“MY MISSION IS TO OFFER DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL SINGERS THE VERY BEST OF WHAT THEY WILL EXPERIENCE WHEN THEY TRAVEL OVERSEAS.”
Professor Lisa Gasteen AO
Founded in 2011 by Professor Lisa Gasteen AO, the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program (LGNOP) offers developing Australian classical singers and repetiteurs training and career development, preparing them to be competitive when studying or working in Australia and abroad. The Program is Australia’s key training organisation which addresses the future vocal welfare of opera.
LGNOP is administrated at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU) within the South Bank Brisbane Campus. The QCGU provides financial oversight, support for the office, and rehearsal and performance venues. LGNOP is otherwise distinct from QCGU, it is not a tertiary degree program and LGNOP is structured and operated by Professor Lisa Gasteen AO, her Deputy Dr Nancy Underhill DUniv and Joshua White the Project Coordinator. LGNOP is very fortunate to be located at QCGU as the facilities are arguably the finest in Australia with several performance spaces including a 700-seat auditorium and many practice rooms.
None of opportunities LGNOP offers would be possible without the generous support of our donors and sponsors.
Professor Lisa Gasteen AO, Dr Nancy Underhill DUniv & Mr Joshua White
In 2011 Lisa Gasteen took the Chair of Practice Professor of Opera at The Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Her appointment followed a career of over 20 years singing the principal female lead roles in: del Destino, Il Trovatore, Aida, Otello Don Carlo, Un Ballo in Maschera by Verdi; Fidelio by Beethoven; Salome, both Die Frau and Die Kaiserin in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos the title role in Elektra as well as Chrysothemis and Klytämnestra in the same opera by Richard Strauss. Her Wagnerian roles include Elizabeth in Tannhäuser Elsa in Lohengrin Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer Sieglinde in Die Walküre, the three Brünnhilde roles in Der Ring des Niebelungen and Isolde in Tristan und Isolde Other earlier roles include: Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart; Tosca by Puccini; Maddalena in Andre Chénier by Giordano, Tiefland by d’Albert ; Bluebeard’s Castle by Bartok. Concert Repertoire includes: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Stabat Mater Glagolitic Mass by Janacek, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Rückert Lieder by Mahler, Wesendonk Lieder by Wagner.
During her career she became regarded as the preeminent Brünnhilde of the time. She sang with all Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia, Victoria State Opera, and at the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals, Bergen, Tanglewood and Meiningen Festivals. Lisa was a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera New York, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Bastille in Paris, Berlin Staatsopera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Stuttgart, Vienna, Opera du Rhein in Strasbourg, Washington Opera, Dallas Opera, Hamburg Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Philharmonic. Conductors she worked with include Simone Young AM, James Levine, Lauren Mazel, Franz Welser-Moest, Donald Runnicles, Semyon Bishkoff, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sebastian Weigle, Carlo Rizzi, Sir Anthony Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Kiril Petrenko, Sir Bernard Haitink, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta and Asher Fisch.
In 2011 Lisa established The Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program, based at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University with the aim of offering our aspiring operatic artists introductions to and experience with some of the world’s leading and most senior operatic coaches. Winner of many prizes and scholarships, in 1991 Lisa won The Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and remains the only Australian to have done so. Lisa is also the only Australian since Nellie Melba to have sung Aida at The Met. Lisa has been bestowed many honours including an Advance Australia Award and in 2006 the Order of Australia for services to music.
These days Lisa devotes her time to teaching and mentoring a new generation of Australian operatic singers. She enjoys being with her family and dividing her time between the Sunshine Coast hinterland where she has a pottery studio and aspires to making the perfect pot!
Dr Nancy Underhill DUniv
DEPUTY TO PROFESSOR LISA GASTEEN AO
Nancy Underhill grew up in New York City and Darien Connecticut. After being graduated from Bryn Mawr College majoring in medieval European Art History she gained an MPhil at The Courtauld Institute, University of London with a thesis on Norman Churches in Oxfordshire.
Nancy married an Australian and in 1963 settled in Brisbane. The University of Queensland made her Foundation Head of the Department of Art History and Foundation Director of The University Art Museum which now has an outstanding survey collection of Australian Art. Nancy established Australia’s first full year courses in Australian Art History and Museum Studies. Meanwhile she completed a PhD concerned with Australian art and patronage at Melbourne University.
She was the first Queenslander on The Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council, served as Chair of The Art History Association of Australia, The Art Museums Association of Australia, the National Cultural Heritage Commission (Committee –Moveable Heritage) and was Vice Chair of the Australian Art Galleries Directors’ Council. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University and The Sir Robert Menzies Centre, University of London.
Other public roles include Queensland Selector, Churchill Fellowship Awards, Queensland Advisor to the Mitchell Bequest at the National Gallery of Victoria, a Director of Art Monthly, Australia and International, Queensland Member of the National Fulbright Scholarships Awards (USA), a Reader for the Melbourne as well as Cambridge University Presses, an Art Critic for the Bulletin, a panel member of Artists’ Week Forum, Adelaide Festival.
Nancy was Australian Curator and catalogue contributor for the major exhibition “Eureka! Artists from Australia” held at the Serpentine and ICA Galleries, London (1982) and has judged the Alice Springs Art Prize. Her major publications include:
“Art in the 1970s” Eureka! Artists from Australia, ex.cat, 1982, Arts Council of Great Britain and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
“40ans d’art Australien” Art Press 74, Paris, October, 1983.
