Biography

Peter Coleman-Wright AO has enjoyed a long and highly successful career. He has sung over 75 roles all over the world, including Don Giovanni, Il Conte, Gulgilemo, Don Alfonso, Papageno, Macbeth, Posa, Germont, Michele, Ping, Sharpless, Marcello, Scarpia, Donner, Gunther, Beckmesser, Wolfram, Pizzaro, Figaro, Dandini, Don Alvaro, Billy Budd, Balstrode, Owen Wingrove, Demetrius, Sid, and The Traveller among many others.

Peter has had long associations with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring, La Monnaie, Bastille, Munich, La Scala, La Fenice, Warsaw, Geneva, Aix-en Provence, Netherlands, Bordeaux , Kammer Oper- Wien and Opera Australia.

In America Peter has performed at the Metropolitan Opera New York ( Falke, Fieramosca, Belcore, Marcello), New York City (Don Giovanni), Houston Grand Opera (Sharpless, Posa, End of the Affair), Santa Fe (Sharpless). He sang Caligula in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2016.

In addition Peter has championed new and 20th Century works including operas by Henze (Prinz vom Homburg), Dallapiccola ( Il Prigioniero), Jonathan Harvey ( Inquest of Love), David Blake (The Plumbers Gift), Detlev Glanert (Caligula), Jake Heggie (End of the Affair) and Brett Dean (Bliss).

Peter has had a substantial career in the world of song and concert repertoire and has performed in in the great halls of the world including Wigmore, Chatelet, Aix en Provence, London South Bank, Bridgewater Hall, Madrid, Paris Garnier, Paris Radio France, Aldeburgh, Amsteram Concertgebouw, Iceland, Finland, San Paulo, Brazil and Moscow, alongside pianists like Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Piers Lane and Malcolm Martineau.

He has sung with many notable conductors such as John Adams, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Mark Elder, Daniele Gatti, Richard Hickox, Elgar Howarth, James Levine, Sir Antony Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Carlo Rizzi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky Edo de Waart, Mark Wigglesworth and Simone Young.

Peter has recorded extensively for EMI, Telarc, Virgin Classics, Hyperion, LSO and ABC Classics.

He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Melbourne and an Order of Australia AO for his services to Music in 2015.

Australian conductor Dane Lam is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of China's Xi'an Symphony Orchestra. Acclaimed by Limelight Magazine as “one of the most talented young

conductors Australia has produced” and by the Manchester Evening News as “a master of rhythmic and articulatory complexities”, he has earned a reputation as an electrifying musician in a large and varied repertoire.

Prior to Xi'an, Dane enjoyed highly acclaimed tenures as Principal Conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Associate Conductor with Opera Holland Park and as Assistant Conductor to Kurt Masur at the Orchestre National de France and Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Sydney Symphony.
 
First appearing with the Sydney Symphony in the Sydney Opera House at age eighteen, Dane has since conducted orchestras on four continents including the Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Manchester Camerata, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn and the Juilliard Orchestra.
 
Recent and future engagements include La bohème and Don Giovanni for Opera Australia, Orfeo ed Euridice for Opera Queensland, La traviata and The Rake’s Progress for Scottish Opera‚ Giulio Cesare for Bury Court Opera, Cosí fan tutte and L’arlesiana for Opera Holland

Park, Norma with Chelsea Opera Group and concerts with the Queensland, Adelaide, Canberra, West Australian and Suzhou Symphony Orchestras. The upcoming season with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra sees Dane collaborate with Nikolai Demidenko, Barry Douglas, Kirill Gerstein and Angela Hewitt, and masterworks including Mahler’s Sixth Symphony.

Other engagements have included Opera Holland Park's productions of Aida, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Norma, RTE Concert Orchestra (Dublin), Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Ensemble 10/10, Oxford University Orchestra, British Youth Opera’s The Bartered Bride and Paul Bunyan and RNCM Opera’s La Clemenza di Tito and Carmen.  He made his German début with the Munich Radio Orchestra and his Royal Festival Hall début with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of London Music Masters' Bridge Program.
 
Born into a musical family, Dane began to play the piano as a child, followed by studies in clarinet. He was first introduced to conducting through the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Programme. After completing his study at the University of Queensland under Gwyn Roberts, Dane was accepted (aged 22) as a postgraduate student under James DePreist at New York’s Juilliard School. He also studied under Maestro Gelmetti at Siena’s Accademia Musicale Chigiana.

