2024 Prospectus

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ABOUT US

Founded in 1998 by opera singers and educators Graeme Wall OAM and Margot Cory-Wall OAM, Opera Scholars Australia is a leading development program for young classical singers who show the potential for a stage career.

Based in Melbourne, OSA offers an extensive training program as well as unique and exciting performance opportunities. OSA creates a safe and respectful environment for scholars to grow and develop their craft.

Inside this like-minded community, the scholars are given opportunities to work with leading vocal coaches, movement and acting training, headshot and performance photography, videography, wellbeing education, intensives, vocal competitions and a varied performance program.

OSA is committed to training the next generation of classical singers - to help preserve the proud tradition of classical singing in Australia and ensure that the stories of the future are told through the beauty of vocal music.

‘Opera Scholars Australia runs a program that provides a wonderful pathway for young singers to learn their craft – to develop singers voices naturally and to assist with artistry and confidence ’

-Yvonne Kenny AM: OSA Board Member and Patron in Chief

Graeme Wall OAM and Margot Cory-Wall OAM

Exploring movement at the 2023 Aria Intensive

OUR WHY

Our Scholars are at the forefront of our work. Here’s what they love about the operatic art form (and why we work so hard to help them achieve their dreams).

‘The ability for the voice to produce the sounds and colours as it does in Opera is just something ethereal and leaves me breathless every time.’

-Nicholas Matters

‘I love how powerfully it communicates with the world. I love its history of fuelling revolutions and changing minds, and I hope that it can continue to do so. ’

-Olive Cullen

I love how transportive opera is. It is a relief not to have to think about your own world, and opera offers one of the most immersive worlds through sound.

-Phoebe Edwards

‘I love the grandiosity of it all, both musically and visually. At the same time, I love the notion of challenging tradition.’

-Mei Wah Chan

‘Exploring characters and ideas through the heightened medium of music. How music and drama combines to make an elegant art form.’

-Hartley Trusler

Stonnington Opera Flash Mob

VISION & MISSION

Vision

A dynamic educational platform for young opera singers to reach their creative potential.

Mission

We empower and prepare talented, young classical singers to embark on a career in opera by providing rigorous technical instruction, industry connections and performance opportunities in a diverse, nurturing community.

1998

MILESTONES

Eight Scholars participate in free Intensive workshops to prepare for the annual Australian Music Events Opera in the Alps at Dingo Dell Ski Field.

2002

Opera in the Alps transfers to Beechworth. Soprano Helena Dix is the first Scholar of the Year.

2004

Weekly rehearsals and masterclasses are added to the Scholar schedule.

OSA becomes a charitable trust and adds an Aria Competition and Award thanks to Betty Amsden’s patronage. 2009

OSA tours North Eastern Victoria, giving workshops and performances for young voices. Stages the premiere of Snow White and Other Grimm Tales by Gordon Kerry at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

OSA operates almost entirely online throughout the pandemic. Current Program Director (Alexander Lewis) and General Manager (Amelia Christo) appointed in 2022. 2021 -

Full program resumes with weekly rehearsals, intensives, Art Song/Aria competitions and performances.

OSA 25th Anniversary Scholar Performance

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Gaps in Australian operatic training

Opera Scholars Australia responds to critical gaps in Australian operatic training wrought by a lack of arts education funding. We provide: language instruction, and acting training in stagecraft, movement and characterisation, and performance opportunities

to ensure young Australian singers can meet their creative potential to pursue an international operatic career and/or enrich the Australian operatic landscape.

Access and Equity

We seek to upend a disparity in operatic exposure and accessibility by conducting outreach into schools and communities throughout Victoria. We’ve created a variety of touch points for young people to engage with opera through school based incursions, youth-oriented accessible performances, mentorship and collaborative opportunities. We hope to unearth future Scholars and opera fans in this process.

Confident Artists

Performance practice is an essential component of vocal training. Young artists need to repeatedly rehearse their repertoire in different scenarios so that they may remain composed in high stakes auditions, competitions and performances. OSA provides varied performance opportunities throughout the year for our young singers to develop unflappable performance skills.

For opera to survive as an art form, it requires assured young artists who can respectfully grapple with the difficulties in the operatic canon (race, gender, sexuality) and promote new works. We provide leadership opportunities for Scholars to direct our work.

Pictured from top: Scholar breathing work at an Intensive, primary school aged singers in workshops for Opera in the Alps, Snow White performance

ALUMNI WATCH

‘Opera Scholars Australia was such a vital part of the early stages of my career. It does such important work in uplifting and nurturing our next generation of opera singers and providing them with such an exciting platform to commence their careers. ’

-Helena Dix

(First OSA Scholar of the Year in 2000 Recently performed the title role of Norma at The Met)

OSA has helped over 280 young artists in its 25 year history.

‘My five-year learning journey with OSA culminated in me being awarded Scholar of the Year in 2022. Since then, I’ve gone on to be an Artist with Melba Opera Trust, study and perform across Europe and North America, and I am currently pursuing postgraduate studies in Opera and Voice at the Schulich School of Music, Montreal, Canada. I absolutely owe a lot to OSA for helping me get this far.’

-Natalie Grimmett

Mastering the waltz at the Aria Intensive

LATEST ACHIEVEMENTS

Our 2023 cohort are already achieving amazing things both here and overseas.

