(Credit: Official Facebook for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World)

On June 22,  Baritone Andrei Kymach was revealed as the winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019 Competition.  Katie Bray  was announced as the “Audience Prize” winner. The prize was dedicated to the memory of Dmitri Hvorostovsky. The “Song Prize” winner, which was announced on Thursday, is Mingjie Lei.

“I’m overwhelmed to have won the BBC Cardiff Singer of The World 2019. It’s literally a dream come true. I can remember watching the competition when I was very young and it would never have occurred to me that I could one day even take part, let alone win. I wish to thank the jury and everyone involved with the competition for being so supportive and welcoming,” Kymach said after the announcement.

Past winners of the big prize include Catriona Morison, Nadine Koutcher, Jamie Barton, Valentina Nafornita, Ekaterina Scherbachenko, Shenyang, Nicole Cabell, Tommi Hakala, Marius Brenciu, Anja Harteros, Guang Yang, Katarina Karnéus, Inger Dam-Jensen, Lisa Gasteen, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Valeria Esposito, David Malis, and Karita Mattila.

The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019 kicked off last Saturday with the Song Prize competition. By Wednesday, all of the finalists for the Main Prize were revealed with the Song Prize final taking place the following day.

The next BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition is set for 2021.