• Music. Theatre. Social Justice.

    The Cooperative

  • Current Production

     Winter 2023

     

    Behind the mask. Between these walls. The Innenraum.

     

    Join us in our 2023 winter season as we explore façades, illusions, and what happens when they dissolve - and in doing so, confront and challenge cycles of abuse in the world around us.

    What really lies behind the masks we wear every day?

     

    We are thrilled to welcome two extraordinary casts of brilliant emerging artists, musical, and creative teams to The Cooperative, and to share these haunting and incisive operas with you.

     
    Book now!
     
     

    The Turn of the Screw

     

    Pagliacci

  • Hello & Welcome!

     

    The Cooperative is a young Sydney-based arts company, founded to stage productions of new, rare, and canonic works, which are impactful, relevant, and necessitate social change.

     

    Read more about us in our Mission Statement

     

  • Covid-19

     

    We are committed to keeping our company safe, and the wellbeing of our artists and audiences is our utmost priority. Please click here to read our Covid Safe policy for the 2022 season.

  • Our People

    Who are The Cooperative?

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    Menila Moineaux

    Artistic Director | Director

    Productions: The Consul | Sāvitrī | Orfeo ed Euridice | Iphigénie en Tauride | Tosca | Pagliacci

     

    Menila Moineaux (she/her) is an early career Burmese-Australian opera director, currently based in Germany, where she is an assistant and staff director at Theater Münster in the 2023-2024 season. She is a 2022 graduate of the Verona Accademia per l’Opera Italiana, where she completed a Masters in Opera Directing (Io livello) with results amongst the highest in her cohort, generously supported by the Rose Mandelbaum Travelling Scholarship. With a background in musicology and singing, she also holds a Bachelor of Music Studies with First Class Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied on full scholarship.

     

    In the 2022-2023 season and alongside her studies, Menila worked on MASS (Bernstein) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (dir. Damiano Michieletto), Pagliacci at the Macerata Opera Festival (dir. Alessandro Talevi), Simon Boccanegra at the Festival Verdi - Teatro Regio di Parma (dir. Valentina Carrasco), La traviata at Dublin’s Bord Gais Energy Theatre (dir. Danilo Coppola), Stabat Mater (Pergolesi) at the Luglio Musicale Trapanese (dir. Danilo Coppola), and Dalinda (Donizetti – world premiere) with the Berliner Operngruppe (dir. Giulia Randazzo).

     

    Founding The Cooperative in 2019 and combining lifelong passions for opera and social justice, Menila made her directorial debut with The Consul (Menotti) in 2020. In 2021, she directed Sāvitrī (Holst), Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck), Iphigénie en Tauride (Gluck) and Tosca at The Cooperative, and was scheduled to direct Le nozze di Figaro with The Cooperative and assist on the world premiere of Matthews’ Percy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

     

    In the upcoming season, Menila will revive and assist on a range of productions at Theater Münster and direct Pagliacci for The Cooperative. She was one of ten semi-finalists in the 2023 European Opera Directing Prize, and is a grateful recipient of grants from the Wagner Society of NSW and the Australia Council for the Arts.

     

    Above all, Menila believe passionately in creating art that engages, benefits, and changes the world around us. Art is inherently political, and she invites her audiences into a space of public dreaming, from which they may re-emerge ready to confront and challenge issues in our wider society.

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    Edwin Spark

    Musical Director | Conductor

    Productions: The Consul | Sāvitrī | Orfeo ed Euridice | Iphigénie en Tauride | Tosca

     

    Edwin has two degrees from the University of Sydney, with Honours in both Musicology and Pure Mathematics. His studies, for which he was awarded the University Medal, also included oboe and conducting. He has participated in Symphony Services’ conducting programme, learning from Christopher Seaman and the Auckland Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and participated in masterclasses with Sasha Mäkilä in Pärnu, Estonia and Mark Shiell in Newcastle.

     

    Keenly interested in the ways music contributes to theatre, Edwin has taken lessons in opera literature and conducting from Richard Gill AO. In 2018, he was a vocal collaborative fellow at the Miami Music Festival, where he was Assistant Conductor on Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Teseo and The Medium by Menotti. For Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Sydney, Edwin has been Assistant Musical Director since 2016. Elsewhere in Sydney, he has music directed The Yeomen of the Guard and conducted Camelot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

     

    Edwin’s first experiences with conducting were with the Bendigo Youth Choir, of which he was a long-time member and sometimes accompanist. He founded and conducted a choir for 5 years while at university, and remains convinced of the importance of community music-making, continuing to participate as conductor, accompanist, vocal coach and continuo player.

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    Bec Moret

    Director

    Productions: Le nozze di Figaro | The Turn of the Screw

     

    A director, writer and opera singer, Rebecca lives in Sydney with her husband and writing partner, Jasper, and her Staffy Kelpie Cross, Ripley.

     

    In 2020, Rebecca co-wrote and directed a five-part comedy-adventure webseries, Tales for Uncertain Times, and co-wrote the Monte Miller short-listed TV series Keeping House, currently optioned by Beyond Armana. She is currently developing three series for television and a comedy horror film. She has worked with Opera Australian in production, and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and the Sydney Conservatorium. Le Nozze di Figaro marks her debut as a stage director.

     

    She has worked with the Cooperative on previous productions of The Consul (Magda Sorel), Iphigénie en Tauride (Iphigénie), and Tosca (Tosca). Other notable performances include the title role in Suor Angelica and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, and role creations in premiere productions of Paul Smith's How to Build a Billy, Ursula Caporali's An Italian in Ethiopia, and Anne Boyd’s Daisy Bates at Ooldea. She has also sung with Opera Australia in the chorus, and as a member of the Schools Touring Company in The Barber of Seville

     

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    Samanta Lestavel

    Producer

    Productions: Le nozze di Figaro | Émilie | Threading the Light | The Turn of the Screw | Pagliacci

     

    Samanta has been working behind and on stages for over 10 years. She completed her postgraduate Opera Performance studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2017, and went on to study Event and Project Management in 2020.

     

    Samanta is a creative thinker and passionate artist, experienced in event production and planning as well as front and back of house arts administration. She has collaborated with The Cooperative on numerous previous productions, and is excited to join the back of house team in 2022 as company producer.

     

    Samanta feels privileged to be able to bring her expertise to our upcoming season, and is excited to be working with The Cooperative’s exceptional team of artists and creatives.

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    Joanna Drimatis

    Music Director | Conductor

    Productions: Le nozze di Figaro | Émilie | Threading the Light |The Turn of the Screw | Pagliacci

     

    Dr Joanna Drimatis is a highly-respected champion of Australian music and contemporary classical music – contributing comprehensively through her output as a performer, conductor, musical director, researcher and educator. After initial studies in Music Education and Violin Performance, Joanna completed a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin (Violin / Orchestral Conducting). In 2009, Joanna graduated with a PhD in Musicology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Her thesis research focused on Symphony No. 1 by Australian composer, Robert Hughes and was awarded the University of Adelaide’s inaugural Doctoral Research Medal. Her research has continued, focusing on the music of Australian composers Robert Hughes and Raymond Hanson, and has been given national attention through radio broadcasts on ABC Classic FM and in Peter McCallum’s book, “The Centenary of the Con”.

     

    As Music Director of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and Conductor for the Adelaide Youth Orchestra association, Joanna initiated numerous collaborations, commissions and premieres, with select performances broadcast on NZ Concert FM and ABC Classic. As a violinist/violist Joanna has played professionally as an orchestral musician both in Australia and overseas including Aspen Music Festival (USA), Strawberry Creek Festival (USA) and International Institute of Music (Germany). Joanna has worked as a sessional academic at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and conducted orchestras such as the Australian Doctors’ Orchestra, the Sydney Youth Orchestra, the Mosman Symphony, the Woollahra Philharmonic and the Orange Chamber Music Festival Ensemble.

     

    Joanna has also given presentations on string and orchestral pedagogy with emphasis on the useof Australian repertoire for training orchestras. This work culminated in an invitation for her to present a workshop on this topic at the 2019 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, USA. Joanna is currently Head of Strings at MLC School Sydney and Music Director / Chief Conductor of the Beecroft Orchestra. In 2020 Joanna was awarded an APRA/AMCOS Art Music Luminary award for her advocacy, programming and performance of Australian music. 

     

    Joanna’s love of opera has been prevalent throughout her musical journey and she has contributed as both a performer and assistant conductor for numerous productions. She is very much looking forward to working with The Cooperative for their Le nozze di Figaro. 

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    Hannah Burton

    Director

    Productions: Threading the Light

     

    Hannah is a passionate performer who has had success nationally and internationally. Originally from Kootingal, Hannah is now in her third-year at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, undertaking a Bachelor of Music (Classical Voice, Performance) and a Diploma of Language Studies whilst receiving the GreenBurg Gurney-Jensen Scholarship and the George Henderson Music Scholarship for merit.