Making Australian Art 1916-1949: Sydney Ure Smith, Publisher and Patron, Oxford University Press, 1991.
The Letters of John Reed of Heide (with B.Reid) Penguin (Viking), 2002. This text won second prize in the Christina Stead Award for non-fiction.
Nolan on Nolan the writings of Sidney Nolan, ed. Penguin(Viking) 2007 Sidney Nolan A Life, New South Books, 2015.
Since retiring from the University of Queensland, Nancy has become an active member on the Board of Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne and has extended her administrative involvement in classical music completing 17 years as a Board Member of Opera Queensland. Since its foundation in 2011 she has been Deputy to Professor Lisa Gasteen AO for the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program located at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Stuart Maunder DIRECTOR
OUR TEAM
For the last forty years Stuart has been directing musical theatre and opera in Australia. He joined Opera Australia as Stage Manager in 1978, becoming a Resident Director in 1981. In 1992 he joined The Royal Opera (UK) as a Staff Director whilst continuing to direct in Australia, regional UK, France and the USA.
In 1999 Stuart was appointed Artistic Administrator of Opera Australia, becoming Executive Producer 2004–2008. His OA productions include Tales of Hoffmann, Manon, Gypsy Princess, Don Pasquale My Fair Lady and A Little Night Music. From 2014 to 2018 Stuart was General Director of New Zealand Opera where he directed Candide Tosca Sweeney Todd and The Mikado
Recent Australian productions have included Into the Woods Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music and Cunning Little Vixen (Victorian Opera) and Tosca, Rigoletto, Vixen, Pearl Fishers, La bohème Sweeney Todd and Macbeth (West Australian Opera).
Stuart is Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia where he has directed Carmen, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Mikado, Bohème on the Beach, The Turn of The Screw, and Voss. A specialist in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, Stuart has directed productions of the canon in England, America, and Australia. His Trial by Jury HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance have been televised nationally on ABC TV. Last year Stuart directed The Gondoliers and Utopia Ltd for Scottish Opera, the former being broadcast throughout the UK on BBC. In October 2023 Stuart will become Artistic Director of Victorian Opera.
Stuart’s participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of Mr Kenneth Reed AM, Mr Fraser Power, Mrs Teresa Desmarchelier, Dr Malcom Godfrey & Dr Terry Beer.
Johannes Fritzsch was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in February, 2021 having previously served as their Chief Conductor 2008–2014. Since 2018, Johannes has held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
From 2006–2013 he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Oper Graz, Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester (Austria). Prior to his appointment in Graz, Johannes held the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Staatsoper Nürnberg. From 1993 until 1999, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Städtische Bühnen and the Philharmonic Orchestra in Freiburg.
Johannes was born in 1960 in Meissen, near Dresden, Germany, where he completed his musical education. He has conducted many leading orchestras, both within Germany and internationally. He regularly conducts the major Australasian orchestras as well as leading productions for Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera and State Opera of South Australia. In January 2015, Johannes was appointed Adjunct Professor, The Conservatorium of Music, School of Creative Arts and Media at the University of Tasmania; in June 2019, he joined the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University as Professor of Opera and Orchestral Studies.
Over the past twenty years, Johannes has given many Masterclasses for the German conductor training and development organisation Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates. Similarly, he was active and enthusiastic in the training of conducting participants selected to take part in Symphony Services’ International Conductor Development Program. In 2017, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra invited him to design and lead the newly founded Australian Conducting Academy. In 2021, he conducted the Auckland Philharmonia, the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.
Johannes Fritzsch CONDUCTOR
Jennifer Marten-Smith
VOCAL COACH
At age 12, Jennifer Marten-Smith was invited to study piano with Professor Gediga-Glombitza at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany.
At age 16, she made her public debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Schumann’s A minor Piano Concerto, having previously recorded the Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto with this orchestra. Two years later, she again performed with the TSO, playing Rubinstein Piano Concerto No 4. That same year, Jennifer was the youngest graduate of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, where she was awarded a high distinction as a double major in piano performance and accompaniment.
Other concertos in her repertoire include works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dohnányi, Mozart, Haydn, Hummel, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky. She has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover.
Jennifer has performed as a solo pianist throughout Australia and Europe and was a member of chamber groups Trio Médard (Germany) and The Kettering Piano Quartet (Australia). In 1989, she began work as a repetiteur with the State Opera of South Australia, after which she joined the Victorian State Opera Young Artist Programme.
From 1997–2001 she was a full-time member of the music staff at the Staatsoper Hannover, Germany. Then from 2001–2012 Jennifer worked for Opera Australia, before returning to her beloved city of Hobart. Jennifer is in demand as a soloist, accompanist, teacher, vocal coach and chamber musician.
Jennifer’s participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of Emeritus Professor Susan Soltys, Professor Ian Frazer AC & Mrs Caroline Frazer.
