Judges’ wildcard, Catriona Morison, has taken out the top prize beating finalists including Australia’s Kang Wang.

Scottish mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison is the surprise winner of this year’s BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, coming from behind to take out the top honours on Sunday.

^{Catriona Morison. Photograph: BBC}

The 31-year old singer was the judges’ “wildcard” choice to compete in the finals against the four winners of the previous concert rounds. The other finalists were 29-year old Australian tenor Kang Wang, 32-year old American baritone Anthony Clark Evans, 29-year old Mongolian baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar, and 30-year old English soprano Louise Alder.

The Guardian reported that there were “some gasps” from the audience when Dame Kiri Te Kanawa announced “the winner from Scotland”. Morison, who is currently a member of the ensemble at Wuppertal Opera in Germany, is the first British singer to win the prestigious competition, which was established in 1983 to identify singing stars of the future. Entrants must be under the age of 35.

Morison not only won the Cardiff Trophy and £15,000 (around $25,000) in prize money, but she also shared the Singer of the World Song...