     

    Hannah was awarded the Regional Vocal Scholarship with Opera Australia in 2019 getting to perform and learn from Opera Australia, and has also been a part of Opera Australia’s children’s chorus for Mozart's "The Magic Flute”. Hannah has toured internationally as a soloist and chorister with the West of The Divide in Italy, The Vatican City, Slovenia and Croatia and came Second in the International Vocal Competition “Enkor” in 2020 and Third in International Music Competition for Best Handel Performance in 2021.
    During Hannah’s High School Certificate, Hannah was a featured artist at Schools Spectacular, performed with Opera Hunter as a soloist in their production of "Love, Life and Opera".
    Hannah was also awarded the Gary Brown Performing Arts award in 2019 and was a Backing Singer for “Epiphanies” at Seymour Centre, working with some of Australia’s top musical theater performers such as Daniel Belle, Kerry Anne Greenland and Robert McDougall.

     

    In 2021, Hannah was lucky enough to be Assistant Director of The Sydney Conservatorium and NIDA’s production of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night's Dream” under Kate Gaul’s direction. This year Hannah directed Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “La Serva Padrona" with Opus Collective and "Sunday in the Park with George" with MUSE. Hannah was delighted to understudy the role of Susanna in the CoOperative's “The Marriage of Figaro” and perform in their production of Kaija Saariaho's “Emilie”. She is capping off 2022 with her directorial debut in the world premiere of Felicity Wilcox's multi media opera "Threading the Light".

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    Toby Wong

    Assistant Conductor

    Productions: Pagliacci

     

    Toby Wong is currently Master of Music (Musicology) candidate at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, supervised by Dr. David Larkin and Prof. Ian Maxwell. His research work focuses on musical exoticism, and modern productions of Puccini’s operas. Toby is also a young and energetic conductor of both orchestral and choral genres. He had his first conducting performance with his primary school orchestra at the age of 12. He is now the Assistant Conductor and Choral Scholar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir in Parramatta, and the Assistant Conductor of the Canada Bay Community Choir based in Drummoyne. Later this year, he will also start his position as the Assistant Conductor with the Beecroft Orchestra.

     

    Born and raised in Hong Kong, Toby graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Science (Global Studies), and was awarded the Multi-faceted Excellence Scholarship. In 2019, he was appointed as the Assistant Conductor of Cantabile Orchestra and Choir (Hong Kong), where he prepared and performed an array of musical genres with the orchestra and choir. In addition, he was the youngest-ever- appointed Music Director of St. Michael’s Choir in Holy Cross Church (Hong Kong) from 2013 to 2021.

     

    Apart from conducting, Toby is also a pianist, vocalist, and organist. He is now a tenor of the Sydney Chamber Choir and Christ Church St. Laurence Choir. He was also a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus, where he sang under the baton of various renowned conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Jaap Van Zweden, Carlo Rizzi, and Karina Canellakis.

     

    Toby is passionate about promoting classical music through broadcasting. He is a Presenter in 2MBS Fine Music Sydney, and a Producer-Presenter of Radio Television Hong Kong’s classical music channel, RTHK Radio 4.

  • Our People

    Who are The Cooperative?

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    Matthew Avery

    Baritone

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Cesare Angelotti - Tosca

    Baritone Matthew Avery graduated from the Young Americans College of Performing Arts in the USA (Honors) and toured with The Young Americans throughout USA, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Netherlands and Estonia.
    He was thoroughly enjoying rehearsal for La Traviata with HANDA’s Opera on Sydney Harbour when it was cancelled one week before opening night due to COVID 19.
    He has been honoured to have been part of the Pacific Opera program as an Adjunct Artist, Developing Artist and now Young Artist.
    His music theatre performance credits include Sunday in the Park with George - Alex/Soldier, Les Miserables – Javert, Combeferre & Bishop, The Phantom of the Opera – Reyer, Mary Poppins – Von Heussler, Westside Story – Officer Krupke and Into the Woods – Rapunzel’s Prince. He also performed the role of Bill Whitely in the world premiere production of Gavin Lockley’s Morgan’s Run.
    Operatic roles include Die Zauberflote – Armoured Man (Pacific Opera), Die Fledermaus – Frank (Operantics), The Gondoliers Dream Getaway – Antonio (Pacific Opera) and Water Babies – Lobster/Game Keeper. This year he’s looking forward to performing in Le Nozze di Figaro, Orfeo Ed Euridice, Iphigenie en Tauride and Tosca for The Cooperative and Don Afonso in Cosi Fan Tutte (Pacific Opera) along with Pocket Opera productions for Pacific Opera of Rape of Lucrecia – Collatinus, Fidelio – Rocco and La Traviata – Marquis.
    Matthew’s competition highlights include winning Lieder and Gilbert and Sullivan sections for Sydney Eisteddfod as well as twice being a finalist in the Joan Sutherland Scholarship section.
    During 2020 Matthew kept busy producing and performing Warm As The Autumn Light, a Zoom concert with John Martin of American music through the ages, which streamed to USA, Japan and Hong Kong as well as throughout Australia. He also received a High Distinction for his 8th Grade Classical Singing AMEB Exam as well as featuring in TV Commercials for Ford Puma/Escape and KFC (Ben from Finance).
    Matthew is very excited to be coaching with Brad Gilchrist and John Martin and studying voice with Donna Balson.

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    Jeremy Boulton

    Baritone

    Roles: Police Agent - The Consul | Death - Sāvitrī | Count Almaviva - Le nozze di Figaro

    A former recipient of the Opera Australia Student Scholarship and graduate of the Talent Development Project, Jeremy has featured as a concert soloist for the Opera Australia Benevolent Fund, Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Early Music Ensemble, Chamber Choir), Argyle Orchestra (Hobart, Australia), Sydney University Symphony Orchestra, Opera Projects Sydney, Concordia Ensemble, con voci Chamber Choir (Wollongong, Australia) and Fiori Musicali (Armidale, Australia).

    Jeremy has also been engaged professionally by the Gondwana Choirs with The Muffat Collective as Aeneas in Dido & Æneas (Purcell), St. Paul's College in King Arthur (Purcell) and by The Co-operative as the Secret Police Agent in The Consul (Menotti) and Death in Savitri (Holst). He performed Demetrius in Sydney Conservatorium & National Institute of Dramatic Art's (NIDA) production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten). Future roles include Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) and Uberto in La serva padrona (Pergolesi). Ensemble work includes Don Giovanni (Mozart) and I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo).

    Winner of both the Margaret Olive Stewart Bequest Scholarship and the PATIM Fund Scholarship, Jeremy studies with Maree Ryan AM. In the 2018 Sydney Eisteddfod, Jeremy was the Runner Up in the Intermediate Vocal Scholarship (Dame Joan Sutherland Memorial Award). Jeremy received joint first prize at the 4th Fresno State Art Song Festival, (California, USA) and was awarded the Demant Dreikurs scholarship upon winning the Lieder Competition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for 2020. He also received artist assistance from the Sidney Myer Fund & The Myer Foundation's National Assistance Program and an Italian language merit scholarship to L'Università Per Stranieri di Perugia (The University for Foreigners Perugia, Italy) through L'Istituto di Cultura (Italian Cultural Institute, Sydney).

    Jeremy is currently reading for a Masters of Opera Performance on the John Holt Todd and Florence Todd Scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, having completed his Bachelor of Music (Performance) in 2020 at the same institution; also on merit scholarship. Masterclasses include that by Jessica Pratt, Gerald Finley OC, CBE and Dr. Graham Johnson OBE.

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    Joanna Brooke

    Soprano

    Roles: First Priestess / Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | Marchesa Attavanti (A Shepherd) - Tosca

    Joanna Brooke is a vibrant soprano and choral conductor based in Sydney. Joanna performs regularly as the soloist in oratorio concerts, including in St. John’s Passion at Hobart Cathedral and Handel’s Messiah at Epping Baptist Church in 2021. She looks forward to playing the role of Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Hobart Orpheus Choir in November.

    Joanna is currently the conductor of the Jubilate Singers and Sydney Children’s Choirs’ Whitwell and Mini Singers Choirs. In 2020, Joanna was the proud recipient of River City Voices’ Assistant Conductor Scholarship. As a composer and performer of children’s music, Joanna released two original works through ABC Music in 2020.

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    Michael Burden

    Countertenor

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | A Scythian / Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | Countertenor - Threading the Light

    Described as “sinuously wicked” (ArtsHub 2019) and possessing a “beautiful and clear tone” (Cut Common 2020), Michael Burden is an exciting countertenor rapidly establishing himself as an experienced and versatile artist. He is commencing a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music this year, having previously graduated from a Bachelor of Music Performance with the guidance of Andrew Dalton. His operatic roles include Second Witch and The Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (The Other Theatre Co), Bunty in David Reeve’s 7 Little Australians (Opera Carnivalé) and Hyacinthus in Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus (Flamingo Opera). Chorus credits include Dido and Aeneas, 7 Little Australians and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Sydney Conservatorium). Solo concert credits include alto solos in Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Bach’s Cantatas BWV 1, 78, 166, and 150, Tenor 1, Alto and Soprano 2 solos in Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël and Pergolesi’s/Durante’s Magnificat. He has experience performing with the Conservatorium Choirs, Early Music Ensemble under the direction of Erin Helyard, and St Andrews Cathedral Choir as an Alto Lay Clerk.

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    Sarah Cherlin

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | A Greek Woman / Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | Chorus - Tosca | Barbarina - Le nozze di Figaro | Miles - The Turn of the Screw

    Described as “dramatic, quietly technical, and at the same time so mischievous and witty” (The Underground Stage), soprano Sarah Cherlin is quickly making her mark on the Australian operatic stage. In 2022 she sang Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Sydney’s newest opera start-up, The Cooperative. She recently joined Pacific Opera for their Suor Angelica in the role of Suor Dolcina, and debuted with the Concordia Ensemble singing Pierre (The Wandering Scholar), followed by the title role in Viardot’s Cendrillon, and finally First Witch and Spirit in Dido and Aeneas.

