'Jinx' hits singer contest

D'Arcy Bleiker burst a blood vessel while warming-up for the contest

Opera singers often play tragic roles, but for four young competitors in the BBC Singer of the World competition real life tragedy has struck.

Three of the 25 contestants in the world-famous event - from Switzerland, Ukraine and Italy - have dropped out due to illness.

And to rub in the jinx, one of the last-minute replacements, from Scotland, went down with a hay fever attack and was also unable to compete.

BBC Wales, organisers of the competition originally entitled Cardiff Singer of the World, say that since the start of the contest in 1983 there have always been casualties among the 25 young performers.

However, this has been the most affected of the 11 competitions to date with those actually getting on stage reduced to 23.

Beate Kielland has called up as a second reserve

The jinx has chosen to strike mainly at baritones and has left tenors unscathed.

Baritones often play the stage villains in opera, but this time they have been cast in the role of the real-life victims.

Italian baritone Fabio Maria Capitanucci fell at the first hurdle on Saturday with an undisclosed disposition.

He was followed by Ukrainian baritone Pavel Baransky, who was silenced by a heavy cold on Monday.

The third baritone, Switzerland's D'Arcy Bleiker, was the victim of a burst blood vessel in his throat shortly before he was due on stage on Tuesday.

A Scottish replacement on the reserve list, called in on Saturday to replace him, almost immediately had to drop out herself due to illness.

Whittled down

A second replacement, Norwegian mezzo soprano Beate Kielland, was drafted in and sings in the heat on Thursday.

The first round of the BBC Wales-organised contest, one of the most prestigious in the world for young singers, took place on Sunday.

The winners of the heats compete on Saturday at the venue for the competition, St David's Hall, Cardiff.

Those who reached the final 25 selected to perform were whittled down from the 900 from 56 nations who originally entered the contest.

From this 483 were auditioned at 40 locations spread over 36 countries.

The Cardiff Singer of the World, as it was until this year, has launched the careers of several world-famous opera stars such as Karita Mattila, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Wales' own Bryn Terfel.