Rachel Bate

Soprano, NSW

Rachel Bate attributes her musical success to her family. From the age of 15, Rachel was encouraged to take part in various choirs, eisteddfods, school musicals and performances at the local church in her hometown of Wollongong.

Rachel completed her Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2008 and an Advanced Diploma in Opera in 2010. While at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Rachel’s principal roles included Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring and Frau Fluth in Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.

2010 proved to be a very successful year for Rachel. She won the Australian Singing Competition’s Marianne Mathy Scholarship, which provided funding for further study in New York, as well as the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award. That year she also won the Opera Foundation of Australia German Opera Scholarship, and the opportunity to join the Cologne Opera Ensemble for their 2011/2012 season.

Jade Moffat

Mezzo Soprano, QLD

Jade Moffat, a mezzo soprano from Toowoomba, Queensland, studied for her Bachelor of Music in Advanced Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium under the tutelage of Professor Janet Delpratt.

In 2009, at the age of 19, Jade was a finalist in the Australian Singing Competition, where she won the prestigious Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award and the Nelly Apt Scholarship, which enabled her to travel to Israel to continue her studies in voice at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. Jade also won the David Harper Award, with prizes including 10 lessons with world-famous opera teacher David Harper.

In 2010, Jade travelled to Tokyo to perform the role of Fenena in the International Foundation for Arts and Culture’s production of Verdi’s Nabucco. In 2011, Jade is completing her final year at the Queensland Conservatorium, where she recently performed as Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

Sitiveni Talei

Baritone, WA

Born in Australia but raised in Fiji, Sitiveni Talei began studying voice at the Australian National University in 2001. He also studied singing in the UK at the Yorke Trust Summer Opera Company in Norfolk and with teachers and coaches at the Royal Northern College of Music. Sitiveni moved to Perth in 2005 and became a member of the West Australian Opera chorus, performing roles in Madama Butterfly and The Love of the Nightingale.

In 2008, as well as winning the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award, Sitiveni won the Marianne Mathy Scholarship as part of the Australian Singing Competition and the Nelly Apt Scholarship, which saw him participate in the 2009 Summer School at the International Vocal Arts Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel. During his four-week stay he performed the roles of Baron Duphol and Papa Germont in a production of Verdi’s La Traviata, as well as in concerts, recitals and master classes.

In 2010, Sitiveni sang three major roles with West Australian Opera: Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Morales in Carmen and Alessio in La Sonnambula, and also sang in the inaugural Australian Shakespeare Festival, both in concert and in the opera Sir John in Love.

Recent concert appearances include bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bach's St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Faure’s Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’s Five Sacred Songs.

Natalie Aroyan

Soprano, NSW

Natalie Aroyan had a passion for singing from a young age, but it wasn’t until she was 23 that she discovered opera. After graduating with a degree in Business, Natalie completed her Postgraduate Diploma of Opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she undertook the major role of Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Other performances during her time at the Conservatorium included The Goddess Diana in the Haydn’s La Fedelta Premiata, Lady Dunmow in Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement and Lisetta in Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna.

In 2007, in addition to winning the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award in the Australian Singing Competition, Natalie was also awarded the Nelly Apt Scholarship. This enabled her to travel to the to the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv where she made connections with the industry professionals from New York and the Metropolitan Opera. In 2008, Natalie won the Opera Foundation’s New York Scholarship and the Herald Sun Aria Award.

Natalie is now pursuing her dream of an international performance career, studying in Europe under full scholarship, and at the Mannes College in the New School for Music in New York.

Michael Lampard

Baritone, TAS

Since winning the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award in 2006, Tasmanian Michael Lampard has built a strong reputation nationally and internationally, performing in opera, oratorio, recital and musical theatre with groups including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Pasdeloup, Rome Festival Orchestra, and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.

Michael was a quarter finalist in Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition in Paris in 2007, won the DJ Mazda Aria at the Hobart Eisteddfod, and has been a finalist in the Australian Singing Competition on two occasions. In 2010, Michael was selected as a semi-finalist in the prestigious 2011 More than Opera - German Australian Opera Grant held in Melbourne at Melba Hall, and has been a finalist in the Southern Cross Young Achievers Arts Award three times, winning the award in 2011.

