Opera Awards History

The inaugural Armstrong-Martin Scholarship was awarded in 1977. Originally administered by the New South Wales Friends of the Australian Opera (now Opera Australia) and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, it was established to award a major cash prize to professional opera singers to study grand opera overseas.

In 1986 MOST was appointed to manage the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship; the Armstrong-Martin became a major prize within the opera and classical section of the Australian Singing Competition.

In 1987 the Opera Awards was separated within the ASC, so that the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship was presented as the major prize to a professional opera singer while the Marianne Mathy Scholarhip was awarded to a young opera or classical singers under the age of 26.

From 2001 the Opera Awards was held as a competition in its own right, with the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship featured as a major award.

Since 2007 the YMF Australia Award is the major prize of the Opera Awards. The YMF Australia Award is made possible by the generosity of Dr Di Bresciani and the Board of YMF Australia.