Daniel Cabena has won the $25,000 Virginia Parker Prize. (Jedidiah Allen)

Classical countertenor Daniel Cabena has won the $25,000 Virginia Parker Prize for classical musicians under age 32 who demonstrate outstanding talent and musicianship.

The Waterloo, Ont. native is now studying at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, under German tenor Gerd Turk after winning the Bernard Diamant Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts.

This season he will sing at Le Parlement de Musique, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu of Lyon, Berlin Baroque, Le Concert Spirituel, l’Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Musica Fiorita and La Cetra of Basel and the Ensemble Weser Renaissance of Bremen.

Cabena earned his first degree in music at Wilfrid Laurier University where his father taught and holds a doctorate in music from l’Université de Montréal.

“Daniel Cabena is part of a new generation of artists helping to put Canada on the world stage,” said Robert Sirman, Canada Council director, in a release announcing the win on Monday. He praised Cabena for his “great expressive power” as a singer.

Cabena, who sings a wide range of works from Bach to Bernstein, says he will devote the prize to widening his repertoire and finding professional opportunities around the world.

Established in 1982 by music lover Virginia Parker, the prize is funded by an annual donation from the Virginia Parker Foundation