In 2010, Michael graduated with a Master of Music from the University of Tasmania, following on from a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours in 2007. He is currently studying under the tutelage of eminent baritone Konrad Jarnot at the Robert Schumann School of Music in Düsseldorf.

In March 2011, Michael initiated and organised a Concert for Queensland in aid of the Queensland Premier’s Flood Relief Fund, and featured as a soloist.

Anita Watson

Soprano, NSW

After completing a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australian soprano Anita Watson graduated from the Australian Opera Studio and Cologne Opera Studio as well as the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In 2005, Anita won the Australian Singing Competition’s Marianne Mathy Scholarship, the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award and Nelly Apt Scholarship. That year she also won the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, Neue Stimmen in Germany and the Placido Domingo Operalia Competition. At the 2009 ARD Music Competition in Munich, she won first prize as well as the audience prize.

Anita has performed roles at the Royal Opera House, including the Flowergirl in Parsifal, First Lady in The Magic Flute, Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos and Gretel and Dewfairy in Hänsel and Gretel. Her other roles have included the title role in Handel’s Xerxes, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Micaela in Carmen for the Australian Opera Studio and Barena in Jenufa for Cologne Opera.

Anita made recently her Italian debut at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in Turn of the screw by Britten and her Salzburg Festival debut as 5th Maid in Elektra. She was recently invited to sing Mimi in La Boheme at the National Reiseoper in Netherlands and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Salzburg Landestheater and La Fenice, Venice.

Recently, Anita took over the part of Donna Anna in Opera Australia’s current production of Don Giovanni and will return to the Royal Opera in Covent Garden as First Lady in The Magic Flute in 2013.

Paul O'Neill

Tenor, WA

Paul studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where he completed a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Classical). In 2004, he was a finalist in the Australian Singing Competition, where he received several prestigious scholarships, including the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award. He won the Opera Foundation Australia’s Covent Garden National Opera Studio Scholarship in 2005, and has since established a very successful international career.

Paul graduated from the National Opera Studio in 2006 and after studying at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice with Dennis O’Neill, he joined the ensemble and studio of the Staatsoper Berlin in November 2007.

Internationally, Paul’s roles have included Uldino in Attila and Bruno in I Puritani for the Chelsea Opera Group and Il Duca di Mantua in Rigoletto for Opera Holland Park, which he also returned to sing for West Australian Opera in 2007. He also regularly features in the special Proms concerts for Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Paul’s roles at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, have included Kunz Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg, Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Hirt in Tristan und Isolde, Gralsritter in Parsifal, Messagero in Aida, Spoletta in Tosca, Gastone in La Traviata, and Erste Geharnischte in Die Zauberfloete.

Jessica Pratt

Soprano, WA

Jessica Pratt hails from a musical family – her father is a tenor and director of music at Trinity Grammar School, her brother Daniel is in the rock band Glasshouse and sister Gemma writes folk songs. In addition to the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award, she has won numerous competitions, including the Australian Singing Competition’s Marianne Mathy Scholarship and Nelly Apt Award, The Vienna State Opera Award and the Rome Opera Award. In 2005, Jessica was invited to train at the Rome Opera under the guidance of Gianluigi Gelmetti and later undertook a series of masterclasses with Renata Scotto.

Currently based in Italy, where she studies with Lella Cuberli, Jessica has performed in many of the most important European theaters, including The Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Opernhaus Zurich, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, collaborating with conductors such as Daniel Oren, Kent Nagano, Ralf Weikart, Donato Renzetti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christian Thielemann, David Parry and Nello Santi.

Her debut with Teatro alla Scala in Milan as La Prima Donna in Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali, conducted by Marco Guidarini and directed by Antonio Albanese, was televised live throughout Europe and later shown in cinemas and released on DVD. In early 2010, Jessica performed the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova under the baton of Daniel Oren and subsequently debuted in the roles of Eudoxie in La Juive with the New Israeli Opera and Juliette in Romeo et Juliette with Teatro Verdi di Salerno.

Recent highlights for Jessica include Amina in La Sonnambula, the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and her debut with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the role of The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, under the baton of Sir Colin Davis.

