Soprano Valentina Nafornita took top honors in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition last weekend. Nafornita, 24, is the first Moldovan singer to win the prestigious competition, in which she also garnered the largest number of telephone votes from listeners and viewers to win the Dame Joan Sutherland Prize. Watch Nafornita's performance of "Regnava in silenzio" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in the competition finals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jA4wXhchKc Winning the biennial BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition can be a bellwether for a big career. Past winners include the Russian bass Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Finnish soprano Karita Mattila. Read more: Valentina Nafortnita Wins BBC Cariff Singer Competition (BBC News Wales)
Jennifer Hambrick unites her extensive backgrounds in the arts and media and her deep roots in Columbus to bring inspiring music to central Ohio as Classical 101’s midday host. Jennifer performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before earning a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.