Cardiff Singer of the World

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 to present)

Aled Jones (BBC2 Wales, 2007)

Catherine Bott (Radio 3, 2007)

Broadcast

BBC 2 and Radio 3, 18 July 1983 to present

BBC Knowledge (qualifying rounds), 2001

BBC Four (qualifying rounds), 2003 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

Year	Opera prize	Lieder prize (from 1989)	Audience prize (from 2003)
1983	Karita Mattila, soprano, Finland
1985	David Malis, baritone, USA
1987	Valeria Esposito, soprano, Italy
1989	Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone, USSR	Bryn Terfel, baritone, Wales
1991	Lisa Gasteen, soprano, Australia	Neal Davies, baritone, Wales
1993	Inger Dam-Jensen, soprano, Denmark	Paul Whelan, baritone, New Zealand
1995	Katarina Karnéus, mezzo-soprano, Sweden	Kirsi Tiihonen, soprano, Finland
1997	Guang Yang, mezzo-soprano, China	Christopher Maltman, baritone, England
1999	Anja Harteros, soprano, Germany	Dae-San No, baritone, Korea
2001	Marius Brenciu, tenor, Romania	Marius Brenciu, tenor, Romania
2003	Tommi Hakala, baritone, Finland	Ailish Tynan, soprano, Ireland	Angela Marambio, soprano, Chile
2005	Nicole Cabell, soprano, USA	Andrew Kennedy, tenor, England	Ha-Young Lee, soprano, Korea
2007	Shen Yang, bass baritone, China	Elizabeth Watts, soprano, England	Jacques Imbrailo, baritone, South Africa

Web links

BBC show page

Wikipedia entry

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