Italian bass Adolfo Corrado was the surprise winner of the main prize in the final round of this biennial singfest, emerging to beat two mezzos and two sopranos. At 29, having trained as an actor before discovering his singing voice – by now a formidable sound – Corrado has already been fast-tracked to the stage of La Scala Milan, but the prediction of the vocal cognoscenti here that he would become a very fine Verdi baritone may give him pause for thought.
It was indeed in his Verdi aria from I Lombardi that Corrado’s dramatic vigour came through most convincingly, with his acting skills also in play as Figaro and Dr Bartolo in the more conventional arias by Mozart and Rossini. All Italian, and all the better for exemplary diction, but arguably too narrow a focus.
