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MUSIC
Arkansas, Texas singers take top prizes in UT competition
Sarah Mesko and Eric Neuville are lauded for performances in the French lyric tradition.
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Singers from Arkansas and Texas came in first and second, respectively, in the finals of the Grand Concours de Chant, a competition focused on the art of singing repertory from the French lyric tradition. The finals were Saturday at the University of Texas' Butler School of Music. Third place went to a soprano from New York state.
Mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko of the University of Arkansas took first place with her engaging renditions of art songs by Claude Debussy, Cécile Chaminade and Francis Poulenc and her appropriately sexy performance of the famous "Séguedille" from Georges Bizet's "Carmen."
Mesko, who hails from Hot Springs, Ark., takes home a $5,000 first prize, money that she says she'll use to continue her musical education.
"I'm graduating in May, and I'm about to enter my master's degree program," she says. "I'm not quite sure where I'll go or what it's going to cost, so I'm sure this prize will go directly to helping defer the cost of that."
Baritone Eric Neuville took second place and a $2,500 cash prize. When told he had been chosen, Neuville made a mysterious gesture toward the audience — involving a closed fist with first and pinkie fingers extended — and said something about "Hook'em!"
Yes, though Neuville is from Waupac, Wis., he is a Longhorn — a student of voice professor Darlene Wiley at the Butler School. The training showed in stylish performances of works by Poulenc, Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel and a high-spirited rendition of the "Mab" aria from Charles Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette."
The third place winner was Corinne Schaefer, a graduate of Indiana University, who received $1,500 for renditions of "A Chloris," by Hahn; "La Colombe Poignardee" by Beydts; "Apres un Reve" by Faure; and the Gavotte from "Manon," by Massenet.
The remaining seven competitors each received an award of $500 in the competition, which was conceived by UT professor of opera William Lewis and his singer wife, Frédérique Added.
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