BBC Singer of the World competition
| BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition | |
|---|---|
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| Location | St David's Hall, Cardiff |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | BBC Cymru Wales |
| First awarded | 1983 |
| Official website | BBC's "Cardiff Singer of the World" website |
BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (known as Cardiff Singer of the World from 1983–2001 and BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff in 2003) is a competition for opera and art singers held every two years.
The competition was started by BBC Wales in 1983 to celebrate the opening of St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales, home of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The creation of the competition was overseen by Geraint Stanley Jones, who was the controller at BBC Wales at the time.
Auditions are held throughout the world in the autumn before the competition, with singers being selected to take part in Cardiff the following June. Each singer represents their own country. In Wales is there a competition to select the national representative. The winner of the Welsh Singers Competition represents Wales in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
The competition is judged by a panel of distinguished singers, musicians and music professionals. In 2003 an audience prize was also introduced for the primary competition; in 2011 it was renamed the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize to mark the passing of the singer who was the competition's first patron.
The 2015 competition was held between 14 and 21 June 2015.
In 1983, the first year of the competition, eighteen singers participated. The winner was Finnish soprano Karita Mattila.
A Lieder Prize was introduced in 1989, as art song and opera are both important forms of singing, but very different. The 1989 competition was particularly noteworthy with Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel winning the Lieder prize and Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky taking the overall title. Both singers have gone on to enjoy extremely successful careers with international acclaim.
The "Song Prize" (formerly the "Lieder Prize") was renamed in 2001 in order to clarify that it applies to art song and folksong rather than German Lieder only. The "Song Prize" became a separate event in 2003, named as the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. However, after 2009, its name was changed to BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize. It is not compulsory, and the only entry requirement is that the singer is taking part in the primary competition. It is not possible to enter for the "Song Prize" only. In 2001, Romanian tenor Marius Brenciu became the first singer to win both prizes.
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