    She recently sang with Ensemble Apex in Verdi’s Requiem, and closed out 2022 with her first Handel’s Messiah (abr.) as the soprano soloist with River City Voices at Parramatta Riverside.

     

    Cherlin has completed language studies at home and abroad, having a 3ème degré from the DEFLE Université Bordeaux 3 - Michel de Montaigne, France, and a Bachelor with French major from Macquarie University. She has studied studied German at both Macquarie and Sydney Universities, and advanced Italian at the Università di Bologna, Italy, where she returned in 2015 to sing as a soloist with Opera in Celle, in Forte Sangallo, Nettuno.

     

    Cherlin currently studies under internationally-renowned heldentenor, Glenn Winslade.

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    Elizabeth Cooper

    Soprano

    Roles: Susanna - Le nozze di Figaro | Title role - Émilie

    Elizabeth Cooper is a Sydney based Soprano who is deeply passionate about bringing people together through music. She has recently performed the role of Helena in the Sydney Conservatorium’s production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Second Lady in W.A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Pacific Opera as well as Dorothée in a filmed production of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon. Elizabeth is thrilled to be a part of the Cooperative this year as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.

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    Georgia Cooper

    Soprano

    Roles: Cherubino - Le nozze di Figaro

    Originating from Tasmania, Georgia is a soprano currently undertaking her fourth year of her Bachelor of Music (Performance) specialising in classical voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of Maree Ryan AM.
    Georgia’s love for performing and singing started when she was cast as Gretel in The Sound of Music with the Burnie Musical Society. During her time at the Conservatorium, Georgia has been awarded the Peter Davidson Music Scholarship, was the understudy soloist for Poulenc’s Gloria performed as a part of the Chancellor’s Concert with the Sydney Conservatorium Big Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Elizabeth Scott, and has performed in multiple concerts including the Con Lieder series and lunchtime recitals. Recently, Georgia competed in the Sydney Eisteddfod and placed in every section including 3rd place for Lieder and Oratorio (21-25 years) and 2nd place for French melodie (21-25 years) and Italian song (21-25 years). In 2020, she was cast in the role of Titania in Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Silvia in Mascagni’s Zanetto with Concordia Ensemble and is currently a soprano scholar at St Stephen’s Uniting Church. Georgia has participated in several masterclasses with industry professionals such as Dr Maria Briggs, Graham Johnson and has participated in an acting workshop with Kate Gaul. Georgia is looking forward to her debut with The Cooperative as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.
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    Esther Counsel

    Soprano

    Roles: Countess Almaviva - Le nozze di Figaro

    Praised for her “Melting vocal technique” (Operachaser) and “Expressive largesse” (Limelight magazine), Esther Counsel is an emerging soprano based in Melbourne. Esther recently completed a Master of Opera Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. She is also a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, with both a Bachelor of Music (Classical performance) and a Graduate Diploma (Vocal performance). In 2021 Esther was also selected to participate in the inaugural State Opera of South Australia Opera Academy.
    Some of Esther’s recent roles include First Lady in Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Angelica in Suor Angelica (Puccini), Lady Billows in Albert Herring (Britten), Diana in Orfée aux enfers (Offenbach), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), and The Queen of the Night in Victorian Opera’s Alice through the opera glass. Esther has also performed scene excerpts of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Mozart), Mimi in La boheme (Puccini) and Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffman (Offenbach).
    Esther is thrilled to be making her debut with The Cooperative as La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro.

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    Joanna Dionis Ross

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: The Secretary - The Consul | Title Role - Sãvitrī | Title Role - Émilie | Miss Jessel - The Turn of the Screw

    Joanna Dionis Ross is quickly gaining recognition as a rising young dramatic mezzo-soprano.

    Recent engagements include Baba the Turk cover (The Rake’s Progress) at the Princeton Festival, Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica) and Medoro (Orlando) at the Siena Music Festival, Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Johanna Meier Opera Theater Institute, Maddalena (Rigoletto) with Bleecker Street Opera, Mrs. Nolan (The Medium) with Taconic Opera, and Mrs. Sedley (Peter Grimes) and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare) with One World Symphony. Recently, Joanna sang the role of Aunt Nicey in Stefan Weisman’s new opera The Scarlet Ibis, co-produced by American Opera Projects and the Opera America New Works Forum. She has also been a young artist at the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice, singing Ortrud in excerpts from Lohengrin with acclaimed Wagnerian baritone Alfred Walker.

    Joanna has a strong interest in new music, and has appeared with the Brooklyn New Music Ensemble, Opera on Tap New Brew, and New Music Mannes, singing the works of such contemporary composers as Christopher Berg, Toshio Hosokawa, and Mike Rose. She is an American Prize Chicago Oratorio Award Finalist, and the recipient of a Wagner Society of New York grant.

    Joanna earned a professional studies diploma in voice performance from Mannes College the New School for Music and a bachelor’s degree in English from Stanford University.

    She made her Australian operatic debut as the Secretary in Menotti's The Consul with Cooperative in 2020, and will return to sing the title role in Sāvitrī in 2021.

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    Cassandra Doyle

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Alto I - Sāvitrī | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Cherubino - Le nozze di Figaro

    Cassandra is a young mezzo-soprano, entering her second year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, completing a BMus Performance (Classical Voice), studying under Dr. Rowena Cowley. In 2020, she was awarded the Patricia Bell Scholarship. Her roles covered include Leila in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Iolanthe’ (2018), Prince Charming in Open Academy’s ‘Cinderella’ (2018) and a chorus member in the Conservatorium High schools ‘A Bernstein Story’ (2017) and ‘Shrek’ (2015).

    During her studies at the Conservatorium High School, she was a featured artist in the NSW Schools Spectacular and a concert soloist at the Sydney Opera House, as a part of the NSW Arts Unit Festival of Music. In 2019, Cassandra performed as a soloist with SUMS in Rossini’s ‘Petit Messe Solennelle’ mass.

    Cassandra has toured extensively with Gondwana Choirs and Sydney Children’s Choir throughout Asia and the Baltics. She currently sings with the St James Choir, as a choral scholar.

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    Ray Dubber

    Tenor

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca 

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    Tristan Entwistle

    Baritone

    Roles: Title role - Le nozze di Figaro | Silvio - Pagliacci

    Tristan was an up & coming violinist, until a repetitive strain injury shunted him unexpectedly (but happily) into a career as a singer. He completed a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2017, and since then has performed regularly with the chorus of Opera Australia.

    He has performed in a great many Mozart operas, with roles including Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Nardo (La Finta Giardiniera), and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte). He also has a keen passion for contemporary opera, having performed in the Australian premieres of Mansfield Park (Dove) as Edmund Bertram, and Luzifers Tanz (Stockhausen) as Lucifer.

    Other operatic roles include Germont, Baron Douphol, and Dottor Grenville (La Traviata), Escamillo (Carmen), Baron Zeta (The Merry Widow), Alcindoro (La Bohéme), Elder McLean (Susannah), Giove/Giove in Diana (La Calisto), and the Drunken Poet/Corydon (The Fairy Queen). He also worked as a conductor, chorusmaster, director, and artistic advisor for the youth company Operantics from 2015 to 2019.

    Tristan has been a finalist in the German Australian Opera Grant, the Australian Singing Competition (“The Mathy”), and the Joan Carden Award. In 2021, he joined the Opera Australia Schools Tour as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, and will continue in the 2022 Schools Tour (production TBA).

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    Martin Everett

    Tenor

    Roles: Nika Magadoff - The Consul | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Curzio - Le nozze di Figaro

    Martin recently graduated from the Australian Institute of Music with a Bachelor specialising in Musical Theatre. He has since set out to develop his acting.

    This past year Martin was privileged to perform Much Ado About Nothing (B’ard Work) in several pubs around Sydney. Martin loved this opportunity to work alongside the talented actors from various Pop-Up Globe tours. Martin’s other roles include Charlie Price in Kinky Boots (Free-Rain Theatre Company) under the direction of Derek Walker, and Steve Hart in Ned: A New Australian Musical (Plush Duck). Since then he’s been training in screen acting as well as stage.

    The Consul is Martin’s first foray into Opera and he hopes to tackle the role of Nika Magadoff and give it an authentic and entertaining spin.

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    Emma Fearnley

    Soprano

    Roles: Assan - The Consul

    Emma is an English Teacher who moonlights as a singer.

    Since completing her AMusA in Singing, Emma has regularly appeared as a Soprano Soloist with St Peter's Choir and Artes Christi, singing such works as Faure's Requiem, Haydn's Missa Brevis, and Sebastien De Brossard's Stabat Mater. 

    She has dabbled in community theatre, including playing Kate in The Pirates of Penzance and Jimmy in The Iceman Cometh, and can occasionally even be found wearing black and playing Viola or Violin.

    More often, though, you'll find her in her classroom trying to convince teenage boys that reading can be fun.

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    Tarryn Frappell

    Soprano

    Roles: Ensemble - The Consul | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Chorus - Tosca | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro | Chorus - Pagliacci

    Tarryn has performed with Rockdale Opera Company since 2010 in Chorus, and has had a few minor roles within that time.

