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Like everything, , or simply “Cardiff Singer” as it’s always known, had to start somewhere, and it started in the brain of Mervyn Williams, then 麻豆约拍 Wales Head of Music. He was mulling over what type of event would be a good curtain raiser for the wonderful new St David’s Hall that was being built in Cardiff in 1982.

was the idea of an international singing competition where various television broadcasters would each field a talented young classical singer who would come to Cardiff to take part in Cardiff Singer of the World.

From the very beginning, Mervyn’s vision was not one of a gladiatorial combat, but of a festival of singing. “Don’t come to compete!” he said, “come to sing!”

It’s the same spirit that infuses the competition today. Yes, there is a competition, and yes, there is a winner, but really, for the audience, at home and in the St David’s Hall itself, there is a feast of wonderful music and singing. That’s the main thing. It’s an extraordinary thing too – the singers who come to Cardiff aren’t ordinary people. They have trained all their lives for this, and they and their families will have sacrificed time, money, a social life and many other things that the rest of us take for granted, to achieve the astonishing level of ability that they bring to us. For just under 20 minutes, they get to show their brilliance to some of the greatest experts in the world of classical singing, in front of a discerning, albeit supportive, audience, and to the millions watching and listening around the globe

Cardiff Singer has grown into a considerable endeavor. Now over 30 years old, it’s seen a lot of famous singers pass through its doors, (not just the winners). And like any other considerable endeavor, once one competition finale is over, we’re already well into the planning for the next one; searching for singers to take part, as well finding conductors, accompanists and jurors, is a continuous process.

Nowadays we run the search for future participants ourselves, via a selection process of DVDs submitted, followed up by live auditions to find the brilliant 20 singers who come to take part.

The small team in the office, now based at the 麻豆约拍 Wales headquarters, in Llandaff, north Cardiff, is a busy and happy one. Maybe it’s because of the nature of the competition, but it seems as if we’re always singing – although admittedly operatic arias are not the order of the day – we’re more likely to burst into music-hall ditties like, “My Old Man Said Follow The Van”, or “Boiled Beef and Carrots!”, all in noisy, cod-cockney voices. As we’re in an open plan office, this can lead to a lot of pursed lips and violent typing of instant messages between our non-Cardiff Singer colleagues, but they’re a tolerant bunch on the whole.

Getting Cardiff Singer on air is also a complicated process. With a production team numbering well over a hundred there’s a lot of organising to be done. The programme is a mix of live and pre-recorded output, so it takes a bit of remembering who’s doing what, when. The ‘Main Final’ is always “live” or “as live” (i.e. slightly deferred but un-edited) and that can present all sorts of unique challenges.

One year, the Final was broadcasting straight after some live sport – crucial cricket interspersed with Tim Henman at Wimbledon. We waited to hear when we could go on air conscious that the nature of both those sports of course is that no-one can really tell when they will finish.

As Executive Producer, waiting to tell everyone when Television Centre in London were ready to ‘come to us’ I found myself on the phone to Presentation at TV Centre (who run the channel from minute to minute), waiting to hear what was happening.

“Well, we’ll take the end of the cricket and then we’ll go to Wimbledon to see the end of Tim Henman’s match – so there’s no saying when we’ll be ready to come to you.”

Since I had a concert hall full of 2,000 people, and an orchestra waiting to go on stage, this wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear…

Pres(entation): We reckon it’ll be about 45 minutes or so
Me: WHAT?!!
Pres: No wait, the cricket’s finishing, we’re going to Wimbledon now… no saying how long that’ll be…
Me: (on phone to stage manager with other ear) OK, tell the orchestra to stand by, we can’t send them on yet.
Pres: OK coming to you in 5 minutes
Me: (to stage manager) Get the orchestra on now!
Stage Manager: But you just said…?
Me: I know – just send them on!
Pres: Coming to you in 90 seconds…
Me: What??? – Okay – orchestra on. Safety Announcement, NOW!
Pres: 30 seconds – just showing a trail for Casualty – 25 seconds
Stage Manager: Orchestra going on. Safety Announcement going on
Pres: 20 seconds…
Me: Get the stage presenter off as soon as you can – the safety announcement’s all we’ve time for – no niceties or jokes!
Pres: 10 seconds…
Stage Manager: Orchestra all on, safety announcement nearly finished
Me: Get the presenter off now!
(During this the TV Director, via talkback, is briefing TV presenter Petroc Trelawny and his guest; the Production Assistant in the gallery is counting down to opening titles, the orchestra leader and the conductor are waiting to be cued on...)
Pres: 5...4…3…2…You’re live…

Well, we got there, and we always do. Such is the thrill of live television. Planning a big competition like Cardiff Singer is a challenge to which we bring the combined experience of incredible people across the 麻豆约拍. And we’ll go into this year’s Grand Final knowing that the Wimbledon championship is yet to happen too.

David Jackson is Artistic Director, 麻豆约拍 Cardiff Singer of the World