2012 Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of the Year Finalists Announced

Finalists have been announced for the 10^th annual Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year competition, which is organized by one of the Land Of Song’s oldest continuously serving choirs, the Dunvant Male Choir.

Following a closely contested preliminary round on February 18, when 30 talented contestants each presented a 10 minute programme of songs, a panel of judges selected 5 singers who will compete in the final at the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea on Saturday April 14. Such was the quality of the performances at the preliminary round that the judges were forced to choose 5 finalists instead of the usual 4. The last time this occurred was in 2005, when the finalists included 3 singers who went on to become West End stars - Connie Fisher (The Sound Of Music), Hayley Gallivan (25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring Awakening) and Olivier Award winner David Thaxton (Love Never Dies, Passion, Les Miserables). Thaxton and Gallivan shared the title in 2005 and Fisher went on to win the title the following year before gaining fame as winner of the BBC’s How To Solve A Problem Like Maria.

The 2012 finalists, all of whom no doubt aspire to achieve similar feats to their distinguished predecessors, are:

Bronte Barbe (aged 20, Cheshire born, but a fluent Welsh speaker educated in Pwllheli, currently studying at Mountview Academy and a former finalist in the BBC search for a West End Dorothy, “Over the Rainbow”)

Steffan Harri Jones (aged 20, student at the Guildford School of Acting and a native of Llanfair Caereinion in North Wales)

Robert Quibell (28 years old from Swansea, currently aiming to secure funding to enable him to train formally in the hope of fulfilling his dream of becoming a professional performer)

Michael Rees (a 20 year-old from Neath, a former member of the Harry Secombe Youth Musical Theatre Company and currently studying at Guildford School of Acting)

Giorgia Warsama (a 17 year old student at Whitchurch High School, Cardiff) 

The evening at the Taliesin will also include a performance by the 2011 winner Peter Horton as well as choral renditions from the Dunvant Male Choir.

Saturday 14th April 2012  Taliesin Arts Centre, Singleton Park, Swansea            

Tickets: (£12) 01792 522144

Picture of Catherine Mort (2009 winner)

Robert Gould is a graduate of the University of Wales, Swansea, a former teacher, a writer of history books for schools (The French Revolution and European Nationalism, 1848-71) and the librettist and lyricist of a number of musicals. Collaborating with composer Ty Kroll, he has written the book and lyrics for the musicals, Lovers, Alone and Vocalize!. Concerts of songs from Lovers and Vocalize! were presented at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (in March 2002 and April 2003) and Alone received its world premiere staging in Madison, Wisconsin in April 2003. He has co-written the book & lyrics(with Jimmy Granstrom) for The Dying Game, a musical that speaks for the victims of HIV/AIDS in Africa (with music by Filip von Uexkull, Ty Kroll & Tristan Bons) - which received a showcase production at the Greenwich Musical Futures season in 2005. He wrote lyrics for the Tim Prottey-Jones albums More With Every Line and Surrounded By The Sounds and is currently developing the musical Roundabout with songwriter Joe Sterling and the musicals Based On A True Story, Elephant Juice, Grace Notes, Flop and My Land's Shore with composer Christopher J. Orton.

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