    She also performed in Orfeo Ed Euridice in the NSW Art Gallery in collaboration with the Spectrum Festival in 2015.

    Tarryn also performs with Sydney University Musical Society in their yearly choral performances

    She looks forward to working with the Cast of The Cooperative in their first production of The Consul.

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    Matthew Gaskin

    Tenor

    Roles: Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | A Jailer - Tosca | Count Almaviva - Le nozze di Figaro

    Matt has recently come home to Sydney after 12 years living in Canada. Whilst he was there, he obtained a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, majoring in composition, and a Masters of Music in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia, where he studied with J. Patrick Raftery. Roles performed there include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Nika Magadoff in Menotti’s The Consul, and Herzog von Urbino in Johann Strauss’ Eine Nacht in Venedig. He performed the tenor solo for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as concert tours as soloist with the UBC Opera Ensemble to Czech Republic, China, and Christmas concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

     Matt has also performed the role of Tito in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and Tamino in The Czech Republic for the European Music Academy in Teplice, and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Professional chorus and choral work include the Vancouver Opera Company, Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers.

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    Natasha Gesto

    Soprano

    Roles: Nedda - Pagliacci

    Natasha Isabella Gesto is a young Uruguayan-Australian Soprano with an electrifying onstage presence and a natural gift for weaving stories. Natasha is extremely proud and grateful to be a recipient of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where she will commence her Master of Music (Voice) in August this year. Whilst in Australia, Natasha studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 2018-2022, where she completed her Bachelor of Music (Classical Voice), and a Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance). Natasha was the recipient of a number of scholarships, including the Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen Scholarship, 'Henderson Traveller’s Scholarship, and Helen Myers Scholarship.

     

    Natasha has been described as having a “sumptuously gifted voice,” (Dr Graham Johnson OBE), and her craft has taken form in her musical involvement across Australia and Europe as both an operatic principal and concert soloist. Her roles include La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro, Prague Summer Nights Festival, 2022), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte, Sydney Conservatorium, 2022, cover – performed), Dame Nellie Melba (Percy – The Opera, Sydney Conservatorium, 2022) and Francesca – The Fox (Pinnochio, Musgrove Opera, toured across NSW 2018-2019). Some of Natasha’s concert soloist performances include Brahm’s German Requiem (Dr. Carlos Alvardo, 2023), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Omid Zadeh, 2022), Poulenc’s Gloria (Sydney Conservatorium, 2021) and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor (Sydney Conservatorium, 2020). Natasha was also proud to be selected as a Young Star of Australian Opera for the nationally televised Carols in the Domain.

     

    Natasha was most recently a semi-finalist in the Sydney Eisteddfod’s Opera Scholarship 35 & Under competition, one of Australia’s most distinguished opera awards. As a very young entrant, Natasha was very proud to have been selected.

    Natasha is so excited to begin her studies at The Juilliard School and hopes that the audience will enjoy this fabulous production of Pagliacci.

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    Tayla Gregson

     

    Roles: Chorus - Pagliacci

    Tayla Gregson is a graduate of The University of New South Wales where she completed her Bachelor of Music (Vocal Pedagogy) with First Class Honours. Her passion for singing has led her to perform the role of Celeste #1 in the UNSW MTS production of Sunday in The Park with George. She also performed as an ensemble member in a production of Bonnie and Clyde with MTS. For several years she was a chorister with the UNSW Collegium Musicum Choir performing such works as Faure’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah. She looks forward to making her first operatic appearance as a chorus member in The Cooperative’s production of Pagliacci.

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    Tony Guyot

    Tenor

    Roles: Ensemble - The Consul | Roberti / Chorus - Tosca | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro | Chorus - Pagliacci

    Tony craves variety. Post careers in IT, natural medicine, journalism, and personal security he funded his retraining as a theatre director, actor, singer and lighting designer by performing folk and social protest songs in cafes and restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. 

    Performance credits step across genre, style and even artform divides, ranging from major Shakespearean roles, G&S comic baritones, church soloist/cantor positions, male lead for an ABBA tribute group, as well as supporting tenor roles and chorus from Verdi to Baroque and musical theatre. 

    Tony has been an advocate for social justice his entire life.

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    Janine Harris

    Soprano

    Roles: Marcellina - Le nozze di Figaro

    Janine Harris is a versatile performer based in Sydney. A recipient of the Helen Myers Scholarship and a Henderson Travelling Scholarship in 2022, and of the Helpmann Family Award and the John Holt Todd and Florence Todd Scholarships in 2021, she is presently studying opera under the tutelage of Donna Balson at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Janine was winner of the Oratorio prize in last year’s Sydney Eisteddfod and placed second in the open female operatic section. She has been praised for "her exceptional range, precision, clarity and even tone" [Limelight Magazine, April 2021]. Alongside operatic work, Janine is an established professional choral singer, and was an ensemble artist with The Song Company in 2020/2021. She has freelanced for many years with top ensembles in London and Sydney. This is Janine's first appearance with The Cooperative.

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    Richard Heagren-Gibbs

    Tenor

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca 

    Richard is a tenor who sings with the Macarthur Singers, the Byrd Consort and River City Voices.

    He has performed in opera choruses for La Traviata and The Merry Widow and has played Schaunard in La Boheme, in addition to many roles in musical theatre, most recently that of the Snake Preacher in Lloyd-Webber's Whistle Down The Wind.

    Richard has only recently discovered the Cooperative, is delighted to be a part of this production of Tosca, and hopes you will enjoy it too.

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    Kirralee Hillier

    Soprano

    Roles: Anna Gomez - The Consul | Title role - Émilie

    Kirralee Hillier is a recent graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium Music where she completed her Bachelor Music Performance (Classical Voice) under Narelle Yeo. Her passion for performing has led her to perform with a number of internationally acclaimed artists such as Hans Zimmer and, most recently, Patti Lupone. 

    Other recent opera credits include singing Cunagonde in Berstein’s Candide, Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Jessie in Kurt Weil’s Mahagonny Songspiel. Kirralee has also had the honour of playing the roles of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Griddlebone in Cats, Carrie in Carrie: the Musical and Pauline Hansen in the award-winning Asutralian Musical The Colour Orange.

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    Raphael Hudson

    Tenor

    Roles: Canio - Pagliacci

    Raphael Hudson is an Australian spinto tenor. In his formative years, he studied with Megan Evans OAM, James Christiansen OAM, and John Bolton Wood AM. He was a Cantor at St Stephen’s Cathedral and a member of the Opera Queensland Chorus. He made his debut as a baritone, singing Enrico (Lucia di lammermoor), Escamillo (Carmen), Lord Mountararat (Iolanthe), Don Parmenione (L'occasione fa il ladro), Louis (Gustav Holst's The Wandering Scholar), Blansac (La scala di seta), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) for companies including Rockdale Opera, Sydney Theatre, Sydney Independent Opera and the National Youth Opera.

     

    Raphael won scholarships to the Mediterranean Opera Studio in New York and Sicily where he studied tenor repertoire with Gioacchino Li Vigni, Nicola Martinucci and Salvatore Fisichella. In 2019 Raphael was invited to China where he performed Chinese solos in Chinese on the banks of the Yellow River to nationwide television coverage and acclaim. He performed these solos again in Sydney on his return in Sydney Town Hall, the Chatswood Concourse Theatre and the Sydney Conservatorium Verbrugghen Hall. After the coronavirus lockdowns, Raphael studied with Michael Trimble at the Trimble Vocal Institute in Washington and with celebrated international dramatic tenor Yonghoon Lee in Sydney.

     

    Raphael was a finalist in the largest vocal competition in Australia in 2022, the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship, a semi-finalist in the 2022 Premio Fausto Ricci international vocal competition and the 2022 Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition New York. He was invited to Germany to participate in the International Singer Academy Michaelstein where he worked with Professor Claudia Visca of the Richard Wagner Conservatorium in Vienna. He continued his studies in heldentenor repertoire with the acclaimed Siegfried Christian Franz in Hannover. In 2023 he will perform the role of Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Dramatic Voices Program Berlin.

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    Elizabeth Hylton

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Ensemble - The Consul | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro

    Elizabeth has completed a B/Mus and Grad/Dip in Music, majoring in Classical Voice at The Australian Institute of Music. Elizabeth enjoys all facets of singing, including performing in the genres of Opera, Operetta, Musical Theatre, Oratorio, Recitals, Classical Contemporary Fusion and some facets of Contemporary Music.

    Elizabeth is currently performing with Troupe Viva and is a regular soloist for The Christian Science Church (Dee Why). She sung as regular soloist for The Sydney Welsh Choir, in 2010 - taking part in their Tasmanian tour. She took part in Symphony of Australia as part of the Sydney Festival in January 2010 and toured Australia as part of The Ten Sopranos from July 2006 – July 2008.

    Elizabeth has performed many roles, highlights which include: Mezzo Soloist in Christmas Oratorio under Dr Steve Watson for The Beethoven Society of Australia, Alto Soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria under Philip Chu for The Australian Institute of Music, Lichas in Hercules and Ino in Semele for Opera Events. Gilbert and Sullivan roles include: Iolanthe in Iolanthe, Tessa in The Gondoliers, Kate and Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore, and Lady Saphir in Patience.

