Welsh tenor Trystan Llyr Griffiths looked suitably gobsmacked when it emerged that he had seen off the challenge of four fine sopranos to win the £10,000 Bruce Miller Gulliver Prize at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Sunday afternoon.
His competition was slightly reduced by the absence of the Royal Academy of Music's nominee for the prestigious award, Christina Gansch, who had made her excuses having been cast in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro, under the baton on Nikolaus Harnoncourt, in her native Austria.
Griffiths, representing the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, sang Mozart, Stravinsky and Verdi to follow the likes of bass Jonathan Lemalu (2000) and tenor Nicky Spence (2010) onto the list of winners in what is the competition's 25th year.
Those keen to hear new talent should also look out for the names of Lauren Fagan (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Louise Kemeny (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Anna Rajah (Royal College of Music) and Bryony Williams (Royal Northern College of Music).
The parallel Bruce Millar Drama Award was awarded this year to prop maker and scenic painter Joanne Ferrie.
l rcs.ac.uk
Brown makes a comeback
With former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the news again for his advocacy of more devolution for Scotland, it is perfect timing for the return of Emmy-nominated writer and director Kevin Toolis's one-man play The Confessions Of Gordon Brown which opens at the Traverse Theatre this week.
The satire about the man Toolis, above, describes as "our greatest failure at being Prime Minister in 200 years" was first seen during last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is now touring prior to a run at London's Ambassadors Theatre.
The role of Brown is played by West Lothian-born Billy Hartman, who is best known for a lengthy tenure in TV soap Emmerdale.
The show is in Edinburgh from tonight until Saturday, plays the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes on April 12, Eden Court in Inverness on April 25 and 26 and Perth Festival Theatre on May 30 and 31.
l www.gordonconfesses.com
It's swamp pop party time
Cajun band the Revelers make their first visit to Scotland this month for a series of concerts that reports from their native Louisiana say are likely to turn into parties.
The band, formed by the founding members of two of American roots music's mightiest forces, The Red Stick Ramblers and The Pine Leaf Boys - and described by BBC Radio 3 presenter Lopa Kothari as "a Louisiana supergroup" - revisit 1950s swamp pop with a verve that regularly fills dance halls across southwest Louisiana and have been hailed as ambassadors for the music.
The tour begins in Hawick on Friday, March 14, and continues in Langholm (15), Inverness (16), Leith (18), Kilbarchan (19), Kirkcaldy (20), Birnam (21), Stirling (22) and Irvine (23).
l revelersband.com
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