All stars return: Pham Trung Kien is among contestants in the final round tonight. — File Photo

HCM CITY (VNS)— Pham Trung Kien, who won the HCM City Television's (HTV) 2010 Tieng Ca Hoc Duong (Singing School), will be among eight women and men contestants in the final round of the station's annual singing contest Tieng Hat Truyen Hinh, beginning tonight.

The 22-year-old tenor of Binh Thuan Province has also entered the final round of this year's Sao Mai singing contest.

Kien said after the victory in 2010 that he had focused on study and practise as well as taken part in few singing contests.

He added that he believed he would win this year's contest because of "my emotional voice, confidence and experience".

Like Kien, many finalists are those who received top prizes in several contests across the country, including Do Thi Phuong Diep, winner of the Tuyen Quang TV Station's singing contest in 2009.

With experiences and singing skills, the final eight, four males and four females, showed their beautiful voices and professional performances to defeat 1,000 others in the preliminary and semi-final rounds. They competed in five shows of the final round.

Singer and composer Bao Lan, a judge, commented that the contestants had shown "careful preparation and profession in their performances".

"However, in later shows, we hope to see more progress and emotion in their voices because this is a singing contest," she said.

Composer Nguyen Ngoc Thien said: "This year's contestants are brave for singing new songs and not works that have been popular with audiences in the last 22 years of the contest."

He said that the new and meaningful songs would impress the judges and the audiences.

In the final round, the contestants will sing songs of different genres and on selected topics, including patriotic, contemporary folk, folk and pop. They will also perform songs chosen by the judges and other competitors.

Based on the judges' scores, the elimination of contestants will begin after the third show until the last three singers enter the grand finale on December 13.

The finalists will sing a solo, a duet with previous contests' winners and a song with foreign singers.

The winner will receive a prize of VND100 million (US$4,700) in cash and gifts.

All shows will be broadcast live at 8.30pm every Friday on HTV9 channel. —VNS