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    Melanie Jha

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca 

    Melanie Jha is a soprano in her final-year of a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of New South Wales. She is preparing a project on contemporary opera and non-lexical singing under Sonya Lifschitz’s guidance.

    She was part of the chorus in Cooperative’s production of Tosca. She was a Developing Artist for Pacific Opera from 2019 to 2020 and has performed with a diverse range of music ensembles such as Bulgarian Voices, Latin Conjunto, Collegium Musicum Choir and the New Music Collective.

    She also completed a Bachelor of Arts, with a Theatre and Performance Studies major and Film Studies minor. She was an Emerging Artist in first co-hort of Australian Council for the Arts and Inner West Council’s Survival Guide for Emerging Artists Program of 2020.

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    Samanta Lestavel

    Soprano

    Roles: Anna Gomez - The Consul | Soprano I - Sāvitrī  | Pylade - Iphigénie en Tauride | Mario Cavaradossi - Tosca | Countess Almaviva - Le nozze di Figaro | The Governess - The Turn of the Screw

    Samanta graduated in November 2017 with a Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she was the recipient of the Patricia Lucas Music Achievement Scholarship and the Helpmann Family Fellowship. She studied German extensively in university, adding to her native proficiency in French, Italian and English.

    Samanta gained extensive operatic stage experience while completing her studies, performing the following principal roles between 2016-2018: Adele (J. Strauss, Die Fledermaus), Belinda (Purcell, Dido and Aeneas), Pamina (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte), Blondchen (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Calisto (Cavalli: La Calisto), Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Patience (Gilbert and Sullivan, Patience), Despina (Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte), Lucy (Menotti: The Telephone), Mary Crawford (Jonathan Dove: Mansfield Park, Australian premiere), and Angelina (Gilbert and Sullivan, Trial by Jury). Samanta has been privileged to work with companies including Operantics, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney, Rockdale Opera, The Macquarie Singers, Opera Hunter, Opera Bites, Phoenix Choir, and the Penrith Symphony Orchestra.

    She has also gained much concert experience (Bach, St Matthew Passion, Handel Messiah, Handel, Alexander’s Feast), and has participated in a number of experimental projects such as The Millenial Opera Project (recording project), Long Walk Diva (BEAMS Arts Festival), and The Cleopatra Project (The Independent Theatre).

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    Katrina Mackenzie

    Soprano

    Roles: Soprano - Threading the Light

    Katrina Mackenzie is an emerging coloratura soprano, originally from Adelaide where she completed a degree in Classical Performance at the Elder Conservatorium of Music (Bachelor of Music, 1st Class Honours). She is a recipient of many awards and prizes including the Adelaide Choral Society Prize for Classical Voice, finalist in The Friends of the State Opera Dawn Wallace Aria Award and Vocal Prize winner in the 2017 and 2019 5mbs Young Virtuoso SA Final. Katrina performs regularly in recital and as a concert, and oratorio soloist. She has made many appearances in the Adelaide Fringe festival with Renaissance chamber choir Sacred Hearts and has been in the chorus of the Adelaide Festival’s production of Mozart’s Requiem directed by Romeo Castellucci and Barrie Kosky’s The Golden Cockerel (Rimsky-Korsakov). As an Emerging artist with Co-Opera Katrina has performed the role of ‘Musetta’ in La Bohème (Puccini) and ‘Damon’ in Acis and Galatea (Handel). She has also been an Emerging Artist with State Opera South Australia and has performed in the chorus of many of their productions and as a principal artist as ‘Alice’ in the Australian opera BOOJUM! By Martin Wesley-Smith. Katrina made her Sydney singing debut with ‘Australia’s leading vocal ensemble’ The Song Company and was the Soprano soloist in the world premiere of Felicity Wilcox’s chamber opera Threading the Light.

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    Ava Madon

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice

    Ava began her training at The Victorian College of the Arts completing the foundation program before going on to train overseas at Lasalle College of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and First Class Honours in Musical Theatre.

    Ava’s professional stage credits include The Great Wall: One Woman’s Journey (dir. Darren Yap), Purgatory (L’arietta) and Hi-5 Adventure Discovery Tour (Hi-5 World).

    Ava’s television credits include Definitely Not News (ABC), The Pack Down (ABC), Code of Law (Weiyu Films) and Stacked! (ABC). In 2021 Ava is set to appear in a new musical sitcom, Mikki vs. the World, which will be released on ABC and iView.

    Ava is excited to be delving into opera with Orfeo ed Euridice and The Cooperative.

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    Ellen Malone

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: John's Mother - The Consul 

    Ellen Malone, mezzo soprano, holds her Bachelor of Music in performance from ANU, and her postgraduate Diploma in Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

    Ellen has performed in opera, oratorio, cabaret and recital, and at gala functions in many prestigious venues including the Sydney Opera House, Parliament House (ACT), Floriade, the National Gallery and St Mary's Cathedral (Sydney). She has sung with many orchestras including the SOM, NCO, and Melbourne Opera Orchestra.

    She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, and has released her first CD, a duet album entitled 'For Two Equal Voices'.

    She has performed major works with the ANU and NCO orchestras including Mozart's 'Requiem', Mahler's second symphony, ‘ El Amor Brujo’ and Handel's 'Messiah'. In 2010, she premiered the role of 'Scout', which was written especially for her, in the CAT award winning ' Grimm and the Blue Crown Owl'.

    She has performed several major song cycles for the mezzo soprano, including the Brahms 'Zigeuner Lieder', for which she was awarded the Margaret Smiles Award for most outstanding vocalist.

    Ellen currently runs her corporate performance business ‘Sopranos on Stage’ and appears regularly in oratorio and corporate functions across Sydney.

    In addition to her singing accomplishments, Ellen is a public speaker, writer, and award winning make up artist.

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    Abner Masson-Cox

    Baritone

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca 

     

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    Paul McLeod

    Tenor

    Roles: Ensemble - The Consul | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice 

    Paul studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, UNSW, and at the Universität der Künste Berlin, and was awarded several scholarships throughout his studies.

    He has performed many roles, including 1st Gehärnischter - Die Zauberflöte (Pacific Opera),

    Triquet - Eugene Onegin (UdK Berlin), Tamino - Die Zauberflöte (UdK Berlin), Pappacoda - Eine Nacht in Venedig (Kammeroper Schloβ Rheinsberg), MacHeath - The Beggar’s Opera (Opera Australia Education), The Mayor - The Happy Prince (Opera Australia Education), Hirsch – The Great Waltz (Rockdale Opera) and Alwa - Auf Wiedersehen, Lulu (Rockdale Opera). Paul is also a frequent oratorio soloist, recitalist, and actor, and currently performs regularly with the Opera Australia chorus.

    Paul is passionate about social justice and human rights (as well as music of course!), and is looking forward to joining The Cooperative for The Consul.

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    Rachel Mink

    Soprano

    Roles: Soprano II - Sāvitrī

    Rachel Mink, soprano, is a 2021 Pacific Opera Young Artist and ensemble member of Luminescence, a virtuosic vocal consort.

    Highlights of Rachel’s operatic credits include Émilie in Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie; Colin in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera Le Devin du Village, Belinda and the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and Zirphile (cover) in the American premiere of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Sympathy with Victory Hall Opera. Rachel was an active chorus member with Charlottesville Opera and performed in La Traviata and Amahl and the Night Visitors. In masterclasses, she has had the honor of working with Renée Fleming, Karita Mattila, Danielle Telemantes, and Rachelle Fleming.

    Originally hailing from the USA, Rachel studied vocal performance and musicology at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland and earned her BA from the University of Virginia with a double major in music and arts administration. In her spare time, she works as a fundraising professional for the Boulanger Imitative, a non-profit committed to promoting music composed by womxn.

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    Tharushi Mitiyamulle

    Soprano

    Roles: Barbarina - Le nozze di Figaro | Flora - The Turn of the Screw 

    Tharushi Mitiyamulle is a Sydney based soprano in her third year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

     

    Her roles include Barbarina from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with The Cooperative in their 2022 season. She will be joining The Cooperative once again for their 2023 season as Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Tharushi will also be joining Concordia Ensemble in their 2023 production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen as Fairy 1 and Woman 1.

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    Olivia Morberger

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Oreste - Iphigénie en Tauride

    Olivia Morberger is a Sydney based operatic singer who holds a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice and Clarinet.

    Since graduating, her operatic appearances include Offenbach’s the Tales of Hoffmann, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Le Nozze di Figaro, Bach’s St Matthew's Passion and Scarlatti‘s La Clemenza di Decemviri. Olivia has also appeared in recital programs at St Stephen's Uniting Church, with Sutherland Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Art Song Society, Gandharve Ensemble and with Russian for Singers.

    This year you can hear Olivia’s artistry in Iphigénie en Tauride with The Cooperative, as well as La Traviata and Die Zauberflöte with Pacific Opera.

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    Rebecca Moret

    Soprano

    Roles: Magda Sorel - The Consul | Title Role - Iphigénie en Tauride | Title Role - Tosca

    Celebrated for her compelling dramatic interpretations and moving vocal performances, Rebecca Moret is a Sydney-based soprano who has performed with Victorian Opera, Opera Projects Sydney, Blush Opera, Pacific Opera, and Opera Australia. This year in addition to making her role debut as Magda Sorel, she will sing die Vertraute and study Chrysothemis in Strauss’ Elektra at the Dramatic Voices Program in Berlin.

