This year is devoted to vocalists, and Thomas Blondelle, a 28-year-old tenor from Bruges, could not have chosen a better semi-final programme as a shop-window for his talent: the romantic Rossini (Otello), the classical Mozart (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), the modern Poulenc (Banalités, with texts by Guillaume Apollinaire), and the bombastic Wagner (Das Rheingold).

His closer, the famous and formidable Erlkönig by Schubert, is a virtuoso piece, based on a text by Goethe and involving three dramatic voices: a terrified child, a frantic parent and (not to give too much away) the figure of Death. While in other pieces Blondelle may have erred too far on the side of operatic acting (hand-waving and overwrought facial contortions), here he managed to maintain the feeling of three voices speaking through him, and his emotional expression was, while one could never describe a singer’s acting as subtle, at least measured and restrained.

For the final, he is preparing works by Handel, Mozart and Carl Maria von Weber. The finals take place in Bozar in front of De Munt Symphony Orchestra under Carlo Rizzi, which is one of the toughest tests for a vocalist, who mostly spend their time working in opera or choral with an ensemble of singers or alone on stage with a piano. Very few perform alone on stage with an orchestra – an experience that must be terrifying enough for a veteran, let alone a young singer.

Blondelle’s chances are good because the jury has a lot of opera representatives on board and because tenors are always popular with the public. The winner in 2008 – the last year vocalists were featured in the competition – was a tenor, the only one in the competition’s history.

“The Queen Elisabeth competition is a piece of Belgian tradition, like mussels with friet,” Blondelle said after the announcement. “Coming back to Brussels after three years in Germany was a little bit like going on holiday. I’m planning to go on enjoying myself in the final.”

Another Belgian will also be in the finals: Sébastien Parotte, a baritone from Verviers in Wallonia. Parotte made it to the semi-finals in 2008, and that was where he ended – much to the surprise of many, who saw him give one of the more charismatic stage performances. His programme for the semi-final featured Mozart, Handel, Hugo Wolf, Poulenc and Rossini. The semi-final performances are available to watch at www.cobra.be.

The other 10 finalists are from France, Serbia, Russia, Korea and the United States. The finals take place from 18 to 21 May at 20.00. The laureates, in the top six places, are announced after the Saturday night performances.

Pictured: Flanders’ hope in the Queen Elisabeth: Thomas Blondelle

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