Finalists Announced for 15th Annual Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year Competition

Finalists for the 15th annual Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of the Year competition have been announced.

The 2017 final, which will be held at the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea on April 22, will be contested by Kate McKeown, Lynwen Haf Roberts, Ben Thomas and Grace-Marie Wyatt.

The four finalists were selected by adjudicators Vivien Care, Claire Hammacott and Michael Morwood after a closely fought preliminary round held at Gowerton School on Saturday March 11, when an audience of musical theatre fans and supporters were treated to a high standard of performance from 20 vocalists, all accompanied by Joseph Parry Award Winner Jeff Howard at the piano. The contestants performed songs from an eclectic mix of styles from the musical theatre canon - from Carousel and Annie Get Your Gun to Kinky Boots and Waitress and by songwriters as diverse as Gilbert and Sullivan, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Boy George!

The 2017 Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer Of The Year competition is sponsored by Hello Cabaret, Dunvant Male Choir and Dunvant Choir Ladies Section and, since its inception in 2003, the contest has been organized by the Dunvant Choir (Wales's longest continuously running male voice choir). The choir will, as always, perform a selection from their musical theatre repertoire during the evening of the Final at the Taliesin and the event will also feature a performance by the 2016 winner of the title, Michael Lowe.

Former Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year winners include Olivier Award winner David Thaxton (Les Miserables, Passion, Love Never Dies), Connie Fisher (Wonderful Town, They're Playing My Song, The Sound Of Music), Hayley Gallivan (Wicked, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring Awakening), Luke McCall (The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Miserables), Michael Rees (My Land's Shore, Girlfriends) and Kit Orton (West End star of Spamalot, who in 2016 toured the UK playing the role of Welsh pop icon Tom Jones in the musical "Tom").

And the event, which continues to promote and celebrate the best in musical theatre, has become an eagerly anticipated and prestigious occasion in the Land Of Song's musical and cultural calendar.