The Opera Glasses Podcast

Competition and Career: Preparing for the Concours Musical International de Montréal

• Michael Jones, Elizabeth Bowman • Season 3 • Episode 6

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Ever wondered what it takes to succeed in the high-stakes world of international opera competitions? This candid conversation with two rising stars - Sophie Naubert and Ihor Mostovoi - offers a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of the prestigious Concours Musical International de Montréal.

The two singers provide invaluable insights into competition strategy, from repertoire selection to mental preparation. Sophie emphasizes choosing pieces that showcase her theatrical strengths while avoiding older repertoire that might reveal outdated vocal habits. Ihor describes crafting thematic art song programs built around concepts like "water and fire" or "horror and splendor," balancing technical agility with emotional depth.

Both artists speak candidly about competition's true purpose: beyond winning prizes, these events create crucial industry exposure and performance experience under pressure.

Whether you're an aspiring singer, a devoted opera fan, or simply curious about the artistic journey, listen to understand the strategic thinking, personal sacrifices and pure passion driving these remarkable young artists.

All episodes of The Opera Glasses podcast are hosted by the editor of Opera Canada, currently Michael Jones after Elizabeth Bowman hosted seasons 1 and 2. Follow Opera Canada on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Visit OperaCanada.ca for all of your Canadian Opera news and reviews.

Michael Jones:

Good day and welcome to the Opera Glasses podcast. My name is Michael Jones and I'm your host, and today we're going to be talking about competitions and young artists, focusing particularly on the Concours Musical International de Montréal. It is happening this year between May 25th and June 6th, featuring singers. This year there are 24 competitors from 16 countries and this year the competitors include four Canadians and we will be covering them all in Opera Canada over the coming weeks. I'm speaking with two of them today in opera glasses. This is my first three-way broadcast, so I'm hoping this goes well. So I will be speaking with two today. The other two will be covered in the Artist of the Week feature on Opera Canada's social media feed, so make sure you're following us Today, because there's two. I'm going to allow them to introduce themselves. I'll go ladies first. Sophie Nobert is a current member of the Atelier Lyrique at l'Opéra de Montréal and this year she had her European debut singing the title role in Semele at Theater Lubeck in Germany. Sophie, what would you like to share with our audience?

Sophie Naubert:

Well, hi everyone, it's great to be here, thank you. I'm from Gatineau, quebec, and I moved to Montreal about eight years ago to study voice and I fell in love with opera when I was about 17 or 18. And I studied a lot of piano, I did a lot of theatre and professional acting as a kid and I did a lot of dance and it just led up to opera, because opera just combines every art form. So, without even knowing that, I was going to pursue an opera career. So I had a very great training, starting as a kid, to go into this path. And, yes, I had my operatic European debut in Lübeck, germany, and it was, I think, the best experience that I've ever lived ever in my life. I met amazing colleagues and I'm very excited to be moving there in the fall as a as a fest singer.

Michael Jones:

Oh, that's very exciting, and you're allowed to announce that.

Sophie Naubert:

I am allowed. Yeah, as of last week.

Michael Jones:

Congratulations, that's wonderful Sophie.

Sophie Naubert:

Thank you very much.

Michael Jones:

Ihor Mostovoi, and he will correct me if I just said that wrong, although I was practicing. Ihor is a baritone. He is a Ukrainian-Canadian, he studied at McGill University and he's currently a member of the Young Artist Program at the Opera Nationale de Paris, so he is joining us this morning from Paris. Ihor, what would you like to tell us about yourself?

Ihor Mostovoi:

Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure to meet all of you, to meet Michael Sophie and I've yes, I'm originally.

Ihor Mostovoi:

I was born in Ukraine and then moved to Canada and did my studies at McGill and spent seven wonderful years in Montreal and became Canadian as well and my path in music actually was brought into singing by passion about rock music and guitar. So originally I asked my parents to bring me into music school because I wanted to play guitar so much and then one of the tests was singing and apparently it went well and teachers there said why don't you come and make an audition for the voice department? And that's how I started singing and then after some time voice just took over and then apparently McGill has a very strong school, great teachers, great singers and the big music community, and then kind of became my motivation as well to pursue this career professionally. And yeah, and at the moment I'm at the Opéra de Paris and this is a wonderful opportunity and very happy to be here and progress in my journey as an opera singer.

