British bass William Thomas has won the 2019 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition.

Thomas competed against five other finalists at the National Concert Hall last night (31 January) to win the triennial competition. The 24-year-old – currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama – was awarded with a €10,000 prize and a competition trophy.

Accompanied by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra under Laurent Wagner, Thomas sang ‘Fair lady, gracious gentlemen’ from The Rake’s Progress by Stravinsky, ‘Mephistopheles’ serenade’ from Gounod’s Faust, and ‘La calunnia è un venticello’ from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. 

Last year Thomas also won the Kathleen Ferrier award at Wigmore Hall and Glyndebourne’s John Christie award. Watch his winning performance at the NCH from 2:13:05.

Prizes were also presented to the five other competitors: Polish soprano Joanna Kedzior (2nd prize), British baritone Theodore Platt (3rd prize), US baritone Emmett O’Hanlon (4th prize), Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Hadzetskyy (5th prize) and Canadian countertenor Cameron Shahbazi (6th prize).

The jury for the 2019 competition consisted of Artistic Director Jane Carty (chair), Richard Bonynge, Peter Carwell, John Gilhooly, Orla Boylan, James Vaughan and Evamaria Wieser.

A total of 160 singers auditioned for the competition in New York and across Europe in October and November 2018. 51 were shortlisted and 38 competed in Dublin this week.

The previous winners of the competition are Fatma Said (2016), Nadine Sierra (2013), Pumeza Matshikiza (2010), Mari Moriya (2007), Stefania Spaggiari (2003), Byung-Soon Lee (1999), Norah Amsellem (1997) and Orla Boylan (1995).

For more, visit www.vdiscompetition.com.