    Her performed roles include the title role in Suor Angelica, Giorgetta (Il Tabarro), Marcellina in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Elisabetta in Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto, and Amor and Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo. She has sung with Opera Australia as a member of the Schools Touring Company in The Barber of Seville and in the chorus. A frequent performer of new works, she has created roles in premiere productions of Paul Smith's How to Build a Billy, Ursula Caporali's An Italian in Ethiopia, and Anne Boyd’s Daisy Bates at Ooldea, as well as the Australian premiere of Paul Smith’s The Spidermaiden and the Runaway Plum Blossom.

    She has been a recipient of both the Deborah Riedel Award and the Dante Alighieri prize as a finalist in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation Bel Canto Award, and received the University of Melbourne's Dame Nellie Melba Prize. An alumna of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, she has performed Mozart’s Donna Anna and Elettra with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne before moving to Sydney to study for her Advanced Diploma of Opera at the Sydney Conservatorium.

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    Amelia Myers

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro

    Soprano Amelia Myers has been a member of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for a decade, predominantly with VOX, the youth ensemble of the company. Her experience spans a wide range of genres; from large works at the Opera House including Mahler's Das Klagende Lied with Simone Young in 2019, to a variety of film soundtracks and chamber music. Earlier this year Amelia was thrilled to sing in Burden of Truth with The Song Company and is excited to be making her operatic debut in the chorus of Tosca with The Cooperative.

    When not singing, Amelia is a commercial illustrator with a passion for portraiture and fantasy art.

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    Emma Nightingale

    Soprano

    Roles: A Foreign Woman - The Consul

    Emma is a soprano from Brisbane, Australia. In 2019 Emma was selected as a Young Artist for the Pacific Opera program, with concert credits including soloist in A Viennese Gala with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Dr Nicholas Milton AM. She made her Opera Queensland principal debut as Gretel in the 2019 schools touring Hansel and Gretel and covered the roles of Novizia and La Maestra Delle Novizie in Suor Angelica (Puccini) for Pacific Opera. Emma also appeared in the ensemble for Opera Queensland’s 2019 production of A Flowering Tree (Adams).

    Across 2017 and 2018, Emma performed with Opera Queensland in Lindy Hume’s acclaimed production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore (Bridesmaid) and was an ensemble member in Britten’s Peter Grimes and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She also performed as part of the ensemble of the 2019 Opera Queensland season launch and at The Brisbane Airport “Artist in Residence” program.

    During her time as an undergraduate at the University of Queensland she performed varied roles in excerpts including: Juliette (Romeo et Juliette), Magda (La Rondine), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), First Lady (The Magic Flute). She was also awarded the Margaret Nickson prize in voice and accompaniment, and concert credits such as soloist in the Schumann Requiem for Mignon with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and University of Queensland Chorale, the Rutter Magnificat with The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, and the Vivaldi Gloria with the Alexandra Chorale.

    Early 2020 will see Emma make her Sydney debut as ‘A Foreign Woman’ (The Consul) for The Cooperative.

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    Alexandra Nixon

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Vera Boronel - The Consul | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Second Priestess / Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | Sacristan - Tosca

    From Jindera New South Wales and residing in Sydney, Alexandra Nixon completed a Bachelor of Music Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2015.

    During her studies, Alexandra performed with the Conservatorium on numerous occasions, highlights including Bernstein’s MASS at the Sydney Opera House for the Conservatorium Centenary celebrations, Haydn’s Orfeo ed Euridice under the baton of Richard Bonynge. She was a member of the Conservatorium Chamber Choir for five years, and with them performed a range of repertoire spanning from Nyman, Bach to Britten, via many world premières.

    In 2017 Alexandra graduated from the Conservatorium with a Master of Music (Performance) under the tuition of Anke Höppner-Ryan.

    In 2018 Alexandra travelled to Brandenburg to participate in the Lotte Lehmann Akademie and studied the role of Contessa from W.A Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro under Karen Armstrong.

    In 2019 Alexandra joined Rockdale Opera Company in role of Mirabella in their production of Johann Strauss II The Gypsy Baron. Alexandra made her debut with The Cooperative in their maiden production of The Consul in February 2020 as Vera Boronel and is thrilled to be joining The Cooperative again in 2021.

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    Katrina Noela

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice

    “Magnificent!”, “Magical!”, an "energy and presence [that] is beyond this realm". These are but a few of the many descriptions Katrina Noela, a sought-after international vocalist, has received by her audiences over that past few years. It is her impressive versatility and vocal sincerity that moves audiences of all sizes.

    Having performed across the globe in Australia, Italy, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand and on TV, such as The Voice, Katrina Noela commands a highly emotive room and stage, large or small, with an authentic connection that audiences of all ages relate to.

    Coming from an operatic heritage and over 20 years of classical training and professional experience that includes La Traviata, Magic Flute, Pearl Fishers, Pirates of Penzance and more, Katrina's repertoire features famous diva ballads through to powerful show-stoppers from Opera, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Contemporary and more.

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    Timothy Nunn

    Baritone

    Roles: Figaro - Le nozze di Figaro | Tonio - Pagliacci

    Baritone Timothy Nunn holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium and is an alumnus of the Pacific Opera Young Artist program. Timothy has played the title roles of Don Giovanni and Figaro in Pacific Opera’s “Pocket Opera” series and has performed as a soloist with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra in both their “Star-Spangle” Gala and their Mozart Gala. Other performances include the title role in the Phoenix Choir’s performances of Mendelssohn’s Oratorio Elijah, the role of The Leader in Pacific Opera’s Production of Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley and performing as a soloist in Willoughby Symphony Orchestra’s Viennese Gala. He has performed Handel’s Messiah as the bass soloist with the St Matthew’s New Norfolk Tasmania Community choir and the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Ecumenical Choir. Timothy has also performed the role of Jimmy in Opera Carnevale’s production of Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel, the role of Pangloss in a concert celebrating 100 years of Leonard Bernstein at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was a part of the Ensemble for Patti LuPone’s concert Don’t Monkey with Broadway at the Sydney Opera House.

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    Aidan O'Donnell

    Bass

    Roles: Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride

    Bass Aidan O’Donnell is a passionate and animated performer whose love for storytelling is conveyed through his singing. Currently in his fourth year of studies for classical voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of David Greco, Aidan has participated and performed in a range of performances and positions including his current position as a choral scholar at St James King Street, led by musical director Warren Trevelyan-Jones. 

    As well as choral singing, Aidan has been a part of many performance productions, masterclasses and competitions featuring as a soloist. 

    Most notably, he attended and participated in the Melbourne international festival for lieder and art song in 2019 conducted by Professor Graham Johnson. Aidan played the role of ‘The Judge’ in the Musgrove Opera show ‘Pinocchio’ in 2018 and on tour in 2019. Aidan was awarded as a finalist in the Demant Dreikurs Song Competition in 2020, and was honoured to feature as part of the young stars of Australian Opera in the 2020 Carols in the Domain.

    Most recently, Aidan performed in the second Musgrove Opera production, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, as the father.

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    Ella Orehek-Coddington

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | A Priestess / Ensemble - Iphigénie en Tauride | Spoletta - Tosca | Bridesmaid - Le nozze di Figaro | Mrs Grose - The Turn of the Screw

    Mezzo-Soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington was awarded first class honours for studying a Bachelor of Music (Performance, Classical Voice) at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2022.
    While at the Conservatorium, she studied under the tutelage and supervision of Mr Barry Ryan OAM and Dr Anke Höppner-Ryan respectively. Ella has also been awarded a Diploma of Languages Studies from the University of Sydney. She focused her studies on German, with some additional classes in Italian and Latin.

    In September she will begin her Master of Arts (Vocal Performance) with scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Catherine Wyn-Rogers. Ella also recently undertook an exchange program at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

    She completed her bachelor’s degree with full scholarship support having been awarded the Kevin and Margaret Duffy Scholarship, the Patricia Lucas Music Achievement Award, the Costa Rosa Harsas Award Scholarship, the Greenburg-Gurney-Jensen Scholarship and the Quinquin Foundation Scholarship. Ella was the 2022 winner of the Demant Dreikurs German Song Competition, having won both the audience choice and adjudicator prizes. In 2023, Ella won the prestigious Wollongong Eisteddfod aria competition.

    Ella has undertaken masterclasses with several esteemed industry professionals including Gerald Finley OC, CBE at the Fourth Fresno State Art Song Festival. At the Sydney Conservatorium, her masterclasses were undertaken by David Miller AM, Emily Kilpatrick, and Dr Maria Briggs.

