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is going to be extra special this year as we celebrate the competition’s 30^th anniversary.Ìý It’s an event that I’ve grown up with but I’m too young to remember the first one – honest!Ìý

As a girl I remember watching these beautiful women with voices like angels looking so glamorous in their ball gowns with sequins that would dance in the light; the men in their tuxedos commanding the stage, drawing you into their world with their story-telling skills.Ìý I thought that these people must dress like that all the time as they flit from one opera house to the next.

Little did I know that years later I would be part of the production team that produces this biennial operatic singing event. This will be the fourth time that I’ve worked on the competition but it certainly feels bigger and bolder this year due to the anniversary celebrations.Ìý I usually direct the behind the scenes packages for the TV coverage, but this time I’ve been tasked with producing two of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four rounds – no pressure then!

The competition takes over the city of Cardiff during the week-long event, with rehearsals at , the home of , interviews galore at , home of , the Song-Prize Competition at the and the nerve centre of the operation – .Ìý

St David’s Hall is where the main competition is staged, and it becomes the production team’s second home for the duration too.Ìý With over 20 hours of coverage to produce for TV, radio and online, production staff descend on the hall.Ìý With two days to go people are frantically building sets, rigging lights, writing scripts and numerous camera crews are dashing around the place not wanting to miss a thing.Ìý Even the taxi drivers get in on the act and let you know who their favourite singers are.Ìý

Over the past week the 20 competing singers have arrived in Cardiff and been whisked from rehearsal rooms to make-up, ready for their close ups with the camera crews.Ìý The hope is also that the exposure they get from TV and radio will help launch their careers – and it does.Ìý During the last few weeks I’ve met some of the past winners and they all credit the competition with having a profound effect on their careers.Ìý My colleague, Martyn Stevens, was tasked with producing a documentary celebrating the 30 years of the competition with me as the assistant producer.Ìý In interviewing the previous winners, we got a taste of the experience an opera singer has in opera houses around the world.Ìý We filmed in Vienna, Paris, Helsinki, Copenhagen and the ultimate of opera houses, .Ìý The most surreal day came in the middle of the project when I woke up in Helsinki, filmed all day in Copenhagen and went to sleep in Vienna!Ìý

Meeting these past winners and hearing their affection for the competition and the impact it had on their careers was quite emotional experience.Ìý They spoke fondly of the people that they’d met in Cardiff and the professionalism of all involved – the Ö÷²¥´óÐã at its best.

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Growing up I always knew that Ö÷²¥´óÐã Cardiff Singer of the World was a big deal, but I thought of it as very much a competition that was special for us in Wales.Ìý Since working on it I’ve come to understand that it’s much bigger than that.Ìý When the Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Opera tells you that the whole opera world sits up and takes note of what goes on in Cardiff, the scale of it hits home.Ìý

In less than 24 hours the first competitor will take to the stage.Ìý The excitement and the nerves are building in equal measure.Ìý I wonder who the taxi drivers will have their money on this year?

is Assistant Producer, Cardiff Singer of the World 2013.

• Coverage of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Cardiff Singer of the World 2013 begins on Monday 17 June on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 3, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Two Wales, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Wales and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Cymru. For more information visit .
• Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 3's and Cardiff Singer of the World presenter Petroc Trelawny has also written about the competition on the .Ìý