The Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, Norway, has announced the winners of their 2019 edition. Baritone Sergey Kaydalov (27), a young talent from Russia, won First Prize. Kaydalov was born in 1992, in Amursk, Russia. He is currently 27 years old. Kaydalov graduated from the Hvorostovsky Musical College (Prokopyevsk, 2014) and Saint-Petersburg Herzen University (Institute of Art) in 2018. In the 2018/2019 season Kaydalov has been a soloist at the Mariinsky Theater.
The Second prize of € 10.000, went to baritone Stefan Astakhov (21) from Germany and the Third prize of € 5.000 went to baritone Adam Kutny (27) from Poland. Her Majesty Queen Sonja presented the prizes, including a diploma with original artwork created by Her Majesty awarded to the First Prize winner, in addition to € 50.000. The finalist prizes of € 1.500 went to soprano Meigui Zhang (26) from China, tenor Theodore Browne (28) from Germany, and soprano Natalia Tanasii (28) from Moldova.
Baritone Stefan Astakhov from Germany won the prize for best lieder-performance. The Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship of NOK 100 000 was awarded to the best Norwegian participant, who this year was Astrid Nordstad from Trondheim.
