Part 1 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World

We know all about singing competitions. Nothing to it. Piece

of cake. Connie! No way, they are stressful, nerve-racking. And this

one's as tough as they get. young opera singers from all over

the world. One week in Cardiff to sing their hearts out. All they've

got to do is show us what they can do and do it extremely well. Just a

few minutes to impress a panel of top judges. If I go there and sing

to the best of my capacity, that's all I want. For the winner it can

change their life. If you win, the professional world takes notice.

intense, so exciting, but it is one hell of an experience. This is

Welcome to St David's Hall and round one of which BBC Cardiff

Singer of the World 2011. We are here on level 3, just through there

in the main hall the last of the night's contenders live on stage.

It's been a great night with singers from New Zealand, Armenia,

Russia, Bulgaria and Romania. In 25 minutes we shall have the winner.

We are here all week, and every night we'll have special guests.

Tonight we were delighted to welcome two people with a lot of

musical snodge between them. Gareth Valentine is a multi-talented

musical director of ballets, and has been involved in Miss Saigon

and his latest, End Of The Rainbow. Also with us is Elin Manahan Thomas,

a leading soprano and no stranger to BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

Welcome to both of you. Gareth. You are best known for ballets and your

shows, but is opera close to your heart? It is. I studied singing

with Sir Peter Pierc. Elin, who better to tell us what to expect

tonight? It is hard to tell what the judges are looking for.

Obviously technique, the polish on the voices, the power of the voices

maybe, and the repertoire. They will be looking for that extra

special wow factor. How important is the repertoire? Essential.

They'll have been advised by their teachers. Many of you will have

heard the sad news that the long time patron Dame Joan Sutherland

died last year. Taking her place is another opera legend, Dame Kiri Te

Kanawa. Here was Dame Kiri earlier tonight taking her place with the

rest of the jury. All top names, including Welsh tenor Dennis

O'Neill. The first singer tonight is, like Dame Kiri, from New

Zealand. No pressure then. Scary. My name's Anna Leese. I'm from New

Zealand. I'm excited to be in Wales singing at the BBC Cardiff Singer

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It started then, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2011 is officially

under way. That was Anna Leese in that difficult opening slot of the

competition. Elin, it is difficult to open the show. How did she do

She is an experienced singer, so she was a good person to put up

there. Last night she sang in Holland Park, so it's a bit of a

stretch to come here. It shows you what a professional she is. Maybe

an edge of nerves but the beauty and clarity of her voice is still

there. And she looks gorgeous. They've all scrubbed up pretty well

since the rehearsal The rehearsal they mark, so they don't really

sing out. You only get the full voice tonight. The thing that I

missed most was the lustre at the top of the voice, the money note as

we say in theatre. I missed that ring. Didn't you miss that tonight?

Yes, but what is lovely about Anna Leese's voice is that high res nans.

She closed a nice repertoire to go with that. Don't you think it is

difficult to sing something so well known. You said this was your

grandfather's favourite aria. said, "You must sing the song to

the Moon." I never got around to it. That's such a beautiful song. I

could never attempt it. Particularly when I'm nervous, I

know my phrasing, I might be short of breath, so she handled that well.

Absolutely. You should YouTube Rene Fleming singing that aria. It is

marvellous. Thank you Gareth. Two more singers to look at. Coming up

we have a Russian mezzo, but first the only bass in the competition.

My name is Vazgen Ghazaryan. I'm representing Armenia. Being in this

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My name is Olesya Petrova. I am from Russia, from St Peter's burg.

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Wow! What an incredible voice that mezzo soprano has. It could well

stay in Russia this year, if prize. The reigning champion is from

Russia. Gareth, how do you think she matched up? This voice is

exceptional. For me so far this is the front runner. She looks amazing.

The thing about her, no question about this, when she started to

sing, even when the orchestra started to play, she comes to live.

She loves what she does and it is so infectious. She has a great,

open face, great for the stage. does. Before that we had a

performance from Vazgen Ghazaryan. What did you make of him? It was an

interesting contrast, because the bass had a rich voice. He has that

depth you want from a bass. I think he's a very lovely singer. He did

sing quite a gloomy programme. There were four emotionally sad and

intense pieces. I would have liked him to smile at the end, but his

low notes had a real body to them. And rare to find a natural bass

these days. It really, is and especially in a competition like

this. At this young age you tend to My friend told me there are no good

basss because of global warming! You have got a new role here now?

