Singer Jenkins moves to new label

Jenkins will also be performing with tenor Placido Domingo early next year

Classical music star Katherine Jenkins has quit record label Universal to sign a lucrative deal with Warner Music.

The 28-year-old star will also move to Los Angeles for a few months to record a new album.

Jenkins told the BBC: "I'm very sad to be leaving Universal because that's where it all started... but I've been offered an opportunity I can't refuse."

The Welsh mezzo-soprano signed her six-album, £1m recording contract with Universal in 2000.

'Full circle'

Her final album under that deal, called Sacred Arias, was released on Monday.

Jenkins said: "I learned to sing in my local church choir, and I thought it would be nice to go full circle with this being the end of the deal, and make an album of all the things I loved to sing when I was first learning."

Jenkins is one of the most successful UK female soloists in history, with her last album Rejoice selling 500,000 copies.

Her albums feature a mix of arias, pop songs, traditional hymns and classical crossover music.

She added: "My main aim is to try and take classical music to a wider audience."

Warner Music said reports that Jenkins had received $10m (£5.8m) for signing the new contract were inaccurate.

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Correction 20 October 2008: Earlier versions of this story suggested that Katherine Jenkins had signed a $10m, five-album deal with Warner Music, a figure mentioned during her on-air interview with the BBC. Warner Music has subsequently pointed out that this figure, and the number of albums Ms Jenkins is under contract to produce, have not been confirmed.