A 13-year-old girl from Medan, North Sumatra, Lyodra Margaretha Ginting, has won first place in an international singing contest, the Sanremo Junior Festival 2017, in the city of Sanremo in northern Italy.

The contest was held for solo singers aged between 6 and 15 years old.

Lyodra performed the song "Dear Dream" written by Erwin Gutawa and Gita Gutawa with English lyrics created by Ria Leimena, said spokesperson of the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, Aisyah Allamanda.

Read also: Indonesian choir wins grand prize in Spain

 

The winning performance by Lyodra (13) from Indonesia at Sanremo Junior Festival! 🇮🇩 @lyodraa baru saja menjuarai ajang menyanyi internasional untuk soloist anak yang diselenggarakan di kota Sanremo, Italia, dengan menyanyikan lagu "Dear Dream" (the English version of "Janji Untuk Mimpi" @diatasrata2) diiringi oleh Sanremo Symphony Orchestra! Lyodra, you're special! You've been practicing so hard dan terima kasih kamu sudah memberikan yang terbaik. Kamu harus selalu bangga dan bersyukur atas talenta yang diberikan Tuhan ke kamu. Look what you've achieved! Tetap rendah hati, terus bermimpi dan menginspirasi. Aku, om @eg_erwingutawa, dan seluruh Indonesia bangga sama kamu. ❤️ #DiAtasRatarata #SanremoJunior2017 #BEKRAF

A post shared by Gita Gutawa (@gitagut) on May 6, 2017 at 6:04pm PDT

After participating in the festival, Lyodra alongside Gita Gutawa reportedly visited the embassy in Rome on Thursday to meet Indonesian Ambassador to Italy Esti Andayani.

According to Antara news agency, it is the first time Lyodra has traveled outside of Indonesia. At the contest, she competed against 22 singers from 18 countries in the 13-15 age category and received a standing ovation from the audience.

The father and daughter musician duo Erwin and Gita reportedly discovered Lyodra's talent during their time as producer and music arranger in the "Di Atas Rata-rata 2" (Above Average 2) project, which aims to nurture Indonesian youths with golden voices. (kes)