Philip Mayers is an Australian musician of remarkable versatility, enjoying an enviable reputation as a sought-after chamber music partner, accompanist, vocal coach, conductor and pianist, the latter especially in the field of New Music, where he has been involved in the premières of more than one hundred new works. His concert performances have taken him to leading festivals such as Montreux, Aldeburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée (Nantes), Wratislavia Cantans (Poland), Schleswig-Holstein, Hong Kong Arts Festival, New York’s White Light Festival and even the April Spring Festival in Pyongyang, North Korea
He graduated with Distinction from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, having studied piano with Max Olding. After winning the piano prize of the ABC’s televised Young Performer of the Year competition and with the aid of an Australia Council Grant, he left Australia for studies with Phillip Moll in Berlin and Zelma Bodzin in New York
Now resident in Berlin, Philip performs regularly throughout Europe, North America and Asia, particularly as an associate artist with leading singers and chamber music partners from orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony. He has been Musical Director with, among others, the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, Schwetzinger Festspiele and the Berliner Kammeroper, including conducting the world première of Lera Auerbach’s a cappella opera The Blind
He is also in demand as a vocal coach, having prepared singers for roles at Bayreuth, Covent Garden, Paris Bastille, Opera Australia, the 3 Berlin opera houses as well as other major houses in Germany, Austria and France. Most recently, his continued association as Guest Coach with the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program in Australia has resulted in his stage debut as the Haushofmeister in their production, conducted by Simone Young, of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos
Philip’s participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of Mr Philip Bacon AO DUniv, Professor Ian Frazer AC & Mrs Caroline Frazer.
Sarka Budinska is a graduate from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. During her studies Sarka collaborated with many soloists, choirs and chamber ensembles across the country, including Czech Radio choir, acclaimed children’s choir Zvonecek, M.Nostitz String Quartet, and performed at venues such Rudolfinum and Smetana Concert Hall. Her repertoire covers a wide range of instrumental, vocal and chamber music. Since relocating to Australia, Sarka has been active as a collaborative artist, piano teacher and chamber musician.
In 2018, Sarka was awarded a repetitieur scholarship to The Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program (LGNOP) and was part of the team for the production of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss. In 2019, she returned to LGNOP as chorus master and repetitieur in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai.
She currently holds the position of sessional accompanist at the Queensland Conservatorium and at the University of Queensland.
Francis Atkins
RÉPÉTITEUR
Francis Atkins is a young aspiring Australian pianist. A fiery performer, Francis has performed in several music hotspots around Australia, including the Sydney Opera House, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, and at the Brisbane and Bangalow Music Festivals. He is currently a candidate for a Master of Music Studies at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.
Francis maintains a growing career as a pianist and is passionate about collaborating with musicians of all characters and calibre. He has performed as a soloist with several Queensland-based orchestras, as a young artist with the Brisbane Music Festival, and as a Next-Generation artist with the Southern Cross Soloists. Francis was recently awarded an Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Scholarship, named as a ‘2020 Young Musician of the year’. In 2021, he was awarded first place in the Basil Jones Sonata Prize. In 2022, Francis is pursuing his interests in vocal—piano collaboration with the emerging opera initiative, Voxalis
Francis’ participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of George Family Trust and Mr Cameron Williams.
Ella Lincoln is an Australian designer and storyteller whose work spans across theatre, installation, and events. Ella holds a Bachelor of Design (Stage & Screen) from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. Ella predominantly works as a costume designer, however her love of visceral images and the poignant ephemeral quality found in live experiences, lends itself to immersive spaces. Her most recent work was the costume design for Altitude Theatre Company’s Once on this Island.
Ella’s participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of Emeritus Professor Susan Soltys.
Len McPherson PRODUCTION MANAGER
Philip Mayers SURTITLES
Philip Mayers VOCAL COACH
Sarka Budinska CHORUS MASTER & RÉPÉTITEUR
Ella Lincoln DESIGNER
Keith Clark
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Keith Clark’s lighting design work includes Single Asian Female with La Boite Theatre Company, Boy Girl Wall and Packed with The Escapists, Handle with Care with Joymas Creative, De-Generator, Opposite of Prompt, Angel-Monster, and The Machine that Carries the Soul with Phluxus Dance Collective, Moon Spirit Feasting wih Elision Music Ensemble, Juice with The Crash Collective, Kazka and Legend with Lehenda Dance Company, Laramie Project with Forward Movement, Wind in the Willows with La Boite Theatre Company, and Tarnished with La La Palour. Designs for the Queensland Conservatorium include Grease Street Scene, Beatrice and Benedict, Dido and Aeneas, and 42nd Street Improvised designs have been for such artists as The Necks, Jeff Lang, The Ordinary Fear of God, Aaron Goldberg, Kate Miller-Heidke, The Church, and Nakhane.
His designs for various productions have toured nationally and internationally to Europe and America. Keith Clark is also a member of the award-winning independent theatre group The Escapists.
Isabelle’s love of theatre was kindled from a very young age as an avid audience member, attending many productions from all areas of theatre, and fell in love with the culture and spectacle that the Sydney Theatre had to offer. It was not until she joined the stage crew of her school’s production of Legally Blonde that she discovered her passion for the technical side of theatre, and it was this passion that led her to stage manage every subsequent production during her time at school.
Isabelle recently moved to Brisbane to join the Queensland Conservatorium in order to pursue her passion for technical theatre, and has been involved in Iolanthe as Assistant Stage Manager, as well as Heathers: The Musical as both Assistant Stage Manager, and Lighting Operator. She will be commencing her studies of a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Production) at the Queensland University of Technology in 2023.
This production is Isabelle’s professional Stage Management debut, and she is thrilled to have been given this opportunity.
