2010 Competition
Winners
Winner of the Arnold and Mary Bram Australian Song Prize with her accompanist Jem Harding, and the Audience Choice Prize.
Winner of the Second Prize, and the Murray River International Festival Music Prize.
Winner of the 2010 Mietta Song Competition, the O’Donnell Family Prize, and the Tait Foundation Prize.
Winner of the Arnold and Mary Bram Australian Song Prize with singer Angela Brun, and the Hugh D. T. Williamson Prize for Most Outstanding pianist – for the second year in succession.
Judges
Performers
Angela Brun
In November 2009 she competed as a finalist in the Herald Sun Aria Competition, the Audi German Opera Scholarship and was awarded 3rd place in the German-Australian Opera Grant. She was also awarded 1st Place in the under 25 yrs Aria Section and 3rd place in the Sutherland/Bonynge Scholarship at the MacDonalds Eisteddfod. In both 2008 and 2009 Angela was a semifinalist in the Australian National Singing Competition, receiving prizes in Italian Studies. Angela specialises in coloratura repertoire and has performed roles such as Adina from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Zerline from Auber’s Fra Diavolo, Mme Silberklang from Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, and Lisetta from Haydn’s La Vera Costanza. In 2010 she will understudy Mabel for Opera Australia’s Pirates of Penzance.
Jem Harding
Jem won the National Eisteddfod in 2005 and was a finalist in the international piano competition, the Concurs D'Andorra in Spain, 2006. In 2008 he was the winner of the accompanist prize at the Mietta Song Award and accompanied the winning vocalist. In 2009 he was the recipient of the NSW Music Teachers Association Elizabeth Todd Lieder memorial prize in memory of Geoffrey Parsons and also won the Lieder Award at the McDonald's Performing Arts Challenge. He is currently employed at St. Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney, as a full time accompanist.
Program
Semifinal
Schubert
Ganymed
Wolf
Wenn du zu den Blumen gehst
In dem Schatten meiner Locken
Hagemann
At the well
Bizet
Tarentelle
Strauss
Kling
Final
Nigel Butterley
Selections from Child in Nature
I. The child
II. The bird
VII. A dark glow around me
Debussy
C’est l’extase from Ariettes Oubliées
Purcell
Sweeter than roses
Strauss
Amor
Satie
La diva de l’Empire
Schubert
Nacht und Träume
Rossini
La danza
Ashlyn Skye Tymms
From 2001-2004 Ashlyn performed on several occasions with En-Chant Productions directed by Janis Laing. In 2004 Ashlyn received the St Mary’s Vocal Scholarship for 2004-2005, touring England with the St Mary’s Hale Cantata as the Music Prefect and soloist in 2005. Ashlyn moved to Melbourne to begin her Bachelor of Music at The University of Melbourne in 2006. From 2006-2007 Ashlyn was a Choral Scholar with The University of Melbourne Trinity College Choir, touring both interstate and internationally and recording two albums with ABC Classics, Southern Star (2006) and Mystical Songs (2007). In 2007 Ashlyn played the role of Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Melbourne University’s Early Music Studio Opera Project. In 2008 she played the role of Pitti-Sing with Savoy Opera Company’s production of The Mikado and in 2009 performed the role of Dido in Purcell’s early opera Dido and Aeneas as part of The Spring Early Music Festival. Ashlyn performed at the VCAM Chamber Music Competition Final as one of three finalists with her trio The Tea-Tree Oh. Ashlyn is starting the Melbourne University Master in Music Performance program.
Raymond Yong
Raymond Yong is a pianist, chamber musician and conductor. His performances have taken him to music festivals and concert series around Australia and internationally. As an emerging conductor, he is Music Director of the Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Victoria Chorale. He will appear as a guest conductor of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra in their 2010 season, and is a participant in the Symphony Australia Young Conductor Development Program. Recent piano performances include recitals at the Musica Viva Huntington Estate Festival and Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, as well as concerto appearances with the Melbourne, the Tasmanian and the West Australian Symphony Orchestras. He has performed chamber music at the Melbourne International Festival and is regularly broadcast across Australia on ABC Classic FM. Raymond is a graduate of the University of Melbourne where he studied piano with Stephen McIntyre and conducting with John Hopkins. He also holds the German Artist’s Diploma from the Hannover University of Music and Drama where he studied piano under Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling.