Michael Jones:

And before we go on, I'm dying to ask are you still playing guitar?

Ihor Mostovoi:

I'm still playing a little bit, not very frequently, but sometimes.

Michael Jones:

Not on the streets of paris to get no no, but, but I would.

Ihor Mostovoi:

That's some something I want to come back to and do more okay, well, that sounds like a really lovely plan.

Michael Jones:

Also, before we go for forward, I should ask you do you still have family in ukraine and how are they doing right now?

Ihor Mostovoi:

Yes, I do, it's my mother and father. My parents are in Ukraine. They're in Odessa at the moment because originally we're from Mariupol, which is occupied, so they had to leave and they're staying in Odessa now. It's difficult, but we're striving and we're trying to keep positive good spirits and hopefully this will come to the end soon and people will be able to live peacefully.

Michael Jones:

Well, thank you. Thank you for being willing to share that with our listeners.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Thank you very much.

Michael Jones:

And our best wishes go out to your mother and father and we hope that they are continuing to, let's just say, make it through and be healthy and find as much life as they can in Odessa and that, hopefully, someday they will be able to return peacefully.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Thank you very much, thank you so much, thank you so much Thank you for sharing that.

Michael Jones:

So competitions play a major role in the career of young artists. As I look at it, one of my pleasures this year has been meeting a lot of emerging artists who represent the new generation, the next singers that we will be hearing for years and years. And as I read your bios, many of you talk a lot about competitions. Can you please share with our listeners why competitions are so important, why you enter them, and also maybe a little bit about how you choose which ones to enter?

Sophie Naubert:

maybe a little bit about how you choose which ones to enter. Actually, I personally have just one reason why I do big competitions it's for exposure. There are casting directors and agents who come from all over the world who come to listen to us, especially for the semifinals and finals. So it's mainly just for exposure. And even if a singer does not win or does not gain success in the competition, a casting director attending the competition might want to sign with them or offer a contract for the future. So it's always great for exposure and contacts are everything in this industry.

Ihor Mostovoi:

So that's my main and almost only reason why I do these to be her I think there is not a lot of things to add to what sophie said, but I think it's also it also can be a good motivation for for growth because, um, you go for experience and, uh, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't, and if you don't, you can re-listen to your recordings, see what you did, because competition is also a performance and in performances things go differently and we can learn for future. In this kind of stress situation, when you put under the certain pressure, you can see how you act, how your body behaves, how your voice behaves, how your memory behaves, and I think it's a very good experience as well. In addition to exposure, in addition to being seen by casting directors, being seen by theater directors and by agents. I think it's a very good option to put yourself under certain pressure and get some feedback.

Michael Jones:

Okay, that sounds very Now. I'm even feeling the pressure here. Why the and the Concours Musical International de Montréal? How did you light on that? Is it about the fact that you both have relationships with that city, or was there something that really drew you to this one in particular? I'll start with Ihor this time.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Well, concours International de Montréal it always was one of the competitions that I really wanted to do and I applied several times. In fact, and this is the, or I think, one or two times I applied, and this is the first time I made it, so I'm happy. I'm already happy with this result and it was always a pleasure to see the high level that this competition brings and the international community that it unites, because singers come from all over the places. And then, of course, I don't want to say goals, but maybe goals to try and take part in this competition.

Michael Jones:

That's interesting and I don't want to interrupt you, sophie, if you have anything to add, so I'm going to come to you in a second. But, ihor, you mentioned you'd applied to this before. I had been told by the people at the Concours that Sophie had, so I was intending actually to ask her about that. I know, sophie, that the Concours Musical International de Montréal alternates between three disciplines, so they do piano, they do violin and they do voice, and so voice is only every three years, so the last year must have been 2022. And I know, sophie, that you applied at that time and also were not successful getting to these rounds. But you're back. Why? Maybe this is all tied together, but why do you come back? And the same Ihor can answer the same thing as well, but I'll start with you.

