Former Salisbury Cathedral chorister reaches the final of The Kathleen Ferrier Awards
British mezzo-soprano Anita Monserrat, a former Salisbury Cathedral chorister has reached the finals of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
One of just seven singers to go forward to the final, which takes place on Friday 21 April 2023 at Wigmore Hall, Anita will be hoping to win the top prize of £12,500 or second prize of £6,000 or Song Prize of £5,000 – a useful boost to any young singer’s career. However, just reaching the final is a phenomenal achievement, and a great musical opportunity given the status of the competition and the exposure it offers.
David Halls, Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral, “She was an excellent chorister here with a wonderful work ethic combined with a natural, mature musicianship. She always sang with understanding and commitment. She was in every way a born leader and I am enjoying watching her career develop.”
Anita was a Salisbury Cathedral chorister until July 2011. She read music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she was both a choral and an instrumental scholar, and from where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. She followed that with a Master’s Degree at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Alexander Ashworth, graduating with distinction, and being awarded a DipRAM for her final recital.
She was a finalist in the 2022 Handel Singing Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2022 Mozart Singing Competition. She appears as the soloist on Kerensa Briggs’s Requiem, soon to be released on Delphian Records. In 2022, she joined the Extra Chorus of the Wiener Staatsoper and English National Opera. Upcoming engagements include being a Young Artist at the 2023 Salzburger Festspiele. Roles include Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Cenerentola (La Cenerentola), Ino (Semele) and Tisbe (La Cenerentola).
About The Kathleen Ferrier Awards competition
The Kathleen Ferrier Awards competition is funded by the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship Fund, founded in 1953 in memory of the much-loved contralto from Lancashire who died at the tragically young age of 41 and whose career as a singer lasted just 12 years. The initial purpose of the Fund, known as the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, was to make an annual award to a young British singer sufficient to cover the cost of a year’s study and general support. The first competition was held in 1956 and it has continued to provide a few outstanding talented young singers each year since then with the opportunity of making a start in what is a most difficult and demanding career.
We wish Anita all the best on Friday.