American Julie Adams and New Zealander Isabella Moore triumph in an impressive night of opera.

American soprano Julie Adams has won the second annual Elizabeth Connell Prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos. The 27-year-old from San Francisco was one of five international sopranos in a stellar field competing for the $20,000 first prize at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She also wins an audition at the Royal Opera House in London. At the same event, New Zealand soprano Isabella Moore won the Fifth annual Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award. The 25-year-old singer carried off the $30,000 first prize as well as a place in the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto summer school in Tuscany for 2016. The judging panel comprised conductor Richard Bonynge (who celebrates his 85th birthday next week) as well as opera singers Nance Grant, Bernadette Cullen, Ghillian Sullivan and Fiona Janes

The Elizabeth Connell Prize was created in 2014 from a legacy left by the late South African dramatic soprano and despite only being in its second year is clearly hotting up to be a major award on the vocal competition circuit. Entrants were heard in four cities: Sydney, London, San Francisco and...