Sophie Naubert:

Well, I'm a big fan of the CMIM. I the first year that I moved here actually when I was studying at the Conservatoire there was the 2018 voice edition, and I was still very, very young, I was starting my undergrad and I got tickets to see every single round, from art song selection to to um, the aria division, uh, and I also saw all of the master classes for uh university de Montreal students and conservatoire students that they were offering as well. So I attended every single event because I felt so inspired and I just loved how the competition was organized, how it was open to anyone. Anyone could just come in in the afternoon and sit and listen to a masterclass, with amazing masters coming from from every part of the world, and I felt I just felt so inspired. And sometimes my teacher would come along with me and she'd say look how she's so precise with her text. You should do that in this meet. And it was just amazing, an amazing moment for me in June. That whole month, I was just there the entire time.

Sophie Naubert:

So, of course, I applied for the 2022 edition. If I'm not mistaken, I think they jumped a year because there was the pandemic edition. If I'm not mistaken, I think they jumped a year because there was the pandemic and I absolutely loved my experience doing the CMIM in 2022. The competition was so organized. If we had any questions or anything, they would always be there for us. They would answer our emails, our calls and it was an amazing experience. Also, between competitors, there was no jealousy or competition vibe. It was just very friendly and it was an amazing opportunity and I learned a lot from preparing for an international competition. This was my first international competition. I think I was among the youngest of all the competitors and I remember just having a blast and learning from all my competitors and learning about the mental preparation, the physical preparation and the vocal preparation for a big competition. So I'm actually getting inspired by my younger self to prepare for this year's competition younger self to prepare for this this year's competition.

Michael Jones:

That's, that's wonderful. Do the, does the, the jury, does the panel play a role in making decisions? This year's panel features some. It's chaired by adrian pizanca who is, I should say, as the opera canada editor, who is a former ruby recipient from Opera Canada magazine. Adrienne is also an Order of Canada recipient. She is the chair of vocal studies currently at Glenn Gould School, but she also had a major international career. The jury this year includes senior staff at the Canadian Opera Company as well as the opera companies in both Seattle and Chicago, and some incredible singers. In addition to Adrian, there is Etienne Dupuy and Susan Graham and Harrolyn Blackwell, who, I will say, I remember so well because she played Circumstance the first time I ever saw Dialogue des Carmelites many, many years ago. So it's a really wonderful panel this year. Do you know who those people are in advance? Does that help you decide what and where to go to?

Ihor Mostovoi:

I mean, yes, usually as singers, we look at who is on the jury and, for example, in this competitions, on the jury there are a lot of people who I admire. So for me it's it's a great opportunity to maybe get some feedback, advice and and be able to sing for them and be able to sing for them. They're very highly professional people and highly professional singers and people who I saw on stage and who inspire me every time I see them on stage. So I'm very excited and in general for competitions, I think most of singers look at who are the juries just to know what kind of repertoire you can offer or see, because people have different tastes and they've sang different repertoires. So that would give some kind of idea of what would be better for this or that competition. So I think it's important.

Michael Jones:

You give me such great segues, so let's actually talk a little bit about repertoire. Now, sophie, can you talk a little bit about what you're singing and why you chose those things?

Sophie Naubert:

Yes, bit about what you're singing and why you chose those things. Yes, Well, I choose repertoire for competitions based on a few points. First off is my vocal theatrical strengths and also the mood of each piece, like the emotional journey that I want to present to the audience, and also the repertoire requirements which are out of my control, but I have to respect Um so um for me. For example, I my strengths are coloratura, um, a lot of theatrical um pieces like character pieces or party pieces, um, from my, my acting as a child, Um, so I often go for, like fiery coloratura, brevura arias.