Isabelle Markham STAGE MANAGER
Joshua White
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Joshua has always enjoyed the diversity of performing arts and has a strong passion for early choral music and the study and performance of Opera. Joshua’s interest in Opera developed when he joined The Young Conservatorium Chamber Choir, Show Choir and began private vocal lessons with baritone Shaun Brown. In 2009 he continued his music study at the University of Queensland and joined Brisbane’s Sola Voce Chamber Choir under Director Reka Csernyik.
In 2016, Joshua was graduated with a Bachelor of Music at the Conservatorium of Queensland Griffith University under vocal coach Margaret Schindler and in 2017 completed his Graduate Certificate in Opera Performance. Joshua is a founding member and active performer for Brisbane City Opera (BCO). With BCO, he has featured in Bastien and Bastienne Apollo & Dafne The Magic Flute, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival show Opera Galactica for its Australian Premier Season. He continues his role as Treasurer and Creative Producer at the organisation to this day.
Joshua began as Project Coordinator here at LGNOP late 2019 and looks forward to assisting The Program grow and develop as they undertake projects in the future.
DIE OPERNPROBE
(The Opera Rehearsal) ALBERT
LORTZING
1851
While Albert Lortzing is virtually unknown to Australian opera goers, he was a wellrespected, versatile force in German music between 1833 and his death in 1851, sadly just after Die Opernprobe opened in Frankfurt. In fact, the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music states that his comic operas made “him the most inventive composer of opera with spoken dialogue in mid-19th century Germany”. His musical and narrative parameters for German comic opera cleverly blended Spieloper and French opera comique, as well their plots reworked earlier plays, in the case of Die Opernprobe a French 18th century play in which Lortzing had acted during 1825.
His penchant for a German revival of popular Mozartian opera displaying well composed, easy to enjoy, tuneful music reflects his youth learning his trades of singer, actor, conductor and composer working alongside his itinerant musician parents who played in what we would call music theatres, not grand state opera houses. These theatres and companies kept a clear division between grand opera. They provided the middle class a pleasant evening where plots avoided obscure classical mythology, or the Norse sagas Wagner already favoured. Instead, plots relied on lived experiences admittedly pushed along by habitual theatrical twisty set ups like cross dressing or as Archie who in Die Opernprobe present as travelling singer, but is wellborn and fleeing his uncle’s plans for arranged marriage. Upon arriving at a grand home where an opera in which he might sing is being rehearsed, Archie discovers the owner’s daughter, Louise whom he fancies, is in fact that very girl. So of course, a happy ending.
Unfortunately, from 1844 his personality hampered appointments as Kappelmeister at the Leipzig Stadtheater, then in Vienna and finally in 1850 at Berlin’s new FriedrichWilhelmstadisches Theatre. Moreover, Lortzing’s support of the workers during the 1846-1850 international revolutionary years did not meet official approval. Once the French government was overthrown, the fractured German Confederate feared breakaways fostered by beliefs akin to those of Marx and Engels would speed a unified Germany. A fate that finally occurred in the 1860s via Bismarck and Prussian, not Austrian leadership.
Nancy Underhill
DER HÄUSLICHE KRIEG
(The Domestic War) FRANZ
SCHUBERT
During Schubert’s short life (1797-1828) he created a massive amount of music including over 600 songs (lieder in German), 7 symphonies, and the 22 stage productions which never proved popular. It is his lieder, solo piano works, string ensembles, a couple of symphonies and a mass that remain so loved and respected.
Vienna was the centre of his life and music making. Schubert’s musical training included playing the viola, violin, organ, study with Antonio Salieri and the Esterhazy Court in Slovakia. However, Schubert lacked financial security via musical appointments so often fell back on teaching in his father’s school and a few friends for encouragement and housing. In 1821 after the sensational 1st public performance of his lied setting of Goethe’s poem, Erlkönig Beethoven and others lauded Schubert’s ability to give the accompanying instrument, the piano in song, and the viola and cello in ensembles lively roles in developing melodic personality whereas previously they predominately served as a sustaining chord-platform. After Erlkönig, publishers readily sold sheet music of his works that could be played even by amateurs at home. Unfortunately, without consistent association with a theatre, Der häusliche Krieg while it was written in 1823, was first performed well after his death in 1861.
This singspiel deserves more attention, it has wit, a racy theme, obvious references to music by Mozart and the ever-popular Rossini, and a libretto its author, the Viennese J.J. Castelli, claimed proved good German versions were possible. Schubert wrote the dialogue. Given this comedy advocates that women refuse sexual favours until their men stop fighting, they wisely set it in medieval not contemporary Vienna. Like Die Opernprobe, Schubert’s singspiel is a rework from a French play which harks back to Aristophanes famous play Lysistrata (411BC) concerning the contemporary Peloponnesian War between the Greek city states. In Schubert’s Vienna the audience would have enjoyed that classical reference and comment on women’s power.
Nancy Underhill
CAST
Die Opernprobe – Albert Lortzing
Morgan Andrew-King is a 22-year-old bass from Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. He has completed his Bachelor of Music from the New Zealand School of Music where he studied under the tutelage of Wade Kernot. At the New Zealand School of Music, he performed the roles of Betto di Signa in Gianni Schicchi and Jupiter in Orpheus in the Underworld. He portrayed Alessio in Day’s Bay Opera production of La Sonnambula. In 2022, he performed the role Sarastro in Hawkes Bay Festival Opera’s production of Die Zauberflote and attended the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival in Sicily where he performed three roles: Colline in La bohème Sparafucile in Rigoletto and Simone in Gianni Schicchi He recently covered the role of Banco in New Zealand Opera’s October 2022 production of Macbeth His choral and concert repertoire includes Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Dixit Dominus Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Rossini’s Petite Masse Solennelle and Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass, performing with choirs from Waikato, Tauranga, Gisborne, and Wellington.
