Eisteddfod sees winners from across the world
A tenor from China who quit playing clarinet to focus on his voice has been crowned the world’s best young singer.
Zihua Zhang, 28, outshone competitors from all around the globe to win this year’s Pendine International Voice of the Future title at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
His was one of several competitions as the festival drew to a close.
Following a thrilling competition, Zihua Zhang was presented with the Pendine Trophy - a solid silver salver - and a £3,000 cheque jointly by musician in residence Nia Davies Williams and artist in residence Sarah Edwards from the arts-loving care organisation, Pendine Park, which sponsors the competition.
The prize came from the Pendine Arts and Community Trust which was founded by Pendine Park owners Mario and Gill Kreft, to support cultural and community initiatives across Wales.
The runner’s up prize of £1,000 went to Welsh baritone Owain Rowlands, of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire.
Owain was already a familiar face to many in the audience from his frequent performances on Welsh language TV channel S4C.
Australian soprano Charlotte Kelso, from Adelaide, was third.
Zihua only took up singing in his late teens, having started his music career playing clarinet for 15 years.
He said: “I always played clarinet but then one day I suddenly thought I’d have a go at singing for a bit and I discovered it was a lot of fun. Then I just knew it was what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”
Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod executive producer Camilla King said it had been a tough decision as all three finalists are potential stars of the future, but Zihua put in a truly show-stopping performance.
He is about to complete an advanced post graduate diploma at university in Birmingham having previously gained a master’s degree from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
A choir from the Philippines, the Kammerchor Manila, clinched the prestigious Pavarotti Trophy in the Choir of the World competition.
The winners saw off challenges from the “hugely impressive” runners-up, the Cantilon Chamber Choir, from Edmonton in Canada, the Delaware Choral Scholars, from the USA, and the Le Voci choir, from Hereford.
According to the judging panel, which included Robert Guy, the co-founder and conductor of the Wrexham based NEW Sinfonia orchestra which headlined at the eisteddfod earlier in the week, the victorious choir put in a superb performance.
Kammerchor is one of the premier church choirs in the Philippines and was founded in 1992 as a non-profit organisation.
The International Conductor’s Prize went to Heather Johnson of the Cantilon Chamber Choir from Canada
Serial winners the Loughgiel Folk Dancers from Northern Ireland were pipped to the first prize in the Dance Champions competition by Labschool Kebayoran Senior Highschool from Indonesia.
The Soul Oasis Cultural Ambassadors troupe from Trinidad and Tobago were also highly commended in the dance competition.
All the Saturday evening’s competitions took place against a background of thundery rain lashing down on the pavilion’s canvas roof but it was the music and dancing which prevailed.
Camilla King said: “The judges declared that it was the most exciting Choir of the World that Llangollen has seen for many years. All competitions were very tightly fought and it was a challenge to choose the eventual winners.
“Overall, we’ve had a brilliant week and it was great to be able to stage the first full length Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod since before the Covid pandemic.
“We introduced a host of entertaining new features on the field which proved very popular with the tens of thousands of visitors who came to the festival.
“Among the many highlights was the reading of the famous Dylan Thomas radio broadcast about Llangollen Eisteddfod, which was brilliantly delivered by the acclaimed actor Celyn Jones, to mark the 70th anniversary of the landmark masterpiece.
“It was also an absolute delight to see the return of the Parade of Nations which saw competitors from 19 nations on five continents around the world transform the streets of Llangollen into a sea of colour and joy.”
