A 14-year-old girl of Maltese descent has been crowned junior champion in the vocalist category of an international competition, bagging a $20,000 Prime Music Recording Contract – the biggest prize in the championships.
Violeta Bozanic Grima, from Sydney, Australia, won five gold and three silver medals at the World Championships of Performing Arts, held in California, US.
It took Violeta two whole months of training for the WCOPA, which hosted people from 63 different countries.
Violeta told the Times of Malta that the biggest challenge she faced throughout the competition was getting well-prepared for each act during the day of the performances.
This was the first time Violeta had taken part in the championships, and she also participated in WCOPA’s modelling and acting competitions. In all, she had 11 different acts, each limited to one minute, and Violeta had to showcase her best ability during this time.
Violeta, whose maternal grandparents live in Xewkija, Gozo, has already been scouted by Grammy-winning producer Jeffrey Weber, who together with Stark Raving Records, has started working with the singer on a recording that will take place in Hollywood next year.
Mr Weber has commented that the “maturity” of Violeta’s voice and her song-writing skills left an “indelible impression” on him.
Mr Weber has already begun to recruit a team to join him on this project. The first two musicians and songwriters to sign up are Troy Laureta, former musical director for Ariana Grande and David Foster among others, and Dapo Torimiro, former musical director for Lauren Hill. Meanwhile, Emmy and Grammy winner Clark Germain will be Mr Weber’s recording engineer for this project.
No stranger to talent competitions, Violeta has turned the heads of judges and audiences for a few years. Her achievements include making it to the semi-final of Australia’s Got Talent at the age of 11.
Over the past two years, her original songs Baby I am Sorry and Save This World made it to 15 of the largest international song writing competitions.