Sophie Naubert:

So for my first round I'm starting off with a semoli aria, actually, that I've sung multiple times this year, which opens up early music, which is my forte, coloratura. And then, second aria, I'm doing a Canadian piece because for the first round we have to do a contemporary piece that was written after 1975. So I'll be doing a Kendra Harder piece which is kind of like a baroque pastiche aria and it's very funny, it's in English. So it will show a bit of my another personality, more character, more acting. And then I'm finishing with Le Feu from L'Enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel. So again finishing with that big cul-de-sac French, which is my mother tongue. So yeah, always go with my strengths.

Michael Jones:

So before I go to you, I want to do a little shout out to kendra harder, who is a young, emerging female composer from canada, and she is based in saskatchewan and I like to tell people that that things happen. I was, I was the ceo of of sask arts for many, many years and so I became familiar with her work. Her work is really exceptional. So thank you for performing a young, emerging woman composer. Ihor, what's on the plate for you, well?

Ihor Mostovoi:

it depends for lead part of the competition and for opera part of the competition and for opera, part of the competition, because, for example, for the melody and lead part of the competition, I was trying to choose more based on a theme. So I would build a program of the of the of the round depending on the theme. For example, my first round is uh, based on water and fire. Uh, which is like eternal opposites, and uh. So there are um, I'm singing roadside fire by one Williams, uh. Then there's a Ukrainian song, um, which is called the boat, which is about water, but also in a lot of ways, in a lot of ways philosophical, about life, because it compares the boat in the open water with the life of a person. And then another choice is Diafoeia Raita, which by Hugo Wolf, which is by Hugo Wolf, which is one of my favorites and always I'm having lots of fun when I'm singing that. And another one is La vague et la cloche by Duparc, which is also my other favorite composer.

Ihor Mostovoi:

So, and the second row round is the repertoire about the horror and splendor. So there are different songs that show either the horror and splendor. So there are different songs that show either horrible situations and horror of the situations, for example, like Die Zwerg of Schubert, and another one is something about splendor, which is like also Epiphany, by Charles Copeland, which is unknown piece, but it talks about very and it talks about life, but in very, I can't say vague, but very, like you don't really understand, the words are so poetic that you don't have a clear idea what exactly is going on. Because it talks about the lakes and of the big figure of a guardian who guards the orange tree, who looks at the woman who passes on the lakes. And for me, like every person can find their own explanation for the song, but for me this is the guardian, the spirit, spiritual figures who watch the life going on on the earth, and which is about splendor for me, which is about something nice and beautiful.

Ihor Mostovoi:

So the, I was trying to base it based around the theme, and for opera of course it's different, because Sometimes we can base our repair, turn around the theme, but because we want to show so many things and we try to show the, the biggest versatility also, but our strength also. So we have to, we have to be based on our voice and the character, preference and vocal, vocal things that vocally are comfortable, so. So my repertoire for opera was based basically on characters that I love and what can I show with this or that aria?

Michael Jones:

And examples just from your opera rep.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Yeah, for example, for showing the agility of the voice I chose. There are two arias in different rounds. One is Sibilar from rinaldo by handle and another one is dandini from uh lechnerentola. And then, uh, things that show more of a legato style and more of a line in the voice are uh byne from Don Quixote, which is there's it's very character piece, but there's also a lot of places where you can show the line. Another one I tried to also add something that is unknown, so I tried to add the Ukrainian aria, which is by Konstantin Donkevich, which is from opera Bogdan Fomilnitsky, and this is the monologue, which also has beautiful legato lines. And this is something that I might not be able to do as a role in the next couple of years, but it shows my direction, where I go.

Michael Jones:

That's interesting and I'm coming back to Sophieie with it, because you talked about ior, just talked about I'm not, maybe not ready to sing this right now, but this is the direction that he hopes he's going. You, I know you're opening. You're starting with samalee, which is something that you've performed this year. Do you have any any stretch arias in your rep for this, or are you really going with what you have completely got under your belt and have performed?