In 2012, Jessica will star in Opera Australia’s The Pearlfishers.

Hyeseoung Kwon

Soprano, QLD

After graduating from Seoul’s Han-Yang University with a Bachelor of Vocal Music in 1995, Hyeseoung Kwan moved to Italy to pursue vocal and opera performance studies at the Conservatorium of Milan and the Vercelli Academy. She performed in concert in Milan and throughout Italy in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, Poulenc’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

In 2002, Hyeseoung moved to Australia to join Opera Queensland’s Young Artist Program. In the same year, she won the prestigious Australian Singing Competition’s Opera Award – which included the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship, the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award, and the 4MBS Young Performers Award. In July 2003, Hyeseoung performed the role of Zerlina in Opera Queensland’s production of Don Giovanni to enthusiastic critical acclaim, returning in 2008 to sing Liú in Turandot.

Hyeseoung has performed many of the major lyric roles with Opera Australia, including Falstaff, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, The Pearl Fishers, Carmen and Cosi Fan Tutte. She has been a soloist for Opera in the Vineyards in Stanthorpe, Queensland, performed as Mimi in OzOpera’s tour of La Boheme, and has performed in numerous concerts and recitals in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. She was nominated for Helpmann & Greenroom’s Awards in 2008 and 2009.

Some of Hyesong’s most recent roles are Micaela in Carmen, Mimi in La Boheme in Sydney and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.

Nicole Youl

Soprano, VIC

Nicole Youl is one of Australia’s leading sopranos. Having studied singing with Dame Joan Hammond at the Victorian College of the Arts, she won the Herald-Sun Aria in 1991, then travelled to London for further study. She was a finalist in the 1994 Placido Domingo World Operalia competition in Mexico City and won both the Metropolitan Opera Awards in 1995 and the Rome Opera Award in 1996. In 2001, she won the Australian Singing Competition’s Opera Awards, including the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship and the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award.

Since then, Nicole has performed regularly with Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera and the Victorian State Opera, particularly in the works of Verdi and Puccini. She has performed the title roles in Madama Butterfly and Tosca, Mimi in La Bohème, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Liù in Turandot. Other roles include Elsa in Lohengrin, Micaela in Carmen and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.

On the concert platform, Nicole has performed as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninov’s The Bells, Bruckner’s Te Deum and Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the major Australian orchestras. Festival appearances include the Queensland Biennial of Music and the Coriole Festival.

Han Lim

Baritone, NSW

Korean-born Han Lim commenced his studies at Myoung Ji University in Seoul. In 1995, he continued his vocal training at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney where he was awarded the Marsh Scholarship for male voice. During his time at the Conservatorium, he performed in Madama Butterfly, Ravel’s L’Enfant et Les Sortileges and the title role in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse.

Between 1998 and 2000, Han was a full time member of the chorus of Opera Australia, with whom he performed and understudied several principal roles.

In 2000, Han was offered a scholarship to study at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, founded in 1991 by Leonard Bernstein. In the same year he won the Australian Singing Competition’s Opera Awards, including the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship and the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award. He was also featured as an emerging artist in the Gala Concert for the Pacific Rim Forum held in Sydney.

Han has since performed regularly with Opera Australia and Opera Queensland and played the role of Marcello in La Bohème for the touring OzOpera production. He has also appeared as a principal artist in Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly and Carmen and completed an extensive tour of Korea as Old Deuteronomy in CATS.

Adrian McEniery

Tenor, QLD

Tenor Adrian McEniery graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium in 1991 and received awards such as the 1994 Dame Mabel Brooks Award and the 1995 Britten-Pears School Scholarship & Lotus Development Award. In 1999, he won the Australian Singing Competition’s Opera Awards which included the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship and the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award. In 2002, he received a Green Room award nomination for his role as Dr S in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat.

Since then, Adrian has performed extensively with Opera Australia, in roles including Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, First Armed Man in The Magic Flute, and Spoletta in Tosca. He has also performed at the Brisbane Biennial with the New Zealand Opera, WA Opera, Opera Queensland and Operalive in operas including Madama Butterfly, Falstaff and The Merry Widow. His concert career has taken him to St Martin in the Fields and St James’ Piccadilly and he has performed with the Queensland, Sydney and Australian Symphony Orchestras.