Program
Semifinal
Strauss
Ständchen
Du meines Herzens Krönelein
Ruhe, meine Seele
Hahn
Fêtes galantes
Dans la nuit
Stuart Greenbaum
Three Songs of Sleep
Late autumn lullaby
Delius
Young Venevil
The bird’s story
Final
Korngold
Sechs einfache Lieder, Op.9
1 Schneeglöckchen
3 Das Ständchen
6 Sommer
Berlioz
Les nuits d’eté
Le spectre de la rose
Bizet
Absence
Britten
Fish in the unruffled lakes
Grainger
Willow, willow
Walton
Façade, poems by
Edith Sitwell
Old Sir Faulk
Greta Bradman
Until now Greta has balanced her passion for singing with that for psychology undertaking a Master of Clinical Psychology and a research PhD in the area of human intelligence. In late 2009 Greta presented her seventh Sunday Live concert program for ABC Classic FM and undertook collaborative projects for ABC Classics and Universal Music, both as a classical singer and associate producer. Greta has just signed a four-album contract with Sony Music and has recorded two songs by Osvaldo Golijov with the Australian String Quartet for ABC Classics. 2010 is the first year in which Greta’s primary focus is her singing. She will undertake further recording, will tour and perform with world-class musicians and ensembles such as the Australian String Quartet, Jürg Dahler, Kathryn Selby, Marshall McGuire, and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, as well as touring following the release of her first solo album. She is also presenting a range of recitals and concerts around Australia as well as performing at notable charity and fundraiser events that are personally meaningful to her, including the Victor Chang ball (April 24 2010, Sydney).
Leigh Harrold
South Australian Leigh completed undergraduate and post-graduate studies at The University of Adelaide with concert pianist Gil Sullivan. During this time he was a National Finalist in the Young Performer Awards and a recipient of the prestigious Beta Sigma Phi Classical Music Award.
He moved to Melbourne in 2003 to take up a full scholarship at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) under the mentorship of Geoffrey Tozer and in 2004 was made the Academy Fellow - the first person in the institution's history to be chosen as such after just one year of study. In 2008 he was named The Advertiser Musician of the Year.
Leigh has performed extensively throughout Europe, North America, Africa and Australia as both soloist and chamber musician, including concerts at Australia House in London, the Royal Academy of Music, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Harare International Festival of Arts, and concerto engagements with many Australian orchestras.
In 2007 he undertook an extensive tour of the United States and Canada where he gave lectures on and performed the solo piano music of the American composer Robert Muczynski.
Internationally he has collaborated with Thomas Reibl, lecturer in viola at the Salzburg Mozarteum; Michael Cox, principal flautist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Gaede, ex-concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; London flautist Wissam Boustany; New York violinist Charles Castleman; Swedish cellist Mats Lidstrom; and British pianist Mark Gasser.Other significant international collaborations have included performance and studies with Andrew Ball at the London Royal College of Music; Sophie Cherrier at the Paris Conservatoire; New York-based pianist Lisa Moore and English composer Peter Maxwell Davies.
In June 2002, Leigh traveled to the Orkney Islands to perform a concert of Maxwell Davies' works in the presence of the composer.
Leigh is a founding member of the Kegelstatt Ensemble and the contemporary music group Syzygy Ensemble – both winners of major national awards - and has an internationally acclaimed piano duo with London-based pianist Coady Green with whom he regularly tours through Europe, Australia and Africa.
He is a recording artist for ABC Classics and in 2010 released his debut recording for Sony with soprano Greta Bradman.