Sophie Naubert:

Actually, out of the well talking about arias, out of the nine arias that we have to prepare, I only have three arias that are really under my belt, that I've performed and that I'm comfortable with.

Sophie Naubert:

The other six are all fairly new and I might say I still have to learn another aria that I will do today, I promise myself. But yeah, it's fairly new repertoire because I I do. I don't like to do older arias because I tend to have my tend to show my older habits. And as the voice develops and as you, you work and refined your vocal technique, you find that sometimes old repertoire might not work and especially in a competition, under pressure, singers often tend to go back to their old vocal habits. So I tried, yeah, this year I said I'm just going to go with new repertoire and I am doing some repertoire that I have never sung.

Sophie Naubert:

And that's not coloratura that I'm starting gently with. I have Steal Me Sweet Thief thief by Monati. That's very lyric, um, very slow, which I'm not used to and I'm I'm really learning to get comfortable with it, which is a very fun process. And also um the uh, sophie Aria, ich bin euer liebten, uh, from Rosenkavalier by Strauss. That's another stretch for me working, working those floaty high notes, working the legato, the slower lines. So that's a big challenge for me, but it's an amazing challenge, it's a very good problem.

Michael Jones:

That sounds very exciting and I will come back while we're still on repertoire.

Ihor Mostovoi:

I'm going to come back to Ihor and just say end youradian aria, because I know it's required for this year's competition yes, yes, it's from the opera la reine garcon and this is a very beautiful piece and I'm actually feeling a little bit. I don't think of scared is a good word, but uh, because on the jury there's gonna be a tndp who, but because on the jury there's going to be a TNGP who sang this role, and I think he created this role and I would like to sing it in a good standard and make him proud in this music, if I can say like this so, but Were you in Montreal when La Reine Garcon premiered.

Ihor Mostovoi:

No, I wasn't unfortunately Okay, but I wish I was.

Michael Jones:

That is really, really exciting. I'm going to give some details about the competition and then I'm just just because I'm conscious of everyone's time, I'm going to move into a speed round with the singers to to end the day. But and forgive me for referring to my notes, but there are a lot of details to give. First of all, as sophie was sharing, all of these rounds are open to the public and please purchase your tickets. Go hear these young voices. What hearing hearing voices in competition when they're at the very beginning song is a real gem in the repertoire and requires a very different approach. So it lets you hear singers do something that you might not as readily hear them do elsewhere. So please join.

Michael Jones:

The first round, which includes both aria and art song, runs from May 25th to 29th. It leads up to the art song finale, which is on May 31st. The semi-finals oh sorry. The first round competitions will be held in the Salle Bourgie at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. The semi-finals are june 3rd and 4th at the maison symphonique de montreal, at the place des arts, with the finals to follow on june 6th. You can find out more information and you can get tickets at concours montrealca, which is yeah, let's just have some fun and move in. We do a speed round at the end of these just to learn a little bit more about these people, these singers, as people. I think that's a great thing to do, because it also lets us know it lets us know that there are people behind the spectacular work that we see on stage, that it just is regular human beings doing these amazing things. So I'm going to start, I'm going to go back and forth. Ihor your favorite guilty pleasure food.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Dumplings. Any kind of dumplings.

Michael Jones:

Very nice, and so, Sophie, I will. I'll flip it. I'm not going to ask you the same one, so you don't have time to prepare your favorite drink. Oh tea, tea Lovely. And is it flavors? Is it herbals or is it just straight Green tea?

Sophie Naubert:

Any green tea, any green tea, that's lovely, I'm a huge fan.

Michael Jones:

Do you brew your own with the loose leaves?

Sophie Naubert:

Yes, absolutely yeah, I have hojicha matcha oolong any tea. I have it in my apartment.

Michael Jones:

Nehar, what's the thing you do when you're preparing for a performance that gets you all revved up and ready? What is your routine?

Ihor Mostovoi:

I do some breathing exercises. I have some recording and for 10 minutes I just I breathe in, breathe out. There's this great thing which is called Wim Hof breathing routine and it's on YouTube. Everybody can do it, but this really gets me calm and centered.

