Winner of the Music Competition
Baritone Audun Iversen was the winner of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition for 2007. Mr Iversen was also the recipient of the Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship, which was awarded for the first time this year.
Her Majesty Queen Sonja presented the prizes to the various winners at the end of the final competition, which was held at the Oslo Concert Hall on Thursday.
Audun Iversen (30) was born in Harstad, in Northern Norway, and is currently studying with senior lecturer in voice, Susanna Eken, at the Opera Academy at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. He completed his Bachelor's degree in classic voice performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music, receiving the highest mark possible on his final examination.
Second and third prizes were awarded to Anita Watson (Australia) and Nina Margrete Gravrok (Norway), respectively. The Troldhaugen Edvard Grieg Prize was awarded to Erika Roos (Sweden).
A total of 167 performers from 43 nations submitted applications to the 2007 competition. Of these, eight Norwegian and 29 international performers were selected to participate.
Finalists in the competition were:
Anita Watson (1980), Australia: Soprano
Audun Iversen (1977), Norway: Baritone
Erika Roos (1976), Sweden: Soprano
Ji-Min Park (1978), South Korea: Tenor
Mari Eriksmoen (1983), Norway: Soprano
Nina Margrete Gravrok (1980), Norway: Soprano
Source: queen-sonja-competition.no
Music Competition: Winner 2007
Audun Iversen was the winner of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition for 2007 (Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum, Scanpix)
Music Competition: Finalists
Audun Iversen and the other finalists at Oslo Music Hall (Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum, Scanpix)
The Queen Sonja International Music Competition