As ever, there were excellent performances by all three finalists, but in the end, after much debate steered by the 2014 leader of the competition jury Sweet Georgia Brown, 20-year-old Alita Moses from Connecticut, USA was announced as the 2014 winner of the competition's first prize, following compelling renditions of Miles Davis's Four, Gershwin's Someone To Watch Over Me and Magda Giannikou's Amour T'es Lá?.
Laura Perrudin and Myriam Bouk Moun, both from France, won the second and third prizes respectively. This year's contest was notable for its collaborative atmosphere: at one point during rehearsals for the semi-finals, the nine supposed competitors broke into a spontaneously improvised circle song, to the delight of everyone watching. Videos featuring highlights of all of the performances from the three finalists and semi-finalists can be viewed at: http://shureatmontreux.wordpress.com.
Established to nurture and promote talented young singers from all around the world through its close connection with the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition has been sponsored since its foundation by microphone manufacturer Shure. Like previous winners of the competition, all three of the 2014 finalists will take home Shure products of their choice to a total value of 2000 Euros, along with other prizes.
(Jim Evans)
