Soprano Kate Wilmot will be no stranger to the Wesley Church when she performs in Wollongong Eisteddfod's prestigious $8000 operatic aria this weekend.
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Ms Wilmot, of Woonona East, is one of 26 classical singers who will perform in the open age section on Sunday that has a prize pool of $8000 (first), $2000 (second) and $1000 (third).
Adjudicator Dr Rowena Cowley will select eight finalists in the section, which this year has attracted entrants from as far afield as Queensland, Victoria and Canberra.
Ms Wilmot won Wollongong Eisteddfod's 2014 District Corrimal Rotary Prize for the open age operatic aria solo, as well as the Mary Jane Corderoy Memorial Encouragement Award for lieder solo.
In 2010, Ms Wilmot won the eisteddfod's Doris Smith Memorial Trophy for Art Song and she was a finalist in the opera section.
She said she participated in the eisteddfod because of the high standard of singing and adjudication.
"For me the venue is lovely and it's nice to sing in," she said.
"As a singer you don't always have work so I use the experience as something to work towards and if I've got new pieces I like to air them at the eisteddfod. It's also a chance for me to hear other singers."
Ms Wilmot relocated to Australia from South Africa in 2009 after working as a principal artist in Johannesburg's Roodeport Promusica Opera and Cape Town's Spier Opera Trust.
She was invited back to South Africa in 2011 to perform Mozart's Requiem with the Rheinberger Chamber Choir.
She performed Requiem again with other Mozart excerpts at the Wollongong Town Hall with the Illawarra Choral Society, alongside singers from Opera Australia.
Ms Wilmot will also present a performance with pianist Kate Johnson at the Austinmer Uniting Church on Sunday, June 14, at 2pm.
The concert titled "From Words to Music" will bring to life the literary works of writers Shakespeare, Murger, Bronte and Dickinson helping them to find embodiment in the hands of composers such as Britten, Verdi, Puccini, Taylor and Holby.
Wollongong Eisteddfod starts on Saturday with the vocal sections at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music.
The competition changes venue on Sunday to the Wesley Church, where the operatic aria solo will start at 1pm.
The Wollongong Welsh Choir will perform a rendition of the Welsh National Anthem and the song As Long As I Have Music in memory of the late eisteddfod committee member Ann James.