Most recently Adrian has performed in WA Opera’s The Tales of Hoffman.

Jamie Allen

Tenor, NSW

Australian tenor Jamie Allen grew up in the Hunter Valley, NSW, and began his musical life as a flute player. Jamie was educated at the State Conservatorium of Music (now the Sydney Conservatorium).

In 1994, Jamie successfully auditioned for a part in Opera Australia's Meistersinger, after which he started formal vocal training with David Harper. This lead to a succession of roles with Opera Australia including Benedict in Beatrice and Benedict, Malcolm in Macbeth and Rodolfo in La Boheme.

In 1998, Jamie was the major winner in the Australian Singing Competition's Opera Awards, being awarded the Handa Opera Scholarship, the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship, the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award and the Queensland Performing Arts Trust Prize. In 1999, he was awarded the Remy Martin Scholarship, voted as the outstanding young talent at Opera Australia.

Jamie has extensive experience on the concert platform including Bruckner’s F Minor Mass and Te Deum, Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and Haydn’s Creation. He has performed tenor solos in works including Handel’s Messiah for the Christchurch City Choir, New Zealand, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Jonathan Mills’ Sandakan Threnody for the Sydney Symphony, and Tippett’s A Child of our Time for Sydney Philharmonia.

In the past few years he has performed leading roles with Opera Australia in operas such as La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, The Marriage of Figaro and La Traviata.

Siro Battaglin

Repetiteur, VIC

INCOMPLETE

Siro Battaglin studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music before going on to work with the Victoria State Opera, Melbourne Opera and Opera Australia, and at festivals such as the Port Festival and Castlemaine Festival. He won the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award for his repetiteur work in 1997, and in 1998 was engaged as a repetiteur in Zurich, Switzerland. Siro is currently with the Köln (Cologne) Opera (2011).

Phoebe Briggs

Repetiteur, VIC

INCOMPLETE

Originally from Victoria, Phoebe Briggs received a Bachelor in Music (BMus) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and also studied at the Sydney Conservatorium, where she now works as Opera and Repetiteur Coach. Phoebe received the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award for her repetiteur work in 1995 and, since then, has frequently featured as an accompanist in concerts and recordings. Phoebe was repetiteur for OzOpera in 2001, joined inaugural Foster winner Lucas de Jong on the 2006 recording ‘A foretaste of heaven’, composed by Sarah de Jong, and worked with Jennifer Marten-Smith on the music preparation for Opera Australia’s 2009 production of Cosi fan tutte.

Kate Ladner

Soprano, SA

Kate Ladner was born in Adelaide and studied singing at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. She was a principal young artist with two major Australian opera companies before receiving the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award in 1994.

In 1995, Kate moved to London and, in 1998, made her debut with Staatstheater Stuttgart as Blonde in Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail, a guest contract that continued into 2004. For this role, Kate was nominated as Best New Artist by Opern Welt Magazine.

Mozart’s operas have formed the backbone of Kate’s career. Highlights include Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Opera New Zealand, with Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira, and Contessa in Le Nozze de Figaro for Opera Holland Park. Her debut as Susanna for Opera Australia earned her a Green Room nomination.

Kate has performed at the Barbican, with the Ulster and English Chamber Orchestras for Mozart’s Requiem, in classical performances in the Albert Hall and Manchester for Raymond Gubbay and Haydn’s Creation and in Canterbury and Sussex for Camina Burana. The recording of her 2004 performance of Wagner’s Third Norn Götterdämmerung with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra has received wide critical acclaim.

In 2007, Kate performed Violetta in three different productions of La Traviata. In 2010 she performed in an arena production of Carmen in London, and debuted in the title role of Aida for the State Opera of Australia. Most recently, she played the role of Magda in La Rondine with Opera Holland Park.

Kate also gives concerts and recitals in the south of France where she now resides.

