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Torrential downpours were not enough to keep the devoted Cardiff Singer audience away from the New Theatre and St David's Hall over the weekend.

Eri Nakamura

The first singers to be heard in the 2009 competition were taking part in Recitals One and Two, on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. See slideshows from the recitals, or read the programme notes before listening to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3 coverage on Tuesday 9 June from 1pm. The radio programmes will also include highlights from the concerts from the main competition.

On Sunday evening, St David's Hall was packed, ready for the start of what promises to be a fantastic week of music making. If you couldn't be there, you can see extended highlights on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four tonight at 7.30pm, but here's a taster of what to expect.

The audience was treated to a huge range of operatic music, from baritone character roles including Papageno entertainingly performed by Etienne Dupuis from Canada, to ingénue roles such as Micaëla from Latvian soprano Dana Bramane, to King Philip's sorrow at unrequited love from Argentinian bass Fernando Javier Radó, all of whom sang in the first half of the concert.

After the interval, soprano Emiliya Ivanova from Bulgaria made us believe that she was Juliette in the Waltz Song from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and to finish, soprano Eri Nakamura from Japan gave us another, very different Juliette from the end of the same Gounod opera, as she prepares to drink the potion that will make her appear to be dead.

The winner of concert one was Eri Nakamura from Japan.