THE EARL
He attended the 2021 New Zealand Opera School programme and won first place at the Napier Coldicutt Aria Competition 2021; and second place at the Wellington Vocal Competition – Aria Finale 2021 and the Te Awamutu Aria Finals 2021. He has had masterclasses with Dame Malvina Major, Simon O’Neil and Jonathan Lemalu. He is a winner of the Deane Endowment Trust Scholarship, Fehl Charitable Trust Scholarship, Waikanae Music Society Scholarship and Circle100 award.
Scholarship provided by Dr Philip Aitken & Dr Susan Urquhart, Professor Catherin Bull AM, Queensland Wagner Society, & Dr John Casey.
Clair Pedrita Alaba Wheatley is an Australian mezzo-soprano of mixed Filipino-English heritage. Having played the clarinet and bagpipes in school, Clair has always had a passion for music. Clair began taking singing lessons at a young age, but her interest in Opera blossomed when she started winning singing competitions and joined Victorian Opera’s Youth Ensemble.
Clair is currently studying classical voice at the Queensland Conservatorium under the direction of Professor Lisa Gasteen AO. Clair’s recent roles in the Queensland Conservatorium’s productions include: King Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Leila in Iolanthe, the Third Spirit in The Magic Flute and The Woman in the Queensland Conservatorium production of Street Scenes She has competed in multiple competitions, winning second place in the Margaret Nickson Vocal & Accompaniment prize in 2021.
Clair is also a model signed with RebelRebelTalent and has walked for Brisbane Fashion Week 2022 designer’s Pigsuit and Rachel Burke’s Trash N Treasure Planet Prom Runaway. Clair appeared in international publications such as Selin Magazine and Mob Journal.
Scholarship provided by Dr Philip Aitken & Dr Susan Urquhart, Professor Catherin Bull AM, Queensland Wagner Society, & Dr John Casey.
Morgan Andrew-King
Clair Wheatley THE COUNTESS
Brisbane-based soprano Annika Hinrichs first began to perform as a child; her primary influences have been the late Margaret Baker-Genovesi and Dr Margaret Schindler, her teacher during studies at the QLD Conservatorium of Music. Role highlights while studying at QCGU include Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, le Feu in L’enfant et les sortilèges, and covering Pamina in The Magic Flute. Professional engagements have included Belinda in Dido and Aeneas First Lady in The Magic Flute, First Nymph in Apollo e Dafne, and the role of Princess Slayer in Opera Galactica. Annika holds a Bachelor of Music in Advanced Performance (classical voice) and a Graduate Diploma of Opera Studies from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and was graduated with Distinction in her Master of Music Studies in Vocal Pedagogy. After eight years as Assistant Director of Music at Brisbane’s Cathedral of St Stephen, in 2022 Annika left her position and has regular concert engagements which include the Brisbane City Pops Orchestra, Redlands Sinfonia, The Queensland Choir, and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra for works including Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana Handel’s Messiah and Faure’s Requiem
Scholarship provided by Dr Philip Aitken & Dr Susan Urquhart, Professor Catherin Bull AM, Queensland Wagner Society, & Dr John Casey.
Annika Hinrichs
LOUISE
Sebastian Maclaine completed his Bachelor of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2008, where he featured in a number of productions including the title role in Albert Herring Valetto in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Autumn in The Fairy Queen
Sebastian has a wide variety of musical experiences, including with the Australian touring and recording group, The Ten Tenors. With the group, Sebastian has performed extensively in 16 countries, most recently in 2022, and recorded a number of albums.
In 2017, Sebastian was the recipient of an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music to study at the Royal Northern College of Music. He graduated from the RNCM in 2018 with a Master of Music (Intensive). Also in 2018 at the Glyndebourne Festival, he appeared in the chorus for Giulio Cesare, Pelléas et Mélisande and Vanessa, and understudied the High Priest in Barrie Kosky’s Saul. He subsequently moved to Hildesheim, performing with Theater für Niedersachsen as soloist and chorus member.
Soprano Samantha Hargreaves was awarded the Bettine McCaughan Scholarship by the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS) and named the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir Singer of the Year in 2021. In 2022, she is supported by the Dame Nellie Melba Scholarship, Patrick & Vivian Award and Eleanor Blakemore Opera Society Scholarship with Melba Opera Trust. Samantha holds a Masters of Music degree in Opera Performance from the University of Melbourne. As part of her university course, she has sung Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Sandman in Hansel and Gretel, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and Beth in Little Women. Earlier this year, Samantha sang rare art songs by Peggy Glanville-Hicks with the Lyric Opera of Melbourne. She has recently appeared as a soloist with Victoria Chorale, Star Chorale, Melbourne Male Welsh Choir, Heidelberg Choral Society, and the Bach Cantata Program at St. John’s, Southgate.
Scholarship provided by Dr John Lowrey & Mrs Lyn Lowrey, Mr Fraser Power, Mrs Teresa Desmarchelier, Dr Malcom Godfrey & Dr Terry Beer.
