91Èȱ¬

Tenor John Pierce won the final of the 2010 Welsh Singers Competition at St David's Hall, Cardiff on Monday 28 June.

John Pierce receives the trophy from Bryn Terfel (photograph: Brian Tarr)

John wins a trophy and £2,000, but the most valuable part of the prize is to represent Wales in the 2011 91Èȱ¬ Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

He received a taste of what it will be like next June as he performed favourites from the operatic tenor repertoire by Mozart, Verdi, Massenet and Puccini to an appreciative audience on the stage of St David's Hall.

Twenty-four other talented singers from around the world will be selected to join John in the next competition from worldwide auditions this autumn. They all perform their own choice of operatic and concert music with orchestra, plus the option to enter the parallel Song Prize competition, featuring the art song repertoire.

This is the second attempt by John, who comes from Holywell in Flintshire - in 2008 he also reached the Welsh Singers Competition final but lost out to soprano Natalya Romaniw on that occasion.

John says he was "shocked" to hear his name announced as the winner. He is having quite a year, with this win coming just weeks after the birth of his first child, Sophie. Also this summer, he performs Rodolfo in La bohème for British Youth Opera and, soon afterwards, covers the same role for English National Opera. He finished his winning programme with Che gelida manina from the opera.

Previous winners of the Welsh Singers Competition have gone on to have very successful careers, including Sarah-Jane Davies (2006) and the legendary Bryn Terfel (1988), who this year sat on the jury for the first time and presented the prize to John Pierce.

The competitors were accompanied by the 91Èȱ¬ National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Grant Llewellyn. Find out details of what John and the other three finalists performed.