Tobias Cole is one of Australia’s most successful counter-tenors, having performed throughout Australia, the UK and USA. He is also Artistic Director of Canberra Choral Society. After winning the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Study Award, spending three months studying in New York at The Metropolitan, Tobias made his U.S. debut in 2004 playing Ottone: L’Incoronazione di Poppea, returning to sing Apollo in Death in Venice and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream all for the Chicago Opera Theater.

Highlight performances have included the title role in Julius Caesar, Medoro in Orlando, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Mozart Anniversary Concerts (Opera Australia); the title role in Xerxes (NBR NZ Opera and Victorian Opera) for which he won a Green Room Award; Studz in Alan John’s How to Kill Your Husband (Victorian Opera); Roberto in Griselda and Athamas in Semele (Pinchgut Opera); La Speranza and Pastore 3 in L'Orfeo (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra); Dr Who Symphonic  Spectacular (Melbourne Symphony); Carmina Burana (West Australian Symphony and Queensland Music Festival); Messiah and St. John  Passion (Queensland  Symphony); Masterpieces of Time (Synergy Percussion); Bach’s B minor Mass (Song Company/Canberra International Music Festival); and regular appearances with Sydney  Philharmonia, including John Adams’ El Ñino and Bach’s B minor Mass.

2013 engagements will include a staged version of St Matthew Passion (Opera Queensland), Dido and Aeneas (Sydney  Philharmonia), Theodora (Handel) for Canberra Choral Society, Carmina Burana (Canberra Symphony) and Handel’s Messiah (Queensland Symphony).

Mark has worked in the lighting industry since his teenage years, across all facets of the industry; from touring rock’n’roll to highend corporate gigs; from large outdoor festivals to finessed theatre productions.

Mark is CoDirector along with his sister of the Brisbane based contemporary dance company, Company Clare Dyson, which has been producing innovative and exciting new work for the last 10 years. Originally from and now based in Canberra (and Sydney), Mark works both nationally and internationally, working annually in Europe during the northern summers for the last decade.

His work in Europe is a far cry from black box theatre, designing large scale, one off events that have included Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, Queen Elizabeth’s II private 80th birthday celebrations, Elton John’s yearly White Tie and Tiara Ball and many others.

He has designed and operated lights for, amongst others, Justin Timberlake, James Brown, Elton John and the Kings of Leon. Mark holds a Bachelors Degree in Art History and philosophy from the Australian National University and has achieved a PhD at the University of Sydney.

Fiona Victoria Hopkins is both an extraordinarily talented and accomplished Costume Designer and Actor. Her parallel talents have taken her around the world, having spent over 14 years in the UK and Europe before returning to homeland back in 2014.
 
Studying at London's International Drama School of Theatre and Performance Rose Bruford College Fiona was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Costume Production (2003) and went on to study the MA Acting- Classical Masters programme (2005) at the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London under Dr Rob Clare. Later she spent extended periods in Los Angeles in 2007 and again in 2014 studying screen acting
under international acting coach Lisa Pescia.

Fiona's international experience as a Costume Designer, Wardrobe Supervisor both Resident and on Tour; as well as a Buyer and Assistant to Designers and Costumiers is impressive. She worked for many years with Academy Costumes London in the fast-paced world of Adrian
Gwillym and his small team across TV, film, music and all areas of the entertainment industry on bespoke commissions to entire productions dressing and designing for some of the biggest names in the industry.
 
Caroline McGinn of Londons Time Out Magazine reviewer of The Representative by Rolf Hochhuth played at The Finborough UK, said costumes 'were spot-on'. She also worked for Wexford Opera Ireland, Royal Central School's Youth Opera, Flying Music and Qdos Entertainment to name but a few.
 
In November 2018 Fiona made her debut at the Street Theatre as Costume Designer for Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again by Alice Birch Directed by Karla Conway.
 
Fiona debuts on Sport for Jove's Shakespeare's Twelfth Night directed by Christopher Stollery having worked with Christopher in the 2019 season of Twelfth Night produced by Lakespeare Co Canberra.
 
