Above: Finnish soprano Karita Mattila with the Cardiff Singer of the World trophy in 1983
BBC Cardiff Singer of the World is a competition for opera and lieder 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 first singer to win the title of Cardiff Singer of the World was Karita Mattila. Since then, hundreds of singers have competed; many have gone on to stellar careers whilst others have faded from view.
Karita Mattila’s winning performance is documented here.
Soon after that first Competition, my English friend Mollie began sending me cassettes of the various rounds of each year’s competition. From these, I saved items of interest which I eventually was able to convert to MP3s. I’ll be posting these, in no particular order, over the coming months.
Danish tenor Sune Hjerrild
Sune Hjerrild – Waft her Angels ~ JEPTHA – Cardiff 2005
Latvian counter-tenor Sergejs Jēgers
Sergejs Jēgers – Latvian counter-tenor – Venga pur ~ MITRIDATE RE DI PONTO – Cardiff 2005
Above: basso Julian Konstantinov
In 1993, Italian mezzo-soprano Elisabetta Lombardi and Bulgarian basso Julian Konstantinov competed. Excerpts from their Cardiff appearance:
Elisabetta Lombardi ~ Julian Konstantinov Cardiff 1993
Ms. Lombardi (above) sings Alban Berg’s Die Nachtigall here…
…and Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs here.
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 