Vikram is an Australian bass opera singer, currently studying at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University under Margaret Schindler. He has performed in many Conservatorium opera productions, performs regularly within the institution, and about the community. As a child, Vikram attended programs at YoungCon and participated in school ensembles. Despite his enthusiasm for music, it wasn’t until his return to Australia in 2015, while studying Physics at UQ, that he reconnected via the UQ chorale and UQ chamber singers. The rekindling of musicianship continued with the St John’s Cathedral choirs, the St Stephen’s Schola, founding of vocal ensemble Lucis, and eventually leading back study at the Conservatorium. Productions include Simone in Gianni Schicchi Colline in La bohème Don Pedro in Béatrice et Bénédict, Carl Olsen in Street Scene, 2nd Armoured Man in Die Zauberflöte Dr Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro and Private Willis in Iolanthe As well he has produced and performed concert series with Lucis from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers to Monteverdi’s fifth book of madrigals.
Scholarship provided by Dr Jenny & Dr Andrew Byth, Ms Kay Vernon, Dr Ian Wilkey & Mrs Hannah Wilkey.
Sebastian returned to Brisbane in 2020, performing with Opera Queensland (OQ) in the schools touring productions of La bohème and The Frog Prince (co-production with Shake & Stir Theatre Co.) and OQ’s Vocal Ensemble. In 2022, he joined the OQ Young Artist Program and performed the role of Gastone in La Traviata
Australian Baritone Tom Nicholson is undergoing Postgraduate Studies at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University under the tutelage of Shelli Hulcombe. In 2022 Tom is a Melba Opera Trust Artist. Recent performances are the role of Frank Maurrant in the QCGU production of Street Scene, directed by Michael Gow. Other QCGU productions include Somarone in Beatrice et Benedict Manon Lescaut in Machin Scenes, and The Policeman, Jack in Dry River Run His lieder and art song performance won the Elizabeth Muir Memorial Prize (2021), the John and Sue Thompson Vocal Accompaniment Scholarship (2021) and the Margaret Nickson Prize for Voice and Accompaniment (2019) alongside pianist Ruby Luck. Tom performs regularly as part of the Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church Choral.
This year he sung Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel at a Saint Andrew’s Con Spirito Concert and performed at the Queensland Club alongside colleagues from the Conservatorium.
Scholarship provided by Dr Jenny & Dr Andrew Byth, Ms Kay Vernon, Dr Ian Wilkey & Mrs Hannah Wilkey.
Samantha Hargreaves
ANNA
Vikram Goonawardena BARON
Sebastian Maclaine ARCHIE
Scholarship provided by Dr John Lowrey & Mrs Lyn Lowrey.
Tom Nicholson
JONES
Baritone, Jia-Peng Yeung is a recent Bachelor of Music (Honours Class I) graduate under the tutelage of Dr Shaun Brown at The University of Queensland.
Jia-Peng was selected to participate in the 2021 Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program, the 2021 winner of the UQ Ethel Osbourne Vocal Prize, the 2021 winner of the UQ Margret Nickson Prize, and was a recipient of the UQ and St Leo’s College Music Achievement Scholarship during his residency at St Leo’s College from 2018 and 2019. In 2022, Jia-Peng was the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition winner.
Jia-Peng has been a soloist in Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia, Charpentier’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B flat with UQ Chorale, UQ Chamber Singers, and UQ Singers. He has also been a soloist in the UQ School of Music Lunchtime Concert series and with the UQ Singers and UQ Chamber Singers.
Jia-Peng sang Simone at the Cuskelly Sumer School Opera Program and the University of Queensland’s production of Gianni Schicchi, excerpts in UQ Singers Opera Scenes from Les Contes d’Hoffman as Dr Miracle, Counte Graf in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro Claggart in Billy Budd, Nick Shadow in Rake’s Progress , and chorus roles in West Side Story, Don Giovanni and Cendrillon
Scholarship provided by Dr John Casey.
CAST
Der häusliche Krieg – Franz Schubert
Freelance actor, lyric baritone, and playwright Aidan Hodder enjoyed performance since partaking in Opera Queensland’s high school residency programme. He is a versatile performer, composer and writer, with a Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Bachelor of Music in Performance and has returned to the Conservatorium to complete a Graduate Certificate in Music Studies.
Studying under Dr Margaret Schindler, Aidan has appeared in every year’s mainhouse student opera, and Val Machin Scenes (a one-hour collection of operatic excerpts), where his affinity for acting has lent itself to numerous comic and speaking roles among these performances. Outside of the Conservatorium he partakes in musicals and plays with companies including Brisbane Arts Theatre, Beenleigh Theatre Group, and Footlights Theatrical Company, and is an advocate for children’s involvement with the performing arts.
Jack has loved being in and around music his whole life. His love of singing started after being introduced to his school choirs. From a young age, Jack has competed in the Australian National Eisteddfod as his voice matured and settled as a bass. As an adolescent singer, Jack took part in the Gondwana Choir school in 2018 as a part of Latitude 34, and in 2019 as a part of Gondwana Chorale.
After moving from Canberra to Brisbane in 2020 to study a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Jack had chorus and minor speaking and singing roles in QCGUs productions, Béatrice et Bénédict in 2020, Street Scene in 2021, and the Val Machin Scenes for both years. In 2021, Jack won the Margaret Nixon Prize (QCGU) and performed the Mozart Coronation Mass alongside the Con Singers in St John’s Cathedral. Engagements in 2022 included Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Private Willis in Iolanthe, and the Bass Soloist in Requiem with the QSO for their Sing with the QSO Community Concert.