Michael Jones:

Okay, that's a really good approach. Sophie, the role in the future that you most dream about singing right now oh, queen of the night, oh, really, okay, that's because you want to have the two big arias and then just stay off stage the rest yeah. Emails during the opera yeah go back to another hit and then go back to your computer. Exactly. I'm gonna ask you the same question, or what's your dream role?

Ihor Mostovoi:

Wow, I really like Oprah Falstaff, so I would say Ford and, the short term, dandini.

Michael Jones:

Short term is Dandini, but Ford in the longer term. Are you doing any Verity yet? Are you starting with some lighter verity or uh, I have one in the competition rep.

Ihor Mostovoi:

I have, uh, rodrigo's dustin, so I'm I'm starting little by little, but I'm trying to be very careful good for you.

Michael Jones:

Good for you, um sophie. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Sophie Naubert:

Stay in your lane.

Michael Jones:

That's interesting. Yeah, and was that a vocal teacher, or was that just?

Sophie Naubert:

It was actually a sports psychologist that works at the Atelier des Riques. He gives us one-on-one coachings and he once mentioned stay in your lane. And he once mentioned stay in your lane. Don't think of whatever other people may think, or don't think of exterior judgment. Just keep on going. Trust yourself. If you know that your process works, just keep going. And every path is different. Everyone has a different career path and wants different things in life.

Michael Jones:

So you just do. You keep going. Yeah, now for the one more question for each of you. So I'll do something. It's a little pop culture just for fun. Guitar player yehor. What do you listen to that's not classical? What's your favorite thing to listen to music? I listen to rock music.

Ihor Mostovoi:

I still listen to it. So I I listen to things like iron maiden and uh like music like this metal, the hard rock yes, yes, but a lot of popular music too, I mean a lot of pop music. Uh, it's always I'm like I like with food. I like a lot of food. Like music too, I like a lot of music, so I listen to everything.

Michael Jones:

Ed. I will end with Sophie, A movie you saw recently that you really loved.

Sophie Naubert:

I saw Game Night. That was really nice with Rachel McAdams. That I saw on the plane a week ago. It was very nice. Action and crime and comedy at the same time.

Michael Jones:

Okay, well, that's perfect. You see, the speed round is very easy. I would like to thank both of you for taking time out of your preparation to join us today, to tell us about the competition, to tell us about yourselves and to let us meet you Now. Is there any place online I'll come to Ihor first where people can go and see, hear recordings of you?

Ihor Mostovoi:

I mean, the best place is my Instagram account. There are some recordings there.

Michael Jones:

What is your Instagram?

Ihor Mostovoi:

account Ihor, it's Ihor Mostovoi, so it's like my name, but all together. And with account Ihor, it's Ihor Mostovoi, so it's like my name, but all together and with H Ihor Ihor, yeah.

Michael Jones:

I will just just so everyone has it I-H-O-R-M-O-S-T-O-V-O-I.

Ihor Mostovoi:

Wonderful Thank you very much.

Michael Jones:

And Sophie, where can people go to hear some more of you?

Sophie Naubert:

Well, like Ihor on Instagram, I have two videos, I think, on my website and on YouTube. You can just Google my name Sophie Nobert.

Michael Jones:

Sophie Nobert, that's N-A-U-B-E-R-T, which was not so hard because it's actually written in front of me on the screen. Which was not so hard because it's actually written in front of me on the screen. So thank you so much for taking the time to join me. I hope that our listeners that the Opera Canada podcast, opera Glasses, that our listeners go and check out more, and I hope that as many as possible are able to come and hear you in Montreal. Thank you so much Once again. This has been Michael Jones for the Opera Glasses podcast. I've been speaking with Sophie Nobert and Igor Mostovoi, who are two of the competitors in the Concours Musical International de Montréal at the end of May and beginning of June. Thank you for taking your time, your time to listen to us and please join us again.