Australian Singing Competition - 2012 Finals Concert

2012 Finals Concert Program

2012 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE, IFAC

2012 IFAC Chairman - Dr Haruhisa Handa

Dr Haruhisa Handa

As world Chairman of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture (IFAC), I take pride in the arts projects we support around the world.

For 15 years, we have been principal sponsor of the IFAC Australian Singing Competition and have provided the opportunity for talented young classical singers to perform with Australia's top orchestras.
Seeing aspiring artists go on to realise their potential is, for me, a real thrill and especially satisfying knowing that we have been instrumental in helping them achieve their aims.

I am delighted that, in my absence, Trustees of IFAC are in Sydney to represent me at the 2012 Finals Concert.

This prestigious event is an occasion, which will be remembered by the singers, and, I trust, by the audience privileged to witness their career-launching performances.

2012 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE, MOST®

Roland Gridiger

Chairman, Music and Opera Singers Trust Ltd (MOST®), that administers the IFAC Australian Singing Competition speaks about this year's Finals.

2012 IFAC ASC National Adjudicator - Jeffrey Black

Jeffrey Black is an internationally acclaimed opera singer with a career spanning over thirty years.

He made his operatic debut as a principal singer with the Australian Opera in 1984 and has since appeared internationally with many leading opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera New York, The Royal Opera Covent Garden and the Opera Bastille Paris.

His interpretations of the roles of Mozart and Rossini have been highly acclaimed. He also has an extensive concert and recital repertoire appearing at many of the premiere venues including Wigmore Hall, Festival Hall and the Salzburg Festival.

2012 IFAC AUSTRALIAN SINGING COMPETITION ADJUDICATORS

The IFAC Australian Singing Competition expresses its gratitude to all the Adjudicators for their dedication and professionalism.

National Adjudicator – Jeffrey Black

Finals

Conal Coad
Dobbs Franks
Michael Halliwell
Huw Humphreys
Yoshinobu Kuribayashi
Anthony Legge

Semi-Finals

Peter Czornyj
Michael Halliwell
Anthony Legge

Heats

NSW Maree Ryan, Glenn Winslade
NZ Lisa Harper-Brown
QLD Narelle French, Natalie Peluso
VIC Stephen Grant, Suzanne Johnston
WA Burhan Güner, Patricia Price

2012 Opera Awards Adjudicators

Di Bresciani
Brian Castles-Onion
Amelia Farrugia
Michael Lewis

Find Out More

2012 CONDUCTOR

Conductor
Johannes Fritzsch

German born Johannes Fritzsch tudied at the Carl Maria von Weber Music Academy in Dresden. Music Director and Chief Conductor at Städtische Bühnen and the Philharmonische Orchester, Freiburg, 1993-1999; Chief Conductor of Staatsoper Nürnberg 2005-2006; Chief Conductor of Graz Opera and Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (2006-present); Chief Conductor of Queensland Symphony Orchestra (2008-present).

His Opera Australia repertoire includes: Der Rosenkavalier, The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, Tosca, Rigoletto, Salome, Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Wozzeck.

Guest appearances with Hamburger Sinfoniker, Düsseldorfer Sinfoniker, Philharmonie Essen, Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim, Staatskapelle Schwerin, Berliner Sinfonie Orchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Staatsorchester Halle, the radio orchestras in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo, Orchestre Philharmonique Strassbourg, Montpellier, Toulouse, Orchestra Victoria and the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.

Guest Conductor at Opera Cologne, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Bastille Opera Paris, Royal Opera Stockholm, Opera Malmö, Graz in repertoire including La bohème, The Rake’s Progress, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Falstaff, Der Rosenkavalier.

2012 AOBO

Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra (AOBO)

The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (AOBO) is the busiest of all Australian orchestras, giving around 250 performances each year. A wholly owned subsidiary of Opera Australia, the AOBO performs for Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet during their respective Sydney seasons.

Formerly the Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, the AOBO has earned a reputation for warmth of sound and impressive flexibility in the most challenging of environments. The repertory performance schedule of Opera Australia means that up to five different productions are being performed and prepared at any one time, resulting in up to 8 performances per week.