He is currently on the Associate Faculty at ANAM, and performs regularly as orchestral pianist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Program
Semifinal
Ravel
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques (Five Popular Greek Melodies)
Chanson de la mariée (Song of the Bride)
Là-bas, vers l’église (Over by the Church)
Schubert
Du bist die Ruh
de Falla y Matheu
Siete Canciones Populares Españolas
Nana
Grant (Australian composer)
Four Love Songs
3 Sacrifice
4 Again and again
Beaser
Old men admiring themselves in the water
Final
Barber
Hermit Songs
3 St Ita’s vision
4 The heavenly banquet
9 The Praises of God
10 The desire for hermitage
Debussy
Chansons de Bilitis
2 La chevelure
Schubert
Lied der Mignon, D. 877
III So laßt mich scheinen
IV Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Ives
Serenity
The greatest man
The Housatonic at Stockbridge
Ross Edwards (Australian composer)
Christina’s lullaby (written for orchestra and soprano (1983); arranged by Edwards as a piano-voice art song for
Greta Bradman in 2009)
Hana Crisp
Hana has featured in many productions, including The Beggar’s Opera (OzOpera), The Seven Deadly Sins (with the Australian Youth Orchestra) and One Final Oration (a chamber opera written by David Chisholm). Her concert repertoire includes the Australian premiere of Heinrich von Herzogenberg’s Die Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Schumann’s Requiem, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Magnificat, and Pergolesi’s Magnificat. In 2007 and 2008, she performed in a series of Bach cantatas with the VCA Orchestra. She has also featured numerous times as a soloist in the 3MBS Live at the Convent series. In 2008 Hana toured regional NSW with The Song Company. Last year, she performed in e21’s ‘Love and the Art of War’ at the Sydney Opera House for the 2009 Utzon Music Series. Hana has been the recipient of the Mabel Kent Singing Scholarship, the Athaneum Award, and she was a semi-finalist in the 2008 Mietta Song Recital Award. She was the winner of the 2009 National Liederfest, where she also received the Alan McArthur Memorial Award for best ensemble of voice and piano with Amanda Hodder. This year she will feature in a concert series at the Melbourne Recital Centre as a member of Aria Co.
Amanda Hodder
Amanda Hodder holds a Masters in Music from the University of Melbourne. During her undergraduate studies, she won awards for collaborative pianism and was featured on ABC Classic FM’s Rising Stars program. Since moving to Melbourne in 1998, Amanda has worked as an accompanist for all the major Melbourne universities and is currently the on staff accompanist for the voice department at the Victorian College of the Arts. As a repetiteur, Amanda has worked for all the major Melbourne opera companies and Opera Australia. In 2003 Amanda won the major ensemble award at the National Liederfest. As a Music Director, Amanda has worked on such shows as Tick Tic….BOOM!, The Threepenny Opera, and The Wild Blue. In 2004 Amanda won the Hugh D. T. Williamson Accompanist’s Award at the Mietta Song Recital, an award which secured her work at l’Académie Internationale d’Eté de Nice. The award also enabled Amanda to spend most of 2005 studying in Paris and Southern Germany. In 2007 Amanda was the recipient of the Lady Hamer Award, an award made specifically for pianist who are interested in working collaboratively with other musicians. In May 2008 Amanda was the recipient of the Geoffrey Parsons Award and was a MacDonald Trust Scholar at the VCA for 2008. On television, Amanda has worked with The Choir of Hard Knocks, performed with Ronan Keating on Rove Live, and continues to perform for ABC Classic FM and 3MBS.
Program
Semifinal
Humble
The Lady’s First Song (No. 1 from Eight Cabaret Songs)
Schoenberg
Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm (OP. 2, No. 2)
Ravel
Le Paon (No.1 from Histoires Naturelles)
Strauss
Morgen (Op. 27, No. 4)
Humble
O Tell Me the Truth about Love (No. 8 from Eight Cabaret Songs)
Final
Schumann
Widmung (Op. 25, No.1)
Mondnacht (Op. 39, No.5)
Barber
from The Hermit Songs
St Patrick’s Purgatory (No.1)
The Monk and His Cat (No.8)
Sure on this shining night (Op.13, No.3)
Poulenc
from Banalités
Hôtel (No. 2)
Voyage â Paris (No.4)
Sanglots (No.5)
Berio
from Quattro Canzoni Popolari
Avendo gran disio (No.3)
Ballo (No.4)
James Roser
In concert, James has been a soloist in Handel’s Messiah, J.M.Haydn’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noël, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Schubert’s Mass in G and J.S.Bach’s Cantata #4, and has been broadcast a number of times on 2MBS-FM, ABC-FM and 3MBS-FM. Operatic roles he has performed include Don Giovanni (Opera Hunter), Dr. Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) (Pacific Opera), Owen Wingrave, Mr.Gobineau (The Medium) (Opera Workshop), Melchior, Balthazar (Amahl and the Night Visitors) and The Baritone (The Four-note Opera). He is currently a member of the Opera Australia Chorus.