Jack studied with Dr Margaret Schindler and other QCGU professors and teachers.
Scholarship provided by the Hon Peter Underhill OBE Memorial Gift.
He currently works as a presenter and script writer for the Brisbanebased educational entertainment company Dino Encounters that delivers educational across south-east Queensland with realistic animatronic dinosaur puppets and his signature dramatic flair.
Scholarship provided by Dr John Casey.
Liam is a tenor from Canberra who has long enjoyed music and the performing arts. While in Canberra, his love for stagecraft involved regular participation in dance classes, musical theatre, plays, and opera performances, but decided to pursue opera.
Currently undertaking a bachelor’s degree of Classical Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium, Liam’s most recent performance was understudying the character Tolloller in Iolanthe, while also performing in the ensemble. His intention is to continue his studies in Europe.
Scholarship provided by the Hon Peter Underhill OBE Memorial Gift.
Jia-Peng Yeung MARTY
Jack Bolton
Aidan Hodder
Ji Zhang is a Brisbane-based tenor, originally from Ningbo, China. He recently graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, with a Bachelor of Music in Performance under Dr Margaret Schindler. During his four years of study, Ji performed various principal roles in opera productions including First Sailor in Dido and Aeneas Rodolfo in La bohème Don Josè in Carmen, Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, and Lippo Fiorentino in Street Scene. In 2021, Ji made his Opera Queensland debut as Chick Tong in Paul Hodge’s new opera Riot Since 2019, Ji held the Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church Tenor Choral Scholarship. In 2021, Ji made his oratorio solo debut with the Sunshine Coast Choral Society, performing John Stainer’s Crucifixion and soloist in Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest with the Queensland Choir. In November 2021, Ji participated in The Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program, where he undertook vocal coaching with Professor Lisa Gasteen AO and Tenor Bradley Daley. In 2022, Ji appeared as an Opera Queensland chorus member, La Traviata directed by Sarah Giles, conducted by Dan Lam.
Caitlin began on violin at the age of six and placed in many violin eisteddfod’s, performed with Queensland Youth Orchestra, Queensland Youth Orchestra 2 and received her AmusA diploma on violin. At sixteen years of age, Caitlin discovered her love of opera after seeing The Marriage of Figaro and auditioned successfully for the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University majoring in Classical Voice. While at the Conservatorium, Caitlin performed in venues such as the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Conservatorium Theatre, and Queensland Parliament House Senate Chamber. Her opera chorus highlights include Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and La Finta Giardiniera. Her first principle role was 2nd Woman in Dido and Aeneas, presented by the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2020. Since then, Caitlin has appeared in Queensland Conservatorium productions as Mimi in La bohème Greta Fiorentino in Street Scene, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2021 Caitlin was selected for the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program. Caitlin has been the recipient of the Hugh Campbell Award and was a joint recipient of the Donald Penman Voices in Combination Award (2019) for her contribution to the Liebeslieder Quartet.
Kira Dooner is an emerging operatic soprano. Originally from Armidale NSW, she is currently completing a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance degree at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University studying with Professor Lisa Gasteen AO. Kira was awarded the Nora Baird Bursary in 2020 and the Blanche and Hugh Campbell Award in 2021. Earlier roles performed before moving to Brisbane are Morticia Addams in The Addams Family and Anna Antonovich in The Government Inspector
Her love of opera sparked in the chorus of Opera Australia’s 2014 regional tour of The Magic Flute. During her time at QCGU she has sung Celia in Iolanthe, Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mrs Buchanen in Street Scene and Chorus in Dido and Aeneas
Scholarship provided by Professor Ian Gough AM & Dr Ruth Gough.
Tayla Alexander is a 21-year-old New Zealand Soprano currently completing her Bachelor of Music with Honours, at the University of Auckland studying with Dr Morag Atchison. Her awards include semi-finalist in the 2022 Lexus Song Quest, winning the national Ronald Dellow Senior Vocal Recital Competition, Norah Howell Senior Vocal Competition, and attending the 2022 Whanganui New Zealand Opera School on scholarship. She has received the Evelyn M Harrison Scholarship and performed as a solo guest with SOL3MIO at Spark Arena in Auckland. Other recent awards include the Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust, Vinka Marinovich Award, and the Veza Family Postgraduate Scholarship in Music.
Tayla is a soloist with the New Zealand Opera company, the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, The Auckland Opera studio and the Auckland Youth Orchestra, and recently performed in New Zealand Opera’s Macbeth at the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Centre.
In 2023 Tayla will be a young artist in the New Zealand Opera Artist Development program, where she will perform roles such as Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte and Julie Jordan and Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel.
Scholarship provided by Professr Ian Gough AM & Dr Ruth Gough.
Maria Woolford is a Brisbane based mezzo-soprano who graduated with a Bachelor of Music in November 2020 from the University of Queensland (UQ) and is currently completing her Graduate Certificate in Music under Sarah Crane.During her studies, Maria debuted at QPAC as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (2021) and has performed, in opera excerpts, the roles of Mallika in Lakmé, Jo in Little Women Wellgunde in das Rheingold Adalgisa in Norma, Augusta in Baby Doe and la Principessa in Suor Angelica In 2019, she completed an exchange to the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, Canada where she sang in Opera McGill’s production of Die Zauberflöte. Maria has sung in the ensemble of Messiah, Dido and Aeneas and St Matthew Passion and with Opera Queensland in their Songs of Love and War production. Maria has enjoyed performing as a soloist with the Seven Sopranos, Ipswich City Orchestra, Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra, and Brisbane Monteverdi Ensemble.