I adore Shakespeare, character defines the costume, and vice versa. I always try to marry this relationship to my designs. I see my designs as a continuous work of art, and as the production moves through rehearsals so too will the costume design. I am a great believer that costumes
are not just an item of clothing you put on, but a frame of mind you wear from within. I look forward to bring a fresh, imaginative costuming to the stage while working with incredibly talented and committed artists.

Biography

Australian tenor, Bradley Daley has won critical and popular praise for some of opera’s most expansive tenor roles – Siegfried, Der Kaiser, Otello, Florestan, Canio, Don José and Erik. Most notable have been his interpretations of Mao Tse-tung (Nixon in China) and the tenor solos in The Dream of Gerontius. 

In Australia Bradley has performed with Opera Australia – Curley (Of Mice and Men -   Green Room Award), Don José (Carmen), Siegmund (Der Ring des Nibelungen) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly). For Opera Queensland - Florestan (Fidelio), Rodolfo (La bohème), Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West);  State Opera of South Australia – Otello, Narraboth (Salome), Canio (Pagliacci); Victorian Opera - Mao Tse-tung (Nixon in China - Green Room Award), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer); for the State Opera of South Australia Walther (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Bob Boles (Peter Grimes) for the Brisbane Festival. 

In 2018 Bradley debuted the role of Siegfried (Der Ring des Nibelungen and Götterdämmerung) for Opera Kiel. 

In 2019 he debuted the role of Der Kaiser (Die Frau ohne Schatten) followed by another complete Ring cycle for Opera Kiel.  He also toured nationally singing Pinkerton in OA’s production of Madama Butterfly.

In 2020, Bradley was the first person to perform a solo classical recital post-Covid in Australia, for Opera Qld. Since then he has performed the role of Barney (Summer of the Seventeenth Doll) for the State Opera of South Australia.

Internationally he has sung with Opera North, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Holland Park Opera, Co-Opera Ireland and performed regularly with Muziektheatre Transparent in Belgium, Compagnia d'Opera Italiana di Milano, Opera Nomade in Paris.  In 2005 he was invited to give the first performance of a Western opera at the Hanoi Opera House.

Concert performances include Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Dvoràk's Stabat Mater, Verdi's Requiem, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Die erste Walpurgisnacht for the Prague Music Festival, Messiah with the Britten Sinfonia at Snape Maltings and Elgar’s The Kingdom and The Dream of Gerontius at Melbourne Town Hall.

November 2020

Biography

Currently residing in the UK, leading Australian mezzo soprano Catherine Carby has performed with many major opera companies and orchestras including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, English Touring Opera, The Royal Ballet, Opera Australia, West Australian Opera, Victoria State Opera, Opera Queensland, Sydney, West Australian, Melbourne, Tasmanian and Queensland Orchestras, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to return invitations to the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Longborough Festival Opera, this year Catherine will perform Idamante (Idomeneo) for English Touring Opera, in Karl Jenkins’ 75th birthday celebrations and make her debut with Pinchgut Opera.

Recent engagements include Siegrune (The Ring Cycle), Minerva (The Return of Ulysses), and Antonia’s mother (Tales of Hoffmann) for the Royal Opera House; Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) for Longborough Festival Opera; Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride (title role), Rodrigo (Pia di Tolomei, Donizetti) and Diana (La Calisto) for English Touring Opera; Haydn Paukenmesse with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Elijah at the Hexham Festival; Nita, (The Mountebanks) with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at Teatro São Carlos Lisbon, and Katharina Schratt (Mayerling) for The Royal Ballet London.

For Opera Australia, Catherine has sung Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), title role (Carmen), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress), for which she won a Helpmann Award, Mallika (Lakmé), Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), for which she received a Green Room Award, Ruggiero (Alcina), Kristina (The Makropulos Affair), Heavenly Being and Madam By-Ends (The Pilgrim’s Progress), Suzuki (Madame Butterfly), Second Lady (Magic Flute) and Auntie (Peter Grimes).

Press

Iphigénie en Tauride, English Touring Opera

"…Carby sounds extraordinarily beautiful as her voice cleaves through Gluck’s soaring lines"

Tim Ashley, The Guardian, March 2016

“…And if you want to hear world-class singing, that’s what you’ll get from mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby in the title role…Carby sails through her hugely demanding role with seemingly effortless grace”.

