Cardiff Singer of the World

Contents

Host

Brian Kay (1983-7)

Chris Stuart (1989)

Humphrey Burton (1991)

Natalie Wheen (1993-7)

Petroc Trelawny (1999 to present)

Huw Edwards (live final host, 2003-9)

Aled Jones (BBC2 Wales, 2007-9)

Catherine Bott (Radio 3, 2007-9)

Josie d'Arby (co-host, 2009 to present)

Fiona Talkington (Radio 3, 2009)

Iain Burnside (Radio 3, 2011 to present) with Donald Macleod (2011-13), Susan Bullock (2015)

Tim Rhys-Evans (BBC2 Wales, 2011 to present) with Connie Fisher (2011-13)

Angel Blue (co-host, 2015 to present)

Wynne Evans (Radio Wales, 2015 to present) with Nicola Heywood Thomas (2015), Rebecca Evans (2017)

Siân Pari Huws (Radio Cymru, 2015)

Kate Molleson (Radio 3, 2017)

Nia Roberts (Radio Cymru, 2017)

Broadcast

BBC Radio 3, 18 July 1983 to present

BBC 2, 18 July 1983 to 19 June 2011

BBC Knowledge (qualifying rounds), 2001

BBC Four (qualifying rounds, also final since 2013), 2003 to present

BBC 2W / BBC Two Wales, 11 June 2007 to present

BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, 16 June 2015 to present

Synopsis

Young classical singers from around the world converge on Cardiff and, well, sing. The contest was first held in 1983, to mark the opening of St David's Hall, and has been held every second year since. There are two categories, "Opera" and "Song" (formerly "Lieder" - roughly anything that is not opera), and 25 singers aged between 18 and 36 take part in the televised stages. The Song final has been staged as a separate event since 2005.

The competition takes place in odd-numbered years, with Young Musician of the Year running in the even-numbered years.

Champions

YearOpera prizeLieder prize (from 1989)Audience prize (from 2003)
1983Karita Mattila, soprano, Finland
1985David Malis, baritone, USA
1987Valeria Esposito, soprano, Italy
1989Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone, USSRBryn Terfel, baritone, Wales
1991Lisa Gasteen, soprano, AustraliaNeal Davies, baritone, Wales
1993Inger Dam-Jensen, soprano, DenmarkPaul Whelan, baritone, New Zealand
1995Katarina Karnéus, mezzo-soprano, SwedenKirsi Tiihonen, soprano, Finland
1997Guang Yang, mezzo-soprano, ChinaChristopher Maltman, baritone, England
1999Anja Harteros, soprano, GermanyDae-San No, baritone, South Korea
2001Marius Brenciu, tenor, RomaniaMarius Brenciu, tenor, Romania
2003Tommi Hakala, baritone, FinlandAilish Tynan, soprano, IrelandAngela Marambio, soprano, Chile
2005Nicole Cabell, soprano, USAAndrew Kennedy, tenor, EnglandHa-Young Lee, soprano, South Korea
2007Shen Yang, bass baritone, ChinaElizabeth Watts, soprano, EnglandJacques Imbrailo, baritone, South Africa
2009Ekaterina Shcherbachenko, soprano, RussiaJan Martiník, bass, Czech RepublicGiordano Lucà, tenor, Italy
2011Valentina Nafornita, soprano, MoldovaAndrei Bondarenko, baritone, UkraineValentina Nafornita, soprano, Moldova
2013Jamie Barton, mezzo, USAJamie Barton, mezzo, USABen Johnson, tenor, England
2015Nadine Koutcher, soprano, BelarusJong-Min Park, baritone, South KoreaAmartuvshin Enkhbat, baritone, Mongolia
2017Catriona Morison, soprano, ScotlandAriunbaatar Ganbaatar, baritone, Mongolia
Catriona Morison, soprano, Scotland1
Catriona Morison, soprano, Scotland
2019Andrei Kymach, baritone, UkraineMingjie Lei, tenor, ChinaKatie Bray, mezzo-soprano, England
2021Gihoon Kim, baritone, South KoreaMasabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano, South AfricaClaire Barnett-Jones, mezzo-soprano, England
2023Adolfo Corrado, bass, ItalySungho Kim, tenor, South KoreaJulieth Lozano Rolong, soprano, Colombia

1 Ganbaatar and Morison were joint winners of the 2017 Song prize.

Web links

BBC show page

Wikipedia entry

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