The warm embrace of the Cardiff audience may have been absent, the total thrill of voices bursting into bloom live in St David’s Hall irreplaceable, but that the competition still happened, was televised and produced a mighty handful of finalists as well as many other singers who made their mark, was a huge plus.
Clearly channelling the young Bryn Terfel in his choice of Rossini and poetic Wagner, it was the fire of his aria from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier that was most authentic and authoritative.
Winner of the Joan Sutherland audience prize – voting based on the pre-final appearances – was the English mezzo Claire Barnett-Jones, reflecting her remarkable feat in stepping in at the eleventh hour as the official reserve and winning her round.
The agility and brightness of Austrian Christina Gansch’s soprano was always evident, but her tendency to overegg the presentation and throw herself into every note could be distracting.
She had already won the Song prize on Thursday night, but with Richard Strauss’s Beim Schlafengehen and her aria from Verdi’s Don Carlos, she gave notice of her vast future potential.