Michael Church, Independent.co.uk, March 2016
 

Partenope, Opera Australia

“…Catherine Carby was as impressive – perhaps even more so – with her silken, sophisticated, confused Arsace. Carby is superb in trouser roles, taking on masculine qualities in subtle, interesting ways without a trace of strain”.

Deborah Jones, Opera Magazine, June 2011

Capuleti e i Montecchi, Opera Australia
“Carby combined wonderfully flexible vocal expressiveness with a haughty stage swagger so that her pluck, statuesque carriage and fragility amid the realism of guns and knives created a genuine frisson.”
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, August 2009

Don Giovanni, Opera Australia

“…Catherine Carby’s Donna Elvira was the work’s most interesting character in her comic, self-humiliating obsession with Giovanni, and she rose to the challenge with humour and poignancy. Her beautifully phrased and coloured Act II aria, Mi tradi, was a musico-dramatic turning.”

Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, July 2008

Biography

Described by critics as ‘The most exciting voice since Joan Sutherland’, Australian born Helena Dix has secured her name on the operatic stages all around the world.  Helena’s recent operatic engagements include the title role in Feroni’s CRISTINA REGINA DI SVEZIA for Wexford Festival Opera, Oldenburg Staatstheater and Chelsea Opera Group, Elettra IDOMENEO and Odabella ATTILA for Staatstheater Nürnberg and Lubeck opera, the title-role LA GIOCONDA for Teatro Calderón, Valladolid, Flowermaiden PARSIFAL for English National Opera and the title-role IRIS, Rosalinde DIE FLEDERMAUS and Hanna Glawari THE MERRY WIDOW for Scottish Opera.

Her concert engagements include: Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle Mozart Coronation Mass in C, Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Richard Strauss Four Last Songs, Mahler Rückert Lieder, Mendelssohn Elijah, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Mozart Exsultate Jubilate, Faure Requiem, Britten War Requiem and Haydn Creation,

Helena works regularly at The Metropolitan Opera where she has covered the roles of Elvira ERNANI, Elisabetta ROBERTO DEVEREUX, Elettra IDOMENEO, the title-role SEMIRAMIDE, Vitellia LA CLEMENZA DI TITO and the title-role NORMA. In 2019 Helena made her Metropolitan Opera stage-debut as Alice Ford FALSTAFF.

In her native Australia, Helena’s recent engagements have included Elsa LOHENGRIN and Elisabetta ROBERTO DEVEREUX for Melbourne Opera, Verdi Requiem at the Melbourne Town Hall and the title-role NORMA for Melbourne opera.

Engagements elsewhere have included the title role ARIADNE AUF NAXOS for Longborough Festival Opera, the title-role NORMA with Chelsea Opera Group and Elisabetta ROBERTO DEVEREUX for Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.  Helena also made her commercial recording debut with the Missa Sabrenesis by Howells with the BBC Concert orchestra and The Bach choir which was released on Hyperion records in May 2020.

Helena’s upcoming engagements include Lady Macbeth MACBETH for Melbourne Opera, Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall, Elisabetta ROBERTO DEVEREUX for Chelsea Opera Group and her company debut with Seattle Opera.

Eleanor Greenwood has sung on stage and on Radio, in London, in the UK, in Europe, in Australia, and throughout China. A graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music Opera School, and of the Australian National
University School of Music, she has performed various roles and concerts, and is a winner of the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Competition. In
opera productions Eleanor has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Schweizer Radio DRS, RTE Radio, Ireland and ABC Classic FM Australia.

Eleanor made her start in Ireland at the Opera Festival in Wexford, in Statkowski's unknown Polish Opera Maria. In Australia Eleanor has performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra. Recent engagements include Messiah at Brisbane City Hall with the Queensland
Choir, Mozart Requiem with St Andrew’s Cathedral Choir, Opera by the Lake for Opera Queensland, and appearing as part of the Music on Sundays programme with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, hosted by Guy Noble. Eleanor performed in Adelaide with the Italian Arts Society,
hosted by Vincent Ciccarello. In Sydney and in Melbourne Eleanor sang with Australia's national company, Opera Australia. In Armidale NSW, Eleanor was seen at ‘Opera in the Paddock', and in Melbourne she sang in
concert with the Heidelberg Choral Society.
 