     

    Ella has performed the title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Juno in Handel’s Semele, Joas in Handel’s Athalia, Irene in Handel’s Theodora, La Feé in Viardot’s Cendrillon, Night & Juno in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Spoletta in Puccini’s Tosca, A Priestess in Gluck’s Iphégenie en Tauride, A Bridesmaid in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Suzie in Reeves’ Ever the Best of Friends.
    She has appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Sparrow Mass. She has performed in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Ella has appeared in principal roles for Concordia Ensemble and The Cooperative, as well as in concert for the Con Lieder Series and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

    In 2023, she will appear in Sydney as Juno in the premiere of Cousins’ new opera Echo, Mrs Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

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    Joshua Oxley

    Tenor

    Roles: Quint / The Prologue - The Turn of the Screw

    Joshua Oxley is a tenor based in Sydney and Melbourne. His operatic roles include Tamino (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte), Ferrando (Mozart, Così fan tutte), Don Ottavio (Mozart, Don Giovanni, Opera Hunter), Alfredo (Verdi, La Traviata), Jenik (Smetana, The Bartered Bride), Mozart (Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart and Salieri), Sam Polk (Floyd, Susannah), Brighella (Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos) Remendado (Bizet, Carmen), Pane (Cavalli, La Calisto), Balthasar Zorn (Wagner, Die Meistersinger), Tchaplitsky (Tchaikovsky, Pique Dame), and Frederic (Sullivan, Pirates of Penzance). Joshua has also toured NSW, Victoria, and South Australia with Opera Australia, performing the roles of Tamino (Mozart, The Magic Flute) and Count Almaviva (Rossini, The Barber of Seville).

     

    He has been tenor soloist for St. Andrew’s Cathedral (Handel, Messiah; Bach, Cantata Numbers 4, 62, 80, 115, and 140) Other major solo concert performances include Evangelist in St Matthew Passion, Elijah (Mendelssohn), Stabat Mater (Rossini), Mozart Requiem, arias in St John Passion, Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini), Te Deum (Nicolai), Symphony No.9 (Beethoven), and Bernstein Mass (Conservatorium Centenary).

     

    Competition success includes winning the Joan Carden Award, the Opera and Arts Support Scholarship, the BBM scholarship for music, and twice receiving the Ronald Dowd Memorial Prize, and the John Fulford Prize for runner up at the Herald Sun Aria.

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    Tobias Page

    Bass

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro

    Tobias is currently in his second year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying a Bachelor of Music – Performance (Classical Voice) under the guidance of Barry Ryan OAM. He is a recipient of the Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen Fund Scholarship.

    Tobias has appeared as a principle with Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney over a number of years, having performed as "Sergeant of Police" in The Pirates of Penzance, "Sir Roderick Murgatroyd" in Ruddigore, and the title role in The Mikado. In 2021 he performed in the chorus of The Co-Operative’s production of Puccini’s Tosca as well as presenting individual and group items in Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney’s June Concert Soiree. Already this year Toby has sung the role of "Father Phillipe" in Holt's The Wandering Scholar and Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, both with Concordia Ensemble.

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    Alison Paris

    Soprano

    Roles: Euridice / Amore - Orfeo ed Euridice

    Soprano Alison Paris holds a Bachelor of Music with first class Honours and a Graduate Certificate of Music from the University of Queensland, both majoring in classical voice performance. 

    During her studies, she was awarded the Ethel Osbourne Prize for Classical Voice in 2018, and was runner up for the 2017 Margaret Nickson Prize. She performed the role of Dido in the university’s production of Dido and Aeneas, and was the soprano soloist in the university’s performances in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre of Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. 

    Outside of the University of Queensland, Alison has performed in multiple productions in Brisbane and Singapore, the first role being Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cuskelly College of Music, directed by Peter Coleman-Wright and Cheryl Barker. After this, she was invited back earlier this year to perform as two roles in Il Trittico: Nella in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica. She has also been a chorus member for several productions including La Traviata with Singapore Lyric Opera and most recently Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor with the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.

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    Fi Peel

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca 

    A nonbinary performer with a versatile vocal range, beautiful dreams, a passion for learning and a commitment to craft. Fi is an independent creative who has been performing from an early age. Early highlights have included acting roles in advertising campaigns, performances at the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Football Stadium, high school workshops with Opera Australia, theatrical development with the Australian National University and voice specialisation with the University of Wollongong in initial undergraduate studies in the 1990s.

    Managing mental health struggles, alternate career development and parenting young adults, Fi brings an empathic, well-rounded and diverse skillset to ongoing creative development both personally as a performance artist and in ongoing production roles that benefit both individuals and the wider community, most recently producing a mental health storytelling theatre event for This Is My Brave Australia in Bathurst, playing Friar Laurence in Bathurst Shakespeare Player's 2020 production of Romeo and Juliet, and debuting as script writer and director for Keystone 1889's Christmas Spectacular which also heralded a return to solo vocal performance for the first time in over two decades.

    Most recently Fi has been busy with vocal studies, participating in the SongCo Lab in April 2021 and preparing for AMus Musical Theatre exams under the guidance of Amy Moore. Tosca marks Fi’s return to the stage in full-scale theatre production after a 15 year hiatus.

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    Andrew Pennycuick

    Baritone

    Roles: Mr Kofner - The Consul | Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | A Minister of the Sanctuary - Iphigénie en Tauride | Sciarrone - Tosca | Bartolo / Antonio - Le nozze di Figaro | Chorus - Pagliacci

     Andrew is a graduate of the music theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music where he studied singing with the late Howard Milner.

    Originally from Melbourne, Andrew has performed a wide variety of roles in the thriving amateur theatre scene there including: Assassins (Balladeer), Les Miserables (Enjolras), Company (Robert), Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Milt), The Pajama Game (Sid), Carousel (Billy), Arsenic and Old Lace (Mortimer), Chess (Anatoly).

    He has performed in schools’ tours for Echelon Productions as part of Book Week and has sung in the chorus of several productions for Melbourne Opera, including Madam Butterfly, Der Freischutz and The Barber of Seville.

    A recent convert to the wonders of Gilbert & Sullivan, Andrew most recently played Sir Despard in The Ghosts of Ruddigore and Pish Tush in The Mikado, both for Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Sydney. Andrew currently studies with Arax Mansourian.

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    Marianna Poghosyan

    Soprano

    Roles: Ensemble - The Consul

    Born in Yerevan, in 2007 Marianna has graduated from French University of Armenia holding her BA in Law and Political Science. Meanwhile, in 2004 was awarded entry to IREX student exchange program to do undergraduate studies in International Relations at Utica College, NY. In 2008, she obtained her MA degree in Advanced European and International Studies from Institut Européen des Hautes Etudes Internationales (IEHEI), Nice, France.

    In 2009 she was entitled as Policy Officer to European and International Organizations.

    In 2013 her Monograph Happiness vs GDP got published in Germany by Lambert Academic Publishing. Apart from her formation in Political and Legal aspects since childhood she was involved with and has mastered few forms of Performing Arts such as singing, dancing and composing. Having graduated with excellency Musical School after Sayat-Nova piano department in 1998 later on in 2006 she has won the First Prize at Naregatsi Young Composers Award in Piano Improvisation category.

    For 12 years she sang at the internationally proclaimed best children choir Little Singers of Armenia lead by Conductor and Artistic Director Maestro Tigran Hekekyan where she has formed and developed refined and deep understanding and appreciation of spiritual, secular and contemporary music dating from 5th century till nowadays. The Choir has toured around the World performing at the most renowned concert halls, cathedrals and festivals.

    Later on Marianna has started a solo career in singing while taking private classes at Yerevan State Conservatory at Sergey Danelyan’s class. Meanwhile she has attended trainings and masterclasses with singers like Vladimir Chernov, Raina Kabaevanska, Darina Takova, Arax Mansourian etc.

    In 2009 she has been accepted to Regional Conservatory of Nice right away to the 3rd year of Voice Department.

    Since childhood Marianna has been involved and trained in various dance companies which later on has led her to have a dream of becoming ballerina. Her first victory was in 2008 when she has won a Grand – Prix at First Armenian Dance Olympiad in Adults Modern Solo Category with a piece danced and choreographed by her.

    Later on after enormous vigor, efforts and unimaginable will power in 2009 she made her dream to come true and got accepted to the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Armenia as a Featuring Actress and Ballerina. She has worked there for 8 years and even had a number of solo roles in Ballet Romeo and Juliet, Opera Carmen, Opera Sayat – Nova.

    In 2016 at the same Opera theater she has played Maria at the A. Piazzolla’s Operita Maria de Buenos Aires inviting featuring famous bandoneonist Maestro Carlos Buono. From 2014 – 2017 she has worked as an instructor, actress and dancer at the Yerevan National Center of Aesthetics, Small Theater where in collaboration with British Council of Armenia she was sent to London to be trained at Candoco Inclusive Dance Company. After the training with her colleagues they have formed the first inclusive dance company in Armenia.

    Currently Marianna is based in Sydney with her husband and daughter. She is an assistant of the instructor at Tamzara Armenian Folk Dance Group by AGBU  as well as the vocal teacher of Sunday School Children Choir at the Armenian Apostolic Church of Holy Resurrection in Chatswood.

    She has performed at Concourse Chatswood, Avoca Beach Theater as well as at the Critical Path for Unity Space Air Project.

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    Laura Scandizzo

    Soprano

    Roles: Marcellina - Le nozze di Figaro

    Laura’s 2022 engagements include a Croatian Opera and Art song concert for Croatia House and performing as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah for Penrith Symphony Orchestra in December.

    Her operatic roles include Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Wally in La Wally, Suor Angelica and Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and Leonora in Fidelio. Laura has performed with the Opera Australia chorus in King Roger, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s Carmen, The Nixon Tapes, Verdi Requiem, Aida, Turandot, La Traviata, Otello, and La Juive.

