Photo Courtesy of Hugo Kauder Society
David Pershall
The New Haven-based Hugo Kauder Society—whose mission, according to the organization’s website, is “to foster awareness and appreciation of the composer Hugo Kauder and to provide opportunities to emerging musicians to perform or even premiere his works” — held its Seventh Annual Hugo Kauder International Music Competition for Voice at Neighborhood Music School on Friday. Baritone David Pershall, soprano Claire DiVizio, and soprano Jamilyn Manning-White took first, second, and third prize, respectively.
In addition to performing in a Winners Concert at Sprague Memorial Hall on Saturday, Pershall, DiVizio, and Manning-White received cash prizes of $4,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively. Pershall will also have a chance to perform in New York as a result of winning the competition.
“I think the judges were looking for sensitive treatment of all the music,” said Artspace Executive Director Helen Kauder, who sits on the Hugo Kauder Society’s Board of Directors and is a granddaughter of Hugo Kauder.
Helen Kauder said the Winners Concert “was quite extraordinary, particularly David Pershall, whose voice absolutely filled Sprague Hall.”
Eight vocalists advanced to compete on Friday in the final round of the competition, which was judged by Columbia Artists Management President Ken Benson, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Music Division chief George Boziwick, and soprano and Manhattan School of Music faculty member Catherine Malfitano.
Two of the three competition winners have ties to the Yale University. Pershall earned an artist diploma from the Yale School of Music this year having earned a master of music degree from the school in 2010.
Photo Courtesy of Hugo Kauder Society
Jamilyn Manning-White
Manning-White is currently studying at Yale.
Photo Courtesy of Hugo Kauder Society
Claire DiVizio
DiVizio earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan and plans to enroll at the end of the summer at the University of Louisville’s School of Music.
Also among the eight finalists were soprano Amanda Hall, who earned a master of music degree from the Yale School of Music in 2010, and baritone Brian Robinson, who manages the Yale Symphony Orchestra.
Finalists were expected to perform vocal works by Hugo Kauder along with a selection of art songs and opera arias from the 18th through the 20th centuries.
Kauder was born in 1888 in Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic, and, as a teenager, moved to Vienna where his career as a violinist and composer blossomed. Kauder fled the Nazis in 1938 and two years later arrived in New York where he died in 1972. The Hugo Kauder Society was founded in 2002.