AMERICAN opera star Noah Stewart said making a triumphant return visit to Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod to watch the day’s young performers in action reminded him of his own early days as a chorister.

Noah, who gave a performance from the Eisteddfod stage at an evening concert which won him a standing ovation, was back the following morning to receive the rare honour of being chosen as the festival’s Day President.

Speaking about what this meant to him, he said: “I performed at Llangollen for the first time last year and to come back this year, especially as Day President, has been truly special for me.

“It’s been 12 months since then but it’s actually like I’ve never been away. It still has all the same energy and excitement I saw first last year.

“Coming to Llangollen reminds me of my own early days as a chorister.

“It was at the time I was studying to be an engineer back home in New York City and I joined a junior choir.

“In my second year we started to do competitions and the choir director told me he had seen something special in me, and that’s where my solo singing began.

“It wasn’t until then that I realised that you could combine music and travelling and make it a career.”

Noah added: “I fell in love with music because it gave me a connection that I didn’t get through science and engineering.

“While I enjoy other styles of music, my first love is classical music and it was through classical music I got my first big break.

“I was with the San Francisco Opera when I was asked to fill in for the tenor in the role of McDuff in Verdi’s Macbeth. From there I went on to start my career as a solo artist in 2008.”

Noah said he was a great honour to be the Eisteddfod’s Day President.

He explained: “When I heard I was being asked to do it I went crazy because I just love the excitement, colour and atmosphere of peacefulness of the festival.

“I also look forward to coming back to Wales because the people are so warm and open and have such a great appreciation of culture, which is what the Eisteddfod is all about.”

Noah went up on stage to be introduced to the audience in the pavilion and gave a powerful performance of the rousing American standard Without a Song.

He was presented with flowers by seven-year-old Annie Roberts from Trevor, a pupil of Ysgol Garth, who said: “I enjoyed walking on the stage, his singing is really good.

“I love singing and I really like One Direction.”

Noah was trained at the Juilliard School in New York and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

His debut album became a major success in the UK, topping the classical charts for seven weeks.

In 2010 he made a critically-lauded debut at Covent Garden as Hassan in Judith Wier’s Miss Fortune, a role he premiered at the Bregenzer Festpiele in 2011.

He has gained many awards and honours including first prize in the Florida Grand Opera competition and he is in constant demand to take part in operas sand concerts in the UK and around the world.

A new jobs fair was hailed a “fantastic” success by an MP.

There were 500 jobs up for grabs at the inaugural South Denbighshire Jobs Fair at Denbigh Town Hall.

It was attended by hundreds of teenagers who were able to find information on future careers.

Major employers there included the main sponsor, Pendine Park care organisation, and Ruthin-based civil engineering company Jones Bros.

The event featured career advice from seasoned professionals for young people between 14 and 18 and job advertisements in the afternoon for people aged 16 and above.

Students from Denbigh High School, St. Brigid’s School and the Denbigh Campus of Coleg Llandrillo, attended the fair, which was the brainchild of Mark Young, proprietor of Denbigh Chocolate Shop.

Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane was there to show his support, as was the High Sheriff of Clwyd David Meredith Jones.

Mr Ruane said: “I take my hat off to Mark Young and to Mario Kreft for organising this. It’s a fantastic event which we hope to replicate in other areas – possibly in Rhyl.

“It just goes show what the local people, local businesses and schools can do when they come together.

“I’ve talked to stallholders here that have attended jobs fairs across North Wales and they’ve said they don’t even compare to this.

“The stalls here today are offering 500 jobs. There are 1,600 people unemployed in Denbighshire, and if we get those jobs to the people unemployed in Denbighshire then we’ll reduce unemployment by a third.”

Mark Young was delighted with how the event went.

He said: “It’s fantastic and it shows what people can achieve when they pull together. A lot of people have got behind this including Mario Kreft from Pendine Park, Chris Ruane, and David Meredith Jones.

“There are around 25 companies and organisations offering over 500 jobs.

“It’s good for the community, good for business and hopefully a lot of young people will get jobs at the end of it.”

Mario Kreft MBE, the proprietor of the award-winning Pendine Park care organisation which employs more than 600 people, thinks the event was a resounding success.

Mr Kreft, who lives in Denbigh, said: “I think it’s excellent to encourage young people to start thinking at the earliest age about the sort of career they’re looking for.

“I think events like today will give young people a real opportunity to consider their options and obviously we hope that one of those options will be to work in the community within social care.

“It’s great to see so many people here. It’s first class and Pendine Park care organisation is delighted to be able to support it.”

Denbigh High School student Jess Jefferson, 13, thinks the fair has been very helpful.

“This event is cool because it helps people with what they want to do after they leave school. I’m not sure what I want to do in the future but this jobs fair has given me a few ideas. I’ve been looking at information from the Army recruitment stall because I’m in Cadets, Denbigh Platoon.

Fellow Denbigh Hugh pupil Magi Davies, 13, added: “I think the jobs fair has been very helpful because I want to be a police officer and I found out a lot about it. There are college courses that I can take and there’s loads of help around. It’s good to think about these things early.”

The sentiment was echoed by their Head Teacher Mr Simeon Molloy.

He said: “I think it’s an excellent event for the students that are making their option choices and it gives them an idea of what the job market is. This is a great opportunity for them to get a taste of what the real world is like, and speak to people who may well be their future employers.”

Recruitment consultant for North Wales-based recruitment agency Victoria Hindmarch, said: “I think it’s a great set up and I think Mark Young’s idea of putting this careers fair together is a great way of not only seeing the young talent that’s coming through but also showing how business and a recruitment agency like ours can collaborate in the future.”

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Mary Tetley, chief executive of the scuba diving organisation the British Sub-aqua Club, who had a stall at the event, added: “When I was at school my careers advice wasn’t very good really and I’ve just been very lucky that I found the right career.

“This fair is a way we can advise young people of what to do, and give them some food for thought.

“Hopefully while we’re here we’ll recruit, and we’re happy to take on people for work experience as well which is something that I really want to promote.”

Niamh Whitehead, the HR Manager at Jones Bros, said: "The jobs fair is a fantastic opportunity for young people to see what careers they can work towards.

"We’re on the lookout for everything from young people who are looking to get on to an apprenticeship scheme to graduates who are looking for a career in civil engineering. There are great opportunities available for young people with Jones Bros.”