James has been a finalist in the Herald Sun Aria, McDonald’s Operatic Aria, Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship (2009), German Opera Award, Rockend National Opera Studio London Scholarship (Opera Foundation Australia), 2MBS-FM Young Performer Award, City of Sydney Opera Awards (2008) and was awarded 3rd place in the National Operatic Aria (2009). He has been a winner of the Sydney deVries Baritone/Bass Award at the Sydney Eisteddfod and the Bram Walker Vocal Championship Award, Werner Baer MBE Prize, Ballarat Nativity Choir Encouragement Award, and Courier Ballad Contest at Royal South Street Competitions. James has been a Telstra Wholesale Young Artist with Pacific Opera since 2009.
Jem Harding
Jem won the National Eisteddfod in 2005 and was a finalist in the international piano competition, the Concurs D'Andorra in Spain, 2006. In 2008 he was the winner of the accompanist prize at the Mietta Song Award and accompanied the winning vocalist. In 2009 he was the recipient of the NSW Music Teachers Association Elizabeth Todd Lieder memorial prize in memory of Geoffrey Parsons and also won the Lieder Award at the McDonald's Performing Arts Challenge. He is currently employed at St. Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney, as a full time accompanist.
Program
Semifinal
Vaughan Williams
Songs of Travel
The Vagabond
Fauré
Après un rêve
Schubert
Erlkönig
Mahler
Kindertotenlieder
Nun seh’ ich wohl warum so dunkle Flammen
LeGallienne
Four Divine Poems of John Donne
Death be not proud
Final
Schubert
Die Forelle
Fauré
Chanson d’amour
Duparc
Sérénade
Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a wayfarer)
Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
Gieng heute morgen über’s Feld
Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer
Die zwei blauen Augen
Barber
I hear an army
Jocelyn Hickey
She is currently completing a Masters of Music degree from the Victorian College of Arts and Music. Jocelyn won The Herald Sun Aria 2004, Opera Foundation Australia’s 2005 New York Study Award and the 2006 Vienna State Opera Award. These enabled her to study in New York with coaches from The Metropolitan Opera, and in Vienna where she made her international debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as a Blumenmädchen in Parsifal. Jocelyn sang as a member of Opera Australia/OzOpera Schools Company for four years, before joining the OzOpera regional tour in 2005 as Michaela and Frasquita in Carmen.
Tom Griffiths
Tom Griffiths has degrees in French from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and in Music from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He pursued postgraduate study at the European Mozart Academy in Warsaw. Since moving to Melbourne in 1999, Tom has established himself as a busy freelance repetiteur and accompanist.
Since 2000 he has been Principal Repetiteur for Melbourne Chorale/MSO Chorus. He has worked regularly for Opera Australia since 2002, including three years as Music Director of OzOpera’s School’s Company.Tom has performed with both the MSO and Orchestra Victoria. He is a regular accompanist at the Victorian College of the Arts, has featured on ABC Classic FM and in 2009 performed with the Vocalconsort Berlin in the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
Program
Semifinal
Britten
On this Island
Let the florid music praise
Schumann
Frauenliebe und –leben
1 Er der Herrlichste von Allen
2 Du Ring an meinem Finger
Poulenc
Metamorphoses
1 C’est ainsi que tu es
2 Paganini
Bowman
Words by Walter de la Mare
Silver
The Ride-by-nights
Final
Gross
3 Burns Settings Op 47
Australian song cycle for soprano and pianoforte
As I was a’wandring
The bonnie lad that’s far awa’
What can a young lassie do
Strauss
Muttertändelei
Epheu
Ständchen
Rachmaninov
Ne poy, krasavitsa, pri mne
Sing not to me beautiful maiden (Pushkin)
Zdes khorosho
How fair this spot (G. Galina)
Kakoye schast’je
What happiness (Fet)
Nicole Wallace
Nicole has been a winner and place getter in the Ringwood Eisteddfod, Manningham Eisteddfod, Warrnambool and Boorondara Eisteddfod and has been a Semi Finalist in the Herald Sun Aria and the More Than Opera German Opera Grant. Nicole has performed many roles ranging from Micaela in Carmen to Johanna in Sweeny Todd. Nicole is a member of the Victorian Opera Chorus.Last year Nicole made her debut concert appearance as a soloist with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Monash Chorale and Camberwell Chorale. In 2009 Nicole was selected as one of 8 sopranos to be short listed for Opera Queensland’s Young Artist Program 2010.
