From an initial field of 21 talented entrants, six were chosen to contest the final before an appreciative and enthusiastic audience of opera lovers.

With superb accompaniment from pianist Adam Laslett, the contestants each sang two contrasting arias before adjudicators Adele Nisbet and Margaret Sim retired to deliberate over the obviously outstanding merits of the six.

The National Aria has run continuously in Canberra since 1955 and throughout its history has afforded many fine young opera performers the opportunity to train with the finest tutors in the world and to sing with the greatest international opera companies.

In her summation, Nisbet, a renowned soprano, stressed the importance of such competition for artistic career development and urged lovers of all art forms to support the Australian National Eisteddfod during current difficult economic circumstances.

She praised the overall standard of performance before announcing the winner of the $15,000 prize as Sydney Conservatorium of Music graduate Regina Daniel, who had charmed the audience with aria’s from “The Rake’s Progress” by Stravinsky and Rossini’s “L’occasione fa il Ladro”.

Regina, who next week is to appear in the Sydney Independent Opera Company production of “La Scala di Seta”, intends to utilise the prize to fund a trip to London to audition for the Guildhall Opera before undertaking advanced language training in Berlin and Munich.