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Sydney soprano Maria Okunev has won the 10th Mietta Song Recital Award. Maria Okunev impressed the judges with her outstanding performances of songs by Mahler and Elgar. 
 
Maria’s accompanist Jem Harding won the Hugh D.T. Williamson Accompanist’s Award for Outstanding Accompaniment on the piano.  Maria and Jem also won the Arnold and Mary Bram Prize for Best Performance of an Australian Song, for their interpretation of songs from the cycle Towards the Psalms by Brisbane composer Betty Beath.
 
Sydney mezzo soprano Lauren Easton was the crowd favourite, winning the Audience Prize, together with the Nino Sanciolo Memorial Scholarship Encouragement Award.  Lauren and her pianist, Andrea Katz also won the ABC Classic FM Prize of a song recording.
 
Melbourne tenor Robert Stewart won the Goethe-Institut Prize for his performance of Wolf’s Abschied (Mörike Lieder).
 
The competition, held in front of an enthusiastic audience at the South Melbourne Town Hall, was judged by Professor Emeritus John Poynter AO OBE (Chair), Richard Bonynge AO CBE, Richard Mills AM, Stephen McIntyre AM and Margaret Baker-Genovesi.  
 
At the announcement of the prizes, Professor Poynter said, “The Mietta Song Recital Award again showed us the astonishing variety of songs that are available to classical singers.  It was a close competition but Maria Okunev’s performances of Rachmaninoff were particularly well done – as indicated by the audience’s spontaneous applause.
 
“Maria’s accompanist, Jem Harding, did a superb job too, and newcomer Lauren Easton is indeed a talent to watch,” said Professor Poynter.
 
The four duos competing in the 2008 finals in order of appearance were: Selena Pettifer and Jodie Lockyer; Maria Okunev and Jem Harding; Robert Stewart and Claire Preston; and, Lauren Easton and Andrea Katz.
 
The 2008 Mietta Song Recital Award, the leading Australian and New Zealand Art Song competition, was established in 1985 by late Melbourne arts patron Mietta O’Donnell to promote the performance and of Art Song, and has been continued biennially by the Mietta Foundation. The next Mietta Song Recital Award will be held in 2010.
 
Further information: www.miettas.com.au


Full list of 2008 winners:

2008 Mietta Song Recital Award including:
The Robert Salzer Foundation Travel Scholarship (Cash prize to assist with travel expenses)
O’Donnell Family Prize (Cash prize to assist with further study, career development or travel expenses for study or performance)
Tait Memorial Trust Prize (Funding and support for language and voice classes overseas)
Melbourne Airport Emerging Talent Award (Cash prize to assist in career development or travel expenses for study or performance)
Istituto Italiano di Cultura Prize (Italian language course in Italy or elsewhere)
WINNER: Maria Okunev

The Arnold and Mary Bram Australian Song Prize
Prize for best performance of an Australian song
WINNER: Maria Okunev and Jem Harding for their performance of songs from the cycle Towards the Psalms by Brisbane composer Betty Beath

Hugh D.T. Williamson Accompanist’s Award
Prize for outstanding accompaniment
WINNER: Jem Harding

Nino Sanciolo Memorial Scholarship
Encouragement Award cash prize
WINNER: Lauren Easton

ABC Classic FM Prize
Song recording by ABC studios for an ensemble selected by the ABC
WINNER: Lauren Easton and Andrea Katz

Audience Prize
Prize for the performer selected by the audience: Weekend stay at The Windsor Hotel, Melbourne, and wine from Taltarni vineyards.
WINNER: Lauren Easton

Goethe-Institut Prize
An intensive German language course in Melbourne or Sydney
WINNER: Robert Stewart for his performance of Wolf Abschied (Mörike Lieder)