Sue Goessling
During 1985 and 1986 she toured Victoria as official pianist for the Victoria State Opera's Schools Touring Program. From 1997 until 2006, she was been the regular accompanist for Promac Productions's performances in the Morning Melodies series of concerts in the Victorian Association Of Performing Arts Centres. She has played regularly for performances including Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado and for such artists as Dennis Olsen Phillip Gould and soprano, Judy Glen. Sue is also pianist for Style Music, Opera Plus and for Trio Grande and Elastic Band which recently recorded a fundraising CD for the Royal Childrens' Hospital. She is official repetiteur and accompanist for the RMIT Choirs conducted by Faye Dumont and from 2005 to 2010 has been the official accompanist for Opera Australia's Victorian Schools Company.
Program
Semifinal
Previn
Take my mother home
Schubert
Ganymed
Debussy
Romance
Obradors
Al amor
Del cabello más sutil
Final
Schubert
Frühlingsglaube
Duparc
Chanson triste
Obradors
¿Corazón, porqué pasáis…
Chiquitita la novia
Con amores
Batchelor
The moon is jealous
Autumn
Debussy
Nuit d’étoiles
Previn
The town is lit
Brahms
Meine Liebe ist grün
Tanya Small
Tanya completed her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2007. During her time there she participated in several operas including Handel’s Semele, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, covering the role of 2nd Spirit, and performed the role of Emmie in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring. Last year she was involved with the Melbourne Opera School and undertook the role of First Lady in The Magic Flute. Tanya was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Herald Sun Aria. In 2009 Tanya studied at The School of Music Parkville at The University of Melbourne where she completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Music Performance where she was awarded the Clarice Malyon Middleton Scholarship and Lady Turner Exhibition Award. Tanya’s future engagements involve a performance of Beethoven’s concert aria Ah! Perfido with the Preston Symphony Orchestra.
Stefan Cassomenos
Melbourne pianist, conductor and composer Stefan Cassomenos appears regularly as a soloist, associate artist, and chamber performer. He completed his Bachelor of Music (Honours) in 2009 at Melbourne University, where he was awarded five prizes for performance. He was a semi-finalist and prize-winner in the 2005 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, and more recently was a finalist and prize-winner in two International Chamber Music Competitions, as a member of The Yarra Trio. He has performed concertos with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Strings of Melbourne. Internationally, he has appeared as a soloist in St Petersburg, Tallinn, Warsaw, Krakow, Athens, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, London, Bangkok, and Tokyo. Stefan has been composing since the age of seven, and performing his music internationally since the age of ten. His compositions have been performed by the Symphony Orchestras of Melbourne and Adelaide. Stefan was the Artistic Director of the 2007 Melba Festival, and has been the Guest Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Piano Landmarks festival since 2009. He was appointed Conductor of the Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra at the start of 2010.
Program
Semifinal
Debussy
Ariettes oubliées
C’est l’extase langoureuse
Il pleure dans mon coeur
Green
Keats
Sun after rain
Mahler
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Ablösung im Sommer
Berg
Sieben frühe Lieder
Die Nachtigall
Final
Liszt
Wandrers Nachtlied II
Freudvoll und leidvoll
Britten
On this island
Let the florid music praise
Now the leaves are falling fast
Seascape
Nocturne
As it is, plenty!
Rachmaninov
Lilacs
Never sing to me again