On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna organized its first singing competition

 

In 1949, the Johann Strauss Society organized, for the first time in its history, a multi-day major event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss II. Due to its immense success, the Society presented, in the following year, a series of events lasting an entire week under the title „Festival Week of Viennese Music“. Subsequently, nearly half a century elapsed before the Society once again staged a multi-day event of comparable scope. On this occasion, however, the initiative was directed towards an explicitly international audience. Marking the centenary of the death of Johann Strauss Son on 3rd June 1999, the Society organized the „International Johann Strauss Singing Competition 1999“, held from 25th to 30th May. This was the first vocal competition in the Society’s history.

The aim of the competition was to encourage classically trained young singers to engage with operetta more intensively. Accordingly, participants were required to prepare two opera arias and three operetta numbers, one of which had to be by Johann Strauss II. During this period, 117 young opera singers of all voice types from 27 nations and four continents convened at the premises of Vienna’s Museumsquartier to present themselves before a distinguished jury composed predominantly of internationally renowned opera singers.

The jury was chaired by Kammersängerin Sona Ghazarian, an American soprano born in Beirut, for whom Vienna soon became a second home, from where she launched her international career. Kammersängerin Christa Ludwig, the favoured mezzo-soprano of Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, and Karl Böhm, brought her status as a world renowned artist, to the jury. The tenor section featured Kammersänger Heinz Zednik, Austrian tenor at the Vienna State Opera, famed for his portrayals of Loge and Mime at Bayreuth and distinguished by his extensive operetta experience, and by Kammersänger Thomas Moser, a US-born tenor with Austrian citizenship, internationally acclaimed for his heroic tenor roles. Baritone representation came from two students of the legendary vocal pedagogue Elisabeth Radó, who from 1950 onwards elevated the vocal department of the Vienna Music Academy to worldwide prominence. Ernst Scheurecker, an Austrian, achieved major successes collaborating with Walter Felsenstein in Berlin, while Antonio Filippatos, a Greek baritone and longtime member of the Marburg Opera, triumphed in the Italian repertoire with roles such as Rigoletto and Vater Germont.

At the time of the competition, both had already ended their performing careers and were engaged in transmitting the knowledge acquired from their teacher as voical pedagogues. The internationally renowned baritone Kammersänger Bernd Weikl had agreed to serve as a third representative of the baritone category, but was compelled to withdraw at short notice due to unforeseen personal circumstances. The all-round artist of the Vienna Volksoper, Herbert Prikopa, likewise a former student of Elisabeth Radó, joined the panel in the capacity of conductor, thereby completing the seven-member jury.

The assumption of honorary patronage for events organized by the Johann Strauss Society by a Federal Chancellor, a mayor,or a federal minister had, since the Society’s earliest activities, been a matter of course. However, in the 63 years of its existence this function had never been undertaken by a head of state.The then Federal President, Dr. Thomas Klestil, spontaneously agreed to assume the honorary patronage of the „ International Johann Strauss Singing Competition“, thereby securing a distinguished place in the history of the Society. Consequently, the event attracted considerable attention from both the public and the media: in addition to various newspapers, the ORF reported extensively on the event.

Following the preliminary auditions of 117 applicants, ten finalists were ultimately selected. They presented themselves at a final concert held on Sunday, 30th May,1999 in the baroque theatre of Laxenburg Palace, a venue of historical significance, where Empress Maria Theresa had attended operatic performances with her family. The finalists were accompanied by the „Junge Bundesländer Philharmonie“, whose engagement was made possible through a subsidy from the Federal Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs. The musical direction was in the hands of Herbert Prikopa. The programme was hosted by Peter Widholz, who had conceived the idea for the competition and organized it from the initial planning stages through to its completion.

At the end of the concert, the winners were announced and honoured. The third prize (20,000 schillings / approx.1,500 euros), donated by Margarete Steiff GmbH, was awarded to the Hungarian soprano Andrea Csereklyei. The second prize (30,000 schillings / approx. 2,200 euros), provided by Ringturm Kapitalanlagegesellschaft m.b.H., went to the Rumanian singer Valentina Farcas. The first prize (50,000 schillings / approx.3,500 euros) was ultimately won by the Austrian tenor Oliver Ringelhahn.The prize money was contributed by the City of Vienna and presented on behalf of the mayor by Daniela Ottmaier. In her speech, she not only expressed praise and appreciation for the winner, but also emphasized the high standard demonstrated by the singing competition and its importance for the preservation and continuation of operetta music.She also thanked the organizers, acknowledging the considerable amout of time and energy that had been devoted to realizing this project.

With the numerous prominent figures serving on the jury and in honorary patronage, as well as the extensive duration and large number of participants, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna – having resumed public artistic  activities two and a half years earlier – successfully reconnected with the large-scale events of its initial founding (1936) and its reestablishment (1946) The difference to these earlier periods, however, is that since 1996 the Johann Strauss Society has continuously produced artistic events without interruption and with consistent regularity.

 

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