Notable recent productions for Opera Australia in the last year have included: Opera on Sydney Harbour - La Traviata, which saw the orchestra playing on a specially constructed harbour stage in the acclaimed first season of this landmark Sydney event; Die Tote Stadt, a ground-breaking production conducted by Christian Badea and directed by Bruce Beresford, which featured the orchestra “beamed” into the Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre from The Studio; and The Australian Ballet‘s wonderful season of Prokofieff’s Romeo and Juliet directed by Graeme Murphy and conducted by Nicolette Fraillon.

The Orchestra also features on recent recordings of live performances in the Sydney Opera House of The Marriage of Figaro, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier, and La Boheme and Swan Lake in cinema and DVD release.

2012 FINALISTS

Thomas Atkins tenor

Charlotte Betts-Dean mezzo soprano

Anna Dowsley mezzo soprano

Jeremy Kleeman bass baritone

Tabatha McFadyen soprano

Biographies click here

2012 Finals Concert Program

Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra
Overture La Clemenza di Tito Mozart

Jeremy Kleeman
Why do the nations Messiah Handel

Thomas Atkins
Every valley shall be exalted Messiah Handel

Anna Dowsley
Qu'entends-je?...Amour, viens rendre à mon âme Orphée et Eurydice Gluck

Tabatha McFadyen
Se il padre perdei Idomeneo Mozart

Charlotte Betts-Dean
Deh, per questo istante solo La Clemenza di Tito Mozart

Jeremy Kleeman
Ehi, capitano, a me pure la mano...Non più andrai Le Nozze di Figaro Mozart

Anna Dowsley
Una voce poco fa Il Barbiere di Siviglia Rossini

Tabatha McFadyen
Ils s'éloignent enfin … Sombre forêt Guillaume Tell Rossini

Charlotte Betts-Dean
Assisa a' piè d'un salice Otello Rossini

Thomas Atkins
É la solita storia del pastore … Anch’io vorrei L'Arlesiana Cilea

Interval - 20 minutes

Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra
Overture Carmen Bizet

Guest Artist
Nicole Car
Tacea la notte placida Il Trovatore Verdi
The Jewel Song Faust Gounod

Presentations
Jeffrey Black
Roland Gridiger
Guy Noble

Approximately 2 hours with 20 minute interval.

Tonight’s performance has been granted a licence by APRA/AMCOS

2012 EVENTS

Semi-Finals Concert

Wednesday 10th October 7pm
The Independent Theatre
269 Miller Street
North Sydney

MasterClass

Thursday 11th October 11am
The Independent Theatre
269 Miller Street
North Sydney

Finals Concert

Thursday 25th October 7pm
Opera Theatre
Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point

2012 IFAC Australian Singing Competition Semi-Finals Concert Program

2012 MasterClass Program

2012 Compere

Compere
Guy Noble

Guy Noble is an all-round musical entertainer, who conducts, speaks and writes about music. He has worked with such international singers as Harry Connick Jr , Dianne Reeves, The Beach Boys and Ben Folds, appeared on stage with the Sydney Symphony as Darth Vader, and cooked calamari on stage with Maggie Beer, Simon Bryant and the Adelaide Symphony.

He has hosted and conducted many great outdoor musical events - Symphony in The City (Canberra Symphony and West Australian Symphony Orchestra), Leeuwin Estate Concert (with Yvonne Kenny, David Hobson and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra), and Symphony under the Stars (Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras). He hosts the popular Music on Sundays series for the Queensland Symphony, presented the Breakfast program on ABC Classic FM from 1999 to 2001 and writes a regular column for Limelight Magazine.

2012 GUEST ARTIST

ASC Finals Guest Artist 2012 - Nicole Car

Nicole Car, Soprano

Nicole Car is one of Australia’s most outstanding young sopranos.

She completed her Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007. While studying, she was the recipient of many awards including the Alice Amy McDonald Trust, the Sleath Lowrey Rotary Scholarship and the Marion Isobel Thomas Estate Award.