John Dingle

Repetiteur, QLD

Chorus Master John Dingle was born in Barcaldine, Queensland, and entered the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University in 1987, before completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Repetiteur Studies at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music (now the Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

Despite being trained as a pianist, John was always interested in singers and singing, and joined the Music Staff at the Australian Opera (now Opera Australia) in 1991. In 1993, John won the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award, which allowed him to undergo further language studies in Siena, Italy. Upon his return to Australia, he joined the Music Staff at the Victoria State Opera and, in 1995, was appointed Chorus Master.

In 1998, John formed the Melbourne Chorale Ensemble, a 40-voice choir that now performs regularly with the Melbourne Symphony. John also worked as Choral Conductor on the feature film Elizabeth, was the founding musical director of the Melbourne operatic ensemble Operalive!, and worked regularly as a conductor and vocal coach, adjudicating for major competitions and eisteddfods.

In 2000, John was appointed Acting Head of Music at Opera Queensland and was appointed Chorus Master for the company in 2002. His efforts made the Opera Queensland Chorus among the best in Australia, and in 2003, he was a recipient of the Centenary Medal for Services to Music.

Sadly, John passed away in 2006. Chris Mangin, Opera Queensland’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director, said, “With the passing of John we lost both a friend and a deeply respected colleague whose contribution to opera in Australia is without measure.”

Timothy Patston

Bass, VIC

INCOMPLETE

In 1990, Timothy was a finalist at the Australian Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and in 1992 he won the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award and was a finalist in the Armstrong Martin Opera Award. He completed a Masters in Music at the Sydney Conservatorium in 1996, and published a thesis ‘Performance anxiety in opera singers’.

From 2000-2009, Timothy Patston was the Head of Music at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) and is currently the Director of Performing Arts at the Peninsula School in Melbourne.

Stephen Mould

Repetiteur, QLD

Sydney-born Stephen Mould studied piano and composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. After graduating, he spent three years at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was active as an orchestral and choral conductor and as a freelance repetiteur. When he returned in 1988, he was appointed Head of Music at the Lyric Opera of Queensland and was also engaged for concerts with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and conducted opera productions with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Stephen won the Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award in 1990, then returned to Europe where he was engaged as a conductor and musical assistant by a number of opera houses and festivals in Germany, Belgium, Norway and Italy. In 1996, he joined the music staff of Opera Australia, and has since undertaken engagements for the Sydney Festival, the Melbourne Festival, Symphony Australia and the Sydney Philharmonic Choirs. Stephen was Head of Music at Opera Australia between 2004 and 2008, and has regularly appeared as conductor for the company. His repertoire has included:  La Bohème, Simon Boccanegra, Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Voix Humaine, Rusalka, and Carmen.

Stephen has appeared with the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the SBS Youth Orchestra, and is a regular guest with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, he conducted for the Macau International Music Festival and, in 2008, made his American debut for Baltimore Opera conducting Madame Butterfly.

Stephen is currently Senior Lecturer in Operatic Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but continues to conduct performances for Opera Australia and other companies such as Opera Queensland.

Lucas de Jong

Baritone, VIC

Melbourne-born Lucas made his professional debut in 1974, playing the shepherd boy in Tosca with the Australian Opera. He was only 12 years old.

He trained under Bettine McCaughan in 1983 while studying for a Diploma of Music at the Melba Conservatorium, Melbourne. In 1984, he was accepted into the Victoria State Opera, performing in most of their operas between 1984 and 1991.

In 1989 Lucas began a three-year course at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) studying at the Opera Studio. That same year he won the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship and the inaugural Phillip & Myrtle Foster Memorial Award. Two years later, Lucas was a finalist in the Covent Garden Scholarship and placed second in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.

In 1992, Lucas moved to London and over the next decade performed major roles in operas such as La Bohème, Cosi fan tutte, Carmen and Don Giovanni with companies including Court Opera, Opera Atelier and London City Opera, performing throughout the UK, Europe and Canada. He also understudied a number of roles for the English National Opera.

Since 2000, he has performed major roles in The Pearl Fishers and Madame Butterfly with Opera Australia, played Valentin in Faust for West Australian Opera, and has toured with the Melbourne Opera as Marcello in La Bohème and Germont in La Traviata. He has released a number of albums, has been the Musical Director for the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir since 2007, and teaches singing at Monash University, Victoria.