Yes, my hardest role to date with very little training. Yes, Little

Jo cities 10 months old and crawling and climbing. What is

keeping you busy? I'm at the Albert Hall at the moment conducting a

ballet which I wrote called strictly Gershwin, based on his

musical and its a joy to do. Amazing. We've heard from three

singers so far and the quality is really high. Next anothor soprano,

Hello, everybody. My name is Maria Radoeva and Diane from Bulgaria. I

am really happy to be in Cardiff and are very thankful for this

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I love a good tune, don't you? One of opera's most famous arias from

La Boheme sung by Maria Radeova from Bulgaria. She is trying to get

a man to fall in love with her all over again. Did we fall in love

with Maria tonight? This is Anna aria we have heard many time in

Cardiff and we will hear it again. It's a wonderful romantic piece and

she sang it with a lovely lightness to her voice and clarity which

carries. Not necessarily the weighty would want, but the rest of

her programme was very different. She sang the really high, fast

stuff way you have got to be agile and light and that is what she

specialises in. The baroque and modern stuff and it was interesting

see the contrast in the programme. How did you find that because

you're known for being able rock singer? It was a sacred repertoire.

Did you appreciate it? I did. It's always good to see someone sing

this kind of repertoire in this context. It is mainly an operatic

competitions so the fact she sang Mozart was interesting. I think, do

what to do best, and that is what she did. The Gareth, could she have

picked harder pieces? Well, you say harder pieces, but it's pretty

demanding because they are very florid. They need amazing breath

control. She stepped up to the mark of her. Also, they do a repetition

of the chorus, and you embellish it, and I thought she did it very

judiciously. She didn't over- elaborate. It was very good.

certainly delivered with confidence? Oh, yes. Thank you,

Gareth. The last singer is another East European a baritone from

My name is Serban Vasile and I am coming to represent Romania. And I

am anxious to participate in the biggest sin of the World

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competition here in Wales. Welcome Mozart, a wonderful finale to Round

One of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2011. Do you remember, I

remember having a go about aria when I was a student? You don't

fancy doing it again tonight? can't think of anything worse!

are still trying to persuade you to get up there. I'm pass that age but

never mind, eh? It is very taxing, isn't it? You have to be would sing

Mozart, it's a benchmark of good singing and her I thought he sang

it supremely well, and I thought he was almost too weighty for it. He

came alive afterwards for me. He was young and fresh. A joy to hear.

I'm told that we do have a winner. It's all getting very exciting. You

can see people coming out. Extremely exciting. Gareth, is it

different being in the hall and watching it in the television?

the hall, it is palpable, the tension and excitement. But

everybody is so excited, the envelope of sound is thrilling.

whole city seems to come to life. Are the eyes of the world are on us

here. I think it's fantastic for Wales. It puts us on the map and

uphold the standards that Wales's famous for. We have got the

Millennium Centre now and we attract international names. It's

so important to have this competition to back us up and to

launch it for us. Next, we are coming to find out the choices. The

unofficial choices. Who are you hoping to win tonight? It's always

hard, isn't it? My money would be on the mezzo-soprano. That's what I

heard tonight. I agree 100%. I think she was in love with the

music and we came in love or so. was blown away. Amazing. Let's hear

from the chair of the jury John Fisher, to find out who did win

tonight's frst round. The winner I am delighted to welcome Olesya

Petrova, from Russia, the winner of BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World,

fantastic. Welcome. Thank you. Congratulations. What a relief.

just really happy. I can't think now. Were you nervous during your

performance? You didn't look it. when I am on stage, I am not

nervous, maybe before, but not on stage. On stage, I am the Queen.

You looked like the Queen. You were the will of our unofficial panel

tonight. We thought that you were going to win. Well done. We were in

agreement. Thank you. It was a fantastic performance. Superb,

thank you very much. It's such a beautiful, natural voice. You are

very lucky. We are admiring everybody's stresses this evening.

For you, you even won the dress competition. It's beautiful.

like it? Is it new for tonight? Are you anxious about Thursday?

Finding out whether you will be in the final? Oh! Yes! Pretty scary.

Do you think she will be in the final? I would put money on it.

would get preparing. Perhaps we could even have two winners tonight.

Who would perhaps be your second choice? I think I would go for Anna

Leese from New Zealand. I would like to see what other programme

she could bring to the final but who knows? It is a job for the

judges, not me. We have got such an exciting week to look forward to.

You have got four days to prepare now. Yes, a bit relaxing and then

more work. We are looking forward to hearing your in the final.

Congratulations once again. Fantastic performance. Well done.

round of applause, everyone! APPLAUSE That's it for tonight.

Many thanks to our special guests, Elin Manahan Thomas and Gareth

Valentine. There's more information about the competition at

bbc.co.uk/cardiffsinger. And if you want to see a longer version of

tonight's concert, tune into to BBC Four at 7:30pm tomorrow night.