All male winners at the Kathleen Ferrier prize

Una says:

People win competitions and get nowhere half of the time, but the money is handy from this particular competition as it was set up as specifically for further study, not building an extension onto your house, which has happened with some competition winners in Britain! Further study was always the one main thing of the criteria for this particular competition, not the best singer who was ready to take the world by storm. People think it is for the best singer, but as far as I know, unless the rules have changed, it’s not. It was set up to give money specifically for those who showed promise, who would benefit from the extra lift in life, and not for finished singers or with the best voices or techniques. In my day you didn’t win it if you were so good but maybe the rules have changed over the last twenty years. My own teacher won it, which enabled him to study in German for two years – but even that was frowned upon as you were then expected to study in this country! Another female friend of mine won it about 15 years ago, and she was the eldest – three days later at 27, she would have not been able to have entered. Many of you will be more aware of the criteria than I would be as I don’t follow such things. It will be interesting in years to come to see where these men go in world of singing where there is so little decently paid work around – the market is full of singers and greater than the demand.