish
opera singer, so he had a huge advantage against the other singers. And, of course,
he did sing very well indeed.
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