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    Xiaoxu Aleta Shang

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca | Title Role - Emilie

    Xiaoxu Aleta Shang is a young professional lyric-coloratura soprano. She completed a Bachelor of Music Studies, a Graduate Diploma of Music (performance) and a Master of Music (opera performance) with scholarships at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying under Dr Anke Höppner-Ryan.

    The Roles she has performed in opera include La princesse in L’enfant et Les Sortileges by Ravel; Hannchen in Die Opernprobe by Lortzing; La Fée in Cendrillon by Massenet. She also has performed in recitals (art songs and arias), opera gala, and chorus (Requiem by Mozart, Orfeo ed Euridice by Haydn, The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar, Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev, Tosca by Puccini) in Australia and overseas.

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    Joanna Swadling

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Orfeo ed Euridice | Young Iphigénie (Diane) - Iphigénie en Tauride

    This is Joanna’s first production with the Cooperative, and she is excited to be a part of this wonderful team. She is currently completing the last semester of her Master’s of Music Performance at Excelsia college, where she has been exploring different vocal styles with her vocal teacher Julia Michaels, as well as completing a research paper on music in aged-care.

    Joanna previously graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied classical voice under Barry Ryan. She has also loved being involved with amateur musical theatre companies, where she played roles such as Lucy in “Narnia” with Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society (EUCMS), Alice in “Through the Looking Glass” (2015) and Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” (2019) with Normanhurst Uniting Church Musical Society (NUCMS), as well as taking part in several cabaret and variety concerts throughout the years. She was set to play Princess Ida in G&S’ “Princess Ida” in 2020, a production which was sadly postponed due to COVID-19, but will hopefully resume at a later date.

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    Sitiveni Talei

    Baritone

    Roles: Baron Scarpia - Tosca

    Born in Australia, then raised partly in Fiji, Sitiveni studied at the Australian National University before completing the Young Artist Program with West Australian Opera.

    He was the winner of the Marianne Mathy Award in 2008, and has been part of the permanent chorus and a soloist with Opera Australia since 2012.

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    Lucas Tamayo Blandon

    Bass

    Roles: Bartolo / Antonio - Le nozze di Figaro

    Colombian Bass Lucas Tamayo Blandon graduated from the Conservatorium of the University of Antioquia, where he completed his Bachelor of Music and Teaching with an emphasis in Operatic Voice. 

    To much acclaim, in 2007 Lucas made his operatic debut as Fiorello in the Barber of Seville. Since, he has represented such notable roles as Sarastro / The Little Magic flute; Huberto / La Serva Padrona; Bartolo / Le Nozze di Figaro; Zuniga / Carmen; Doctor Grenvil / La Traviata; and, Alidoro / La Cenerentola as well as other roles.

    Lucas has been under the guidance of esteemed directors such as Dante Ranieri, Guillermo Brizzio, Francisco Rettig, Alessandro Vitiello, Miquel Ortega, Guerassim Voronkov. Winner of the second place in the international singing competition, University EAFIT Medellín, Colombia in 2016, Lucas has been invited as the special guest at lyrical galas at the National Level. 

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    Mikayla Tate

    Soprano

    Roles: Susanna - Le nozze di Figaro

    Mikayla Tate is a Sydney-based soprano who holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) and was a Young Artist with Pacific Opera from 2019-2020.

    In 2021 Mikayla made her professional debut playing Servilia in National Opera’s inaugural production of La Clemenza di Tito where she worked alongside Covent Garden’s Catherine Carby and Metropolitan Opera’s Helena Dix. Receiving high praise from critics, Mikayla displayed “admiral presence and a clear, sweet soprano in such illustrious company”.

    In 2019 Mikayla made her German debut in the role of Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte under Covent Garden’s Tom Seligman. Other operatic credits include; 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), and Gretel/Sandmann/Dewfairy alternate (Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel).

    In 2022 Mikayla is delighted to be performing the role of Pamina for Chatswood Culture Bites with the Willoughby Symphony as well as debuting the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro | Mozart), Sophie (Werther | Massenet) and Governess (The Turn of the Screw | Britten).

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    Andrew Taylor Knight

    Baritone

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca

    Australian-Malaysian Baritone, Andrew Taylor Knight is an up-and-coming performer studying his Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

    He has trained under the tutelage of Maree Ryan AM and Simon Lobelson since he first moved to Sydney in 2017 to pursue his bachelor’s degree.

    Raised in the New England Region of New South Wales, Andrew thrived in the excellent performing arts program at The Armidale School. In his time there he was offered both the Jim Graham Scholarship for Performing Arts and Honors in Music, and later offered the Opera Australia Regional Scholarship.

    Since moving to Sydney, Andrew was the recipient of the Patricia Bell Grant Scholarship, The John Holt Todd and Florence Todd Scholarship, St. Andrew’s College Vocal Scholarship and Country Education Fund Scholarship.

    With the recent success of his professional chorus debut with Pinchgut Opera, Andrew hopes to add to his experience in this production of The Cooperative’s Tosca.

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    Daniel Verschuer

    Tenor

    Roles: Thoas - Iphigénie en Tauride | Basilio - Le nozze di Figaro

    Daniel Verschuer is a graduate tenor of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a current Young Artist of Pacific Opera. Daniel has previously portrayed several roles on stage including Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Basilio (The Marriage of Figaro), Frederick (The Pirates of Penzance), and Ottokar (The Gypsy Baron) in Sydney. He has also performed with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Opera Australia.

    Daniel is a current Young Artist of Pacific Opera, having been involved with the program since 2019.

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    Laura Wachsmann

    Soprano

    Roles: John Sorel - The Consul | Alto II - Sāvitrī | Orfeo - Orfeo ed Euridice

    Laura is in her final year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she is completing a BMus Performance (Classical Voice) under the tutelage of Narelle Yeo.

    2019 marked Laura's operatic debut. She played 'Second Woman' in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (The Other Theatre Co.) and 'Coridon' in Handel's Acis and Galatea (Ensemble Polyphème). She was also a chorus member for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's semi-staged production of Britten's Peter Grimes, as well as Ravel's L’enfant et les sortilèges (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

    Laura made her debut with The Cooperative, where she played 'John Sorel' in a re-imagined production of Menotti's The Consul (The Cooperative). Early in 2020 she was a part of Pacific Opera's 'Pocket Opera' production of Die Zauberflöte as 2nd Sprite.

    Laura is extremely excited to be working with The Cooperative again this year and hopes to have a safe and flourishing year of performance.

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    Kate Wilmot

    Soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca | Bridesmaid - Le nozze di Figaro | Beppe - Pagliacci

    Kate Wilmot studied music in South Africa. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The University of the Witwatersrand. Kate was a principle artist for Spier Arts Trust/ Broomhill Opera Cape Town and Promusica Opera Roodeport, South Africa.

    Since relocating to Australia in 2009 Kate has sung as a guest artist for The Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation, Arts Bundanoon, Opera New England, The Southern Highlands Opera Appreciation Group and The Illawarra Choral Society performing Mozart’s Requiem (2012), Vivaldi’s Gloria (2013), Faure’s Requiem (2017) and then Vivaldi’s Gloria (2019) this time for the St George Chamber orchestra, South Hurstville conducted by Dr Anthony Clarke.

    Kate has been the recipient of the Doris Smith Memorial trophy for English Art Song (2010 Wollongong Eisteddfod), the Mary Jane Cordery Memorial Award for Lieder (2014 Wollongong Eisteddfod) and the Regional winner of the Opera Section of the Wollongong Eisteddfod (2014).

    Roles for Rockdale Opera Company include Juno, Orpheus in the Underworld (2016); Ludmilla, The Bartered Bride (2016); Fiametta, The Gondoliers (2017) and Alms Sister, Suor Angelica (2017). Kate has also been a principle for Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney where she performed the role of Rose Maybud in their 2018 production of Ruddigore. In 2018 Kate was a Guest artist for the opening of the 12th Eutick Memorial Still Life Award at the contemporary Artspace in Wollongong. In July 2019, Kate was one of 16 singers selected to participate in the 2019 MIFLAS Art song festival where she was a participant in the masterclasses and concerts given by Graham Johnson OBE in Melbourne. Kate is a member of Pacific Opera’s Adjunct singer’s programme. Before the onset of covid Kate successfully auditioned as an extra chorus member for Opera Australia and was also contracted to sing the South African anthem at the Tri nations rugby tournament for the Springboks three games. Unfortunately due to covid they pulled out of the tournament. At the beginning of 2021, Kate performed with 4 other members of Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney in a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera favourites concert which was performed in Gloucester and modified and performed in Sydney, she was a Soloist at Rockdale Opera’s Roll over Corona concert and a member of the ensemble in The Cooperative’s production of Tosca.

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    Elias Wilson

    Tenor

    Roles: Satyavān - Sāvitrī

    Elias Wilson is an emerging tenor with experience in opera, chamber and sacred music, and recently completed a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

    In 2021 Elias made debuts with Pinchgut Opera in Cavalli’s The Loves of Apollo & Dafne, conducted by Erin Helyard, and with NIDA as Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Kate Gaul. Elias also appeared as Madame de la Haltière (adapted for Tenor) in a film of Massenet’s Cendrillon (Sydney Con Opera), and as Satyavān in Gustav Holst’s Sāvitri