ABOUT SONGMAKERS AUSTRALIA
Unique in the musical landscape of Australia, Songmakers Australia brings together some of the country’s leading singers and instrumentalists in a diverse repertoire comprising some of the pinnacles of all chamber music.
Under the artistic patronage of Graham Johnson, founding director of the acclaimed London-based Songmakers Almanac, pianist Andrea Katz teams with soprano Merlyn Quaife, mezzo-soprano Christina Wilson, tenor Brenton Spiteri and bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos in inspired programs that feature a dynamic interplay of song and chamber music.
The ensemble presents a yearly subscription series at the Melbourne Recital 5 FRIDAYS IN AUGUST Centre, where they have been Local Heroes since their foundation in 2011. They enjoy numerous invitations to perform at leading festivals and recital series Australia-wide (Melbourne Festival, Art Gallery of NSW, Peninsula Summer Music Festival, Art Song Canberra and the Art Gallery of Ballarat) and they are regularly heard in national live-to-air broadcasts. LA SERENATA BY SONGMAKERS AUSTRALIA
JOIN VICTORIAN OPERA FOR FIVE FRIDAYS IN AUGUST 7:00pm each Friday in August // Horti Hall, Hemstritch Studio Tickets $29 per performance including post-show cheese and wine. Book online at victorianopera.com.au/special-events or call (03) 9001 6400
16 August 23 August 30 August Songmakers Australia: Michael Lampard and Melba Opera Trust: PROGRAMME La Serenata Rhodri Clarke Duo Nellie in Her Own Write
Connect with us FRIDAY 16 AUGUST 2019 @victorianopera #victorianopera Subscribe to our eNews 7:00pm
victorianopera.com.au Horti Hall, Hemstritch Studio 31 Victoria Street, Melbourne BIOGRAPHIES MUSIC LIST
A performer of great versatility, the distinguished soprano Merlyn Quaife was made Gioacchino Rossini Giacomo Puccini a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday 2013 Honours List for La Serenata Sole e amore significant service to music. Merlyn continues to perform opera, oratorio, Lieder, Terra e mare chamber music and contemporary music to great acclaim throughout Australia and Antonin Dvořák Europe. Between 1995 and 2007 she headed the Vocal Department at the Faculty of Music Gypsy Songs op 55 Gaetano Donizetti at the University of Melbourne. Since 2005 she has been guest teacher at the Lotte • My Love song Il giuramento Lehmann Woche Summer School in Pereleberg, Germany and has also been invited for • Hark how my triangle clangs teaching / performing engagements in Vienna and the USA. In 2014 Merlyn established • Silent woods an innovative classical vocal program at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music Henri Duparc at Monash University, where she remained until 2018. • Songs my mother taught me La fuite • Tune thy fiddle, Gypsy ! Brenton Spiteri has performed throughout Australia and Europe as a principal • Garbed in flowing linen Franz Lehar artist, recitalist, and tenor soloist. He has recently been awarded a Marten Bequest • The heights of Tatra Dein ist mein ganzes Herz scholarship through the Australia Council for the Arts, and later this year takes up a full scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Manuel de Falla Robert Stolz As an Opéra de Lyon Young Artist for two seasons, he performed at the Royal Opera 3 Mélodies Houses of Versailles and Vichy as First Soldier/Mercury in The Coronation of Poppea. He Spiel auf deine Geiger • Les colombes also performed as Trac in the award-winning Le Roi Carotte. • Chinoiserie Brenton performs frequently with Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, Victorian Kurt Weill • Séguidille Opera, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and Melbourne Opera, Die Zuhälterballade among other prominent Australian companies. Selected roles have included Tamino, The Magic Flute; Almaviva, The Barber of Seville; Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi; Ernesto, Don Pasquale; Nadir, The Pearl Fishers.
A pianist, accompanist and vocal coach of extraordinary versatility, Argentine born Andrea Katz is equally at home with Chamber Music, German Lieder and Grand Opera. Since becoming an Australian resident in 1990, she has worked with all major musical Merlyn Quaife, soprano organisations in the country: Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Sydney Symphony, Brenton Spiteri, tenor Sydney, Perth and Brisbane Festivals, Sydney Music Conservatorium and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Andrea Katz, piano A prolific recital pianist, she performs regularly with prominent Australian and international singers and ensembles, including a yearly season at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Since 2009 she has been the Director of the Vocal Ensemble at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Currently she also teaches at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash University. She has released 2 CDs with soprano Merlyn Quaife, Lest we Forget and Fortune my Foe. The concert runs for approximately 50 minutes.