-
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - Source: Close Up -
Watch Video
-
Related
Scottish soprano Shuna Scott Sendall has won the BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize.
The 34-year-old beat four other singers to take out the title, a place at Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's academy in Italy, and a chance to sing at Proms in the Park.
Te Kanawa used the radio promotion to try and find the opera world's "next big thing".
The competition started with 600 hopefuls all vying for the diva's approval. The group was whittled down over the weeks and culminated in five of the best performing two arias accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Then, Dame Kiri picked the best.
"What I'm looking for is a performance, the courage and conviction to do it tonight," she said at the time.
The competitors all trained at various schools before they entered and Dame Kiri expected a lot from her subjects.
"They sort of have to be nice and polite [with good] manners and be well dressed," she said.
Dame Kiri will mentor Sendall and she hopes her expertise and experience will help the rising star to achieve similar success.
"I came from nowhere and nothing, which is pretty amazing," she said.