Teenage singer Zoë Mace has reached the finals of a competition to find the nation's best singer.

Zoë, 13, from Freeland, was the only one of 18 competitors in the regional finals of Idol 2008 in Fareham, Hampshire, to sing a classical track.

But the soprano's rendition of Nessun Dorma so impressed the judges and audience that she won enough votes to be selected as one of four singers to go through to the under-18 finals, which will be held in Portsmouth on Saturday, November 29.

She said: "It was really nerve-wracking, because I was up second last, so I was waiting and waiting to go on.

"But when I got out, the atmosphere was just amazing.

"I never thought I would get through. I just went in thinking it would be a bit of fun and experience and went to do the best I could."

The first prize in the contest is a chance to record an album.

Her mum Linda said: "We just had the most hilarious time, it was such fun.

"Zoë's never sung in front of an audience like that before and when she hit the high notes they all got up and started clapping."

Zoë, whose CDs have raised thousands of pounds for the Oxford Children’s Hospital, singing to entertain her little sister Jodie, who had Down's Syndrome and died in 2005 following open heart surgery.

The Idol competition is in its fourth year and attracted more than 10,000 entries.