Baritone David Kennedy has been announced as the winner of the 2023 Irené Sandford Award for Singers, which commemorates the much-loved singer and former Head of Vocal Studies at the RIAM. The €2,000 bursary is generously donated by her husband, Billy Reid, in addition to a number of other prizes supported by her family, friends and donors.
David performed alongside fellow students Rory Lynch (tenor) who finished in second place, Kelsie Irving (soprano) who took third place and Anastasia Sereda (soprano) who came in fourth place in a final chosen from a competitive semi-final featuring 28 impressive singers. David also took home the Gráinne Dunne Memorial Prize, a prize dedicated to the late great Gráinne Dunne who was a former coach of Davids during his time at RIAM.
David is currently studying with Owen Gilhooly-Miles and Dearbhla Collins at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, he will finish his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in the year 2024. David is noticeably the first Irish singer to be a scholar of the LiedAkademie with the Heidelberger Frühling, under the artistic direction of internationally acclaimed baritone Thomas Hampson for the class of 2022/23 and now returning for the class of 2023/24. He was also recently a member of the Savonlinna Festival International Music Academy in Finland where he received mentorship on German lied and Chinese art song from Hartmut Höll (Piano), Changyog Liao (President of Shanghai Conservatory) and Zheng Zhou (Baritone).
David has performed in notable venues such as; Pierre Boulez-Saal (Berlin), National Concert Hall (Dublin), Alta Aula (Heidelberg), Pepper Canister Church (Dublin), Áras an Uachtaráin (Dublin). He has received masterclasses from other notable persons; Simon Keenlyside, Graham Johnson, Malcom Martineau, Tara Erraught and Brenda Hurley.
Other awards during the competition included:
Best Performance of a Polish Song during the Semi-Final Round
Jitka Wagernova (soprano)
The Patricia Eberhart Aria Prize
Seán Tester (tenor)
Most Promising Performer during the Semi-Final Round
Eva Kavanagh (soprano)