Rachael Joyce: recipient of the 2024 Rotary/Melbourne Opera NGSE Scholarship (Will travel to Berlin next year and take part in the Bayreuth Young Artists Festival ) Won the Herald Sun 2023 Competition Participating in the Richard Divall Emerging Artist Program and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program

Nicholas Sheppard: cast as The Count in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Berlin Opera Academy in 2024 Appearing in Martha for Lyster Opera

Phoebe Edwards: accepted into the Royal Academy of Music’s 2024 Masters Program

Joshua Morton-Galea: appeared in Victorian Opera’s Galileo and Il Tabarro Starring in the Victorian tour of Martha for Lyster Opera

Sophie Bisset: Accepted as part of the Australian Contemporary Opera Company’s 2024 Young Artist Program Cast as La Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Berlin Opera Academy in 2024.

Jesse Linke: accepted into the Melba Program for 2024. Starring in Martha for Lyster Opera

2024 ED PROGRAM

Under the leadership of our Program Director, internationally acclaimed tenor Alexander Lewis, our Scholars receive a well-rounded instruction in all facets of performing life. We have 25 Scholars taking part in 2024, at a cost of approximately $10,000 per scholar.

Primo and Secondo

Our Strategic Planning process revealed our Scholars have vastly different needs and capacities - so we have developed a two tiered program to be launched in 2024.

Primo: Those who are still at university have limited capacity and need a good grounding in basic skills. They receive:

Regular classes in vocal technique, musicianship and interpretation, Three five-day intensives in acting, movement and language skills, Individual coachings with Program Director Alexander Lewis, Headshots, performance photography and videography, Mentor/network masterclasses, Aria and Art Song Scholarship Prizes, and Unique performance opportunities.

Secondo: Our more advanced graduate Scholars have extra time available and want to be challenged with as many performance opportunities as possible. They receive the program detailed b ll dditi l performances both internal and external to

Program Director Alexander Lewis coaching Scholars on their arias

2024 PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

Our performance program outlined here is just the beginning! We invite our loyal supporters and patrons the opportunity to host soirees throughout 2024 to extend our Secondo Scholars. Rehearsing their repertoire in different settings is the best way to prepare them for the rigours of the industry.

Art Song Final

30 May

Rossini Oratorio

28 March

Chamber Concert

July Aria Final

12 September Voices Unleashed Opening

10 October Highlights Concert

8 December

STRATEGIC GOALS: 2024 - 2029

Goal 1

Use our position as a young person ’ s organisation to contribute meaningfully to the future of opera.

Goal 2

Diversify the organisation, our practice and audience.

Goal 3

Target performance opportunities to scholar needs.

Goal 4

Invest in our capacity to achieve ou

Scholars involved in the planning process

MEET THE TEAM

Opera Scholars Australia is run by a small team of employees, a dedicated Board and excellent sessional staff.

David is the Managing Director of Pinches Group, an industrial engineering firm, with offices and factories in Melbourne, Sydney & Auckland He is an opera lover (and occasional singer) who has been associated with OSA for eleven years and a Board member for six. 2024 marks David's second year as Board Chair

Having performed around the world in both opera and musical theatre, Alexander Lewis has forged a unique career as a cross-over artist. His work with internationally acclaimed directors and conductors has helped him find a unique voice as a teacher and mentor.

Amelia is an award-winning, empathy-led communication expert. She leverages a unique combination of skills derived from study (Law, Education and Music Theatre) and experience (podcasting, voice acting, producing, teaching and advocacy) to intuitively manage large projects and diverse groups of people.

David Pinches

Alexander Lewis

Amelia Christo Board Chair Program Director General Manager

General Manager Amelia Christo meets with the Scholar Committee

DONATIONS

OSA is funded through donor support and modest student fees. These contributions ensure we are preparing young artists to explore new concepts, to create art that stimulates empathy and social change, and to take these complex ideas to broader audiences.

What do you enjoy about being a Patron at OSA?

‘Supporting young performers to learn and experience performing before audiences.’

‘Making some contribution to the development of young operatic talent. Participation at OSA events gives a strong sense of involvement.’

‘A long association with OSA gives me continued enthusiasm to what is provided as the opportunity for future scholars.’

EMPOWER

opera stars of the future in their journey towards a fulfilling career in the performing arts.

CONNECT

with an enthusiastic network of benefactors and music lovers.

access to the arts to both underserved communities and the broader Australian public.

Peter Evans

Louis Milkovits

Suzie Brown

PACKAGES

We have a variety of Patron and Sponsorship options. All donations to OSA are tax deductible.

PATRONS

All Patrons receive regular updates via newsletters, invitations to events and the opportunity to mix with Scholars at OSA functions Topaz Patrons and above are invited to exclusive events, receive priority ticketing and have the opportunity to host a soiree for their own guests in their home

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SPONSORSHIP

You may wish to sponsor one of our many events throughout the year. We have a variety of sponsorship benefits to promote your business, including:

Listing on all promotional material/social media/website as a sponsor.

Branding prominently featured throughout event, on stage and in the program. Complimentary tickets for guests.

Thanked in opening and closing speeches. Opportunities to meet and mingle with future opera stars. OSA Scholars performing at your own functions.

We look forward to working together to make opera magic for young people!

To establish your pledge, please email our Patron Manager Joy Pinches: support@operascholars.au