Internationally, Eleanor has toured Chinese Poly Theaters at various times with Australian International Productions. In the UK Eleanor sang at Grange Park Opera and the Dorset Opera Festival, and she returned to Wexford
Festival Opera in Ireland many times, singing as L'innocente in L'Arlesiana by Cilea and as La Ciesca in Puccini's comedy Gianni Schicchi. She sang at the Ryedale Festival in North Yorkshire in Janáek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Eleanor has performed numerous roles in opera productions as a part of the Bloomsbury Festival in London, and Goodenough College. Eleanor is a grateful past recipient of a grant from the Wagner Society of NSW, and the Ian Potter Cultural Society.

Mikayla Tate is a Sydney-based soprano and 2019-2020 Sponsored Young Artist with Pacific Opera. She graduated with a Bachelor of Performance (Classical Voice) from the Australian Institute of Music and trains

under Opera Australia’s brightest coaches and alumni. A regular successful competition performer, Mikayla has been awarded Runner Up and Most Promising Vocalist by the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition.

Mikayla performs regularly in concert and recital engagements around inner city and regional Sydney. She is a regular soloist with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Nicholas Milton, and has performed as a soloist at both Government House and the Sydney Opera House. In 2019 Mikayla made her German debut in Berlin playing the role of Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte under the baton of Covent Garden’s Tom Seligman.

Her other operatic experience includes: Pamina (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Musetta (Puccini, et al: Bohéme a piacere), Prima Sorella Cercatrice and La Sorella Infermiera (Puccini: Suor Angelica), Virginia (Scarlatti: La caduta de decemviri), Gretel/Sandmann/Dewfairy alternate (Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel), Chorus (Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffman), Chorus (Bellini: La Sonnambula), Chorus (Janáçek: The Cunning Little Vixen) and Chorus  (Donizetti: L’elisir d’amor). Roles studied include: Marceline (Beethoven: Fidelio), Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovani), Servilia (Mozart: La Clamenza di Tito).

Biography

A member of the Cologne Opera from 1993 to 2007, Andrew Collis has also performed with opera companies in Berlin, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Wiesbaden and in concerts in Bonn, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, and the recording of Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg in Cologne for EMI.

Andrew’s international performances have included appearances at the Vienna Festival in Luigi Nono's Intolleranza; Hong Kong Festival in Tosca and Un Ballo in Maschera; Perth Festival as soloist with the Prague Chamber Orchestra; the roles of Colline (La bohème) and Hobson (Peter Grimes) for San Diego Opera; performances in the Lyric Opera of Singapore's production of Die Zauberflöte; and St John Passion in the Canary Islands.

His most recent operatic engagements include touring with the Barrie Kosky production of The Magic Flute (Perth, Adelaide and New Zealand Festivals), Bartolo (The Barber of Seville) for New Zealand Opera, Pooh-Bah (The Mikado) for State Opera South Australia, Swallow (Peter Grimes) for Brisbane Festival, Pritschitsch in The Merry Widow, Sir Roderic on the regional tour of Ruddigore and Commendatore in Don Giovanni for Opera Queensland. He will return to New Zealand Opera in 2021 to perform Bartolo in the new production of The Marriage of Figaro.

Andrew has an extensive list of concert and oratorio performances to his credit, including St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Magnificat, Coffee Cantata and Mass in B minor by Bach; Messiah, Samson and Semele by Handel; Die Schöpfung, Stabat Mater and Masses by Haydn; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Erste Walpurgis Nacht, with orchestras including the Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony orchestras, and at the Perth and New Zealand International Arts Festivals.

Press

Nick Shadow, The Rake’s Progress, Victorian Opera

Andrew Collis was a commanding Nick Shadow, cajoling Tom Rakewell by pandering to his every wish. His persuasively strong characterisation and intelligible pronunciation initially suggested a confident rather than sinister force.

Peter Burch, The Australian, 20 March 2012

The Trial of the Cannibal Dog, NZIFA, Opera House Wellington

Andrew Collis gave an effortless performance, eloquently depicting the flawed, heroic Cook.

National Business Review, 14 March 2008

Beethoven 9th Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra

…Andrew Collis was in impressively resonant voice, bringing a sense of occasion to everything he sang.

Neville Cohn    The West Australian November 2003