The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019 has announced the first two finalists from the main competition.

Each finalist has been announced after each round. The first person to compete in Saturday’s grand finale is Chinese tenor Mingjie Lei. He studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before heading to the Manhattan School of Music and Curtis Institute of Music. He has appeared with such organizations as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Salzburg Festival, Opera Colorado, and Teatro Nuovo, among others.

For his performance in the final round, Lei is set to take on “Dies Bildnis” from “Die Zauberflöte,” “Tu second ail mio desegno” from “Il Turco in Italia,” and “Magische Töne” from “Die Königin von Saba.” He is also a finalist for the Song Prize.The other artist to move onto the final round of the competition is America’s own Patrick Guetti. The New Jersey native graduated from the Catholic University of America and was a 2014 grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Glyndebourne Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, and the LA Philharmonic, among others. For the final he will perform arias by Rossini, Wagner, Britten, and Verdi.