A TEENAGER from Crickhowell made the shortlist of a competition run by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to perform on the West End.

Carys Davies, aged 18, was one of 1,500 other people who entered the competition for a chance to perform in Phantom of the Opera when it returns to the stage after lockdown.

A 20-second clip of the Monmouth School for Girls student singing was aired in the ’Think of Me’ Candenza Challenge video on YouTube.

Carys appeared in the broadcast as Mr Lloyd Webber, TV host Graham Norton and American theatre actress Sierra Boggess discussed the shortlist and highlighted talent.

Unfortunately the youngster didn’t win the competition, but she congratulated Kit Salter-Kay who did claim the top spot.

But she was given a special mention by the judging panel led by Mr Lloyd Webber.

"I felt so honoured to be part of the video," said Carys, a soprano who won the Blue Riband music prize earlier this year in Monmouth School for Girls’ Eisteddfod for her dazzling rendition of Handel’s Un Cenno Leggiadretto.

The lockdown competition was first announced on 17th April when Mr Lloyd Webber invited fans to submit their video renditions of Cadenza ’Think of Me’ through his social media channels.

Last term, Carys played the role of Henry V in Monmouth School for Girls’ interactive and all-female Shakespeare production.

A choral scholar, Carys gained a major part in the Welsh National Opera (WNO) youth opera production of Brundibár last summer at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

She has previously toured the Wales Millennium Centre, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Plymouth and Llandudno as one of the gingerbread children in WNO’s Hansel and Gretel production.

ABOVE: Carys on the video alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, Graham Norton and actress Sierra Boggess.

Carys won Monmouth School for Girls’ Blue Riband music prize for the first time earlier this year.