Scholarship provided by Professor Ian Gough AM & Dr Ruth Gough.
Jack Bolton FRANZ
STELZENHUBER
RESERL
You can find Jack’s biography under his role in Die Opernprobe. Samantha Hargreaves
You can find Samantha’s biography under her role in Die Opernprobe.
You can find Sebastian’s biography under his role in Die Opernprobe.
Scholarship provided by the Hon Peter Underhill OBE Memorial Gift.
Ji Zhang
Tayla Alexander HELENE
Kira Dooner BARBARA
Caitlin Weal KATHI
Scholarship provided by Professor Ian Gough AM & Dr Ruth Gough.
Maria Woolford MARIE
Sebastian Maclaine BASTIAN
CHORUS
Chorus from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and University of Queensland Vocal Departments.
SOPRANO
Imogen-Kate Bye
Tashana Hardy
Sky Kim
Louisa Nelson
Caitlin Weal
ALTO
Aylish Ryan
Lauren Towns
Maria Woolford
Charlotte Wright
Liam Jackson Freddie Klein Ryan Lawrence
Muir Ji Zhang
BASS
Jack Bolton
Dallas Tippett
David Upcher
Jia-Peng Yeung
ORCHESTRA
Ensemble Q
Ensemble Q has earned an enviable reputation for brilliant programming and the highest performance standard — appearing at festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and the Queensland Music Festival, as well as touring nationally for Musica Viva and regularly featuring on ABC Classic FM. They are currently celebrated as Company in Residence at QPAC and continue their position as Ensemble in Residence at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in a mentorship capacity. Led by Co-Artistic Directors clarinettist Paul Dean and cellist Trish Dean, the ensemble has some of the finest musicians in Australia among their core artists including Concertmaster and Principal seats in Queensland Symphony Orchestra, soloists and chamber musicians on the national touring network, as well as leading faculty at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU).
Their challenging mentorship program gives students and emerging musicians the opportunity to work alongside them in selected performances, and in the formation of orchestras for productions with LGNOP, the Queensland Choir, Opera Queensland, and the Queensland Music Festival. Ensemble Q formed the orchestras for past LGNOP productions including Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Merry Wives of Windsor) under American Conductor Ward Stare, and Ariadne Auf Naxos under Simone Young.
Ensemble Q’s participation at LGNOP 2022 is possible due to the support of Mr Kenneth Reed AM.
VIOLIN 1
Susan Collins
Liam Freisberg
Miriam Niessl
Chae Eun Oh
Lili Stephens
Isabelle Watson
Kristelle Jaimes
Morgan Ip
VIOLIN 2
Michele Walsh
Emilia Jarvela
Emily Ampt
Eden Annesley
Ingram Fan
Maddisyn Dixon-Whitbourne
VIOLA
Raquel Bastos
Courtney Schuurs
Ella Pysden
Kyle Brady
Jasmine Smith
CELLO
Trish Dean
Alexandra Bekes
Daniel Shearer
Cindy Masterman
DOUBLE BASS
Douglas Rutherford
Sophia Buchanan
Alyssa Deacon
FLUTE
Monika Koerner
Braden Simm
OBOE
Celia Craig
Tina Gallo
Our Sponsors
Dr Philip Aitken & Dr Susan Urquhart
Mr Philip Bacon AO DUniv
Professor Catherin Bull AM
Dr Jenny & Dr Andrew Byth
Dr John Casey
Mr John Davey
Mrs Teresa Desmarchelier
Mr Michael Edgeloe
Professor Ian Frazer AC & Mrs Caroline Frazer
Dr Malcom Godfrey & Dr Terry Beer
OBOE
Celia Craig
Tina Gallo
CLARINET
Paul Dean
Joshua Rosen
BASSOON
Christopher Buckley Hayden Mears
FRENCH HORN
Oscar Schmidt
Arabella Davie
TRUMPET
Sarah Butler
Isabella Geeves
TIMPANI
Steven Bryer
ORCHESTRA MANAGER
Nikhil Deo
Professor Ian Gough AM & Dr Ruth Gough
Dr John Lowrey & Mrs Lyn Lowrey
Mr Fraser Power
George Family Trust
Queensland Wagner Society
Mr Kenneth Reed AM
Emeritus Professor Susan Soltys
Hon Peter Underhill OBE Memorial Gift
Ms Kay Vernon
Dr Ian Wilkey & Mrs Hannah Wilkey
Mr Cameron Williams
This evening’s performance will be recorded by 4MBS radio. Recording Engineer: Mr David Spearitt.
Thank you to Professor Paul Sabey, Head of Performing Arts, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University for his generous support of this production.
MAJOR SPONSORS
Mr Philip Bacon AO DUniv | Dr John Casey | Mr Kenneth Reed AM | Professor Ian Frazer AC & Mrs Caroline Frazer
PATRONS
Janet Holmes à Court AC | Lyndon Terracini AM DUniv | Simone Young AM DUniv
