Cardif singer of the year

As trustee of the Richard Lewis Trust, Elizabeth Muir-Lewis attended the Cardiff Singer of the World in Cardiff last month… She describes it as - “Nine days sitting listening to wonderful singers of every voice from all over the world!"
	"How do you choose?…sopranos from England, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Korea, Sweden, Wales, Japan, Australia.. tenors from Estonia, Brazil, Canada, baritones from China, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Uzbekistan, USA, South Africa, mezzo’s from Chile, Ukraine, Russia, and a stunning Counter-tenor from Canada."
		"Of course who sings and presents the best is hotly debated by audience and media. For me, the final choice of the Chinese Bass Baritone was a surprise and in some ways a disappointment, as Elizabeth Watts sang superbly, and was I felt , the best , in many ways, that evening."
"That doesn’t mean the winner Shen Yang was not good. He was. Still only twenty three years old, tall, impressive, very intelligent, as I found out when speaking to him afterwards. His final Rachmaninov aria was so good he brought tears to everyone’s eyes and perhaps it was this that made him the winner. "
"We came home exhausted! An overkill of voice, a tired brain from listening, but exhilarated, and as sponsors (The Richard Lewis Award) satisfaction that we were helping some young talented singers . The Hungarian Bass baritone Levente Molnar ( a fine exciting singer) hadn’t realised that he would get £2.500 pounds from our trust, mainly because he speaks little English. .. When I, in my best German, told him, he threw his hands up in the air, embraced me, crying “You have saved my life, thank you so much” "
	"So a wonderful experience in an amazing city where we enjoyed superb singing sitting among hundreds of music lovers intent on having a great time. It will be long time before I receive so much smiling welcoming bonhomie from a crowd again ..maybe it was the Welsh element, that beautiful language, the openness , the warmth and friendliness I experienced ... Whatever it was, it will remain with me for a long time."