Seattle Opera Announces 2008 International Wagner Competition Winners

August 16, 2008, Seattle—Tonight from the stage of Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, General Director Speight Jenkins announced the winners of Seattle Opera’s second International Wagner Competition. Elza van den Heever from South Africa and Michael Weinius from Sweden were selected from among the eight finalists by a panel of six distinguished judges. Each finalist performed two Wagner arias, accompanied by members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, led by the acclaimed conductor Asher Fisch. The winners will each receive a $15,000 prize, along with a boost to their careers.

“All of the judges agreed that we had eight fine finalists. I feel that the level was even higher this year than the first year,” said Jenkins.”It was a hard-fought decision for the two winners, but a great one.”

The panel of six judges selected Elza van den Heever following her performances of “Dich, teure Halle” (Tannhäuser) and “Einsam in trüben Tagen” (Lohengrin), and Michael Weinius for his performances of “Preislied” (Die Meistersinger) and “Amfortas! Die Wunde” (Parsifal).

Elza van den Heever was also named the Audience Favorite from votes cast by the audience and Nadine Weissmann was named the Orchestra Favorite from votes cast by the orchestra.

Susan Hutchison, Executive Director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, announced the winners of the Audience Favorite and Orchestra favorite. Seattle Opera’s second International Wagner Competition was made possible by a generous contribution from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences. The Simonyi grant also supports other education outreach at Seattle Opera.

The International Wagner Competition will be broadcast in its entirety on 98.1 Classical KING FM and streamed from its website at www.king.org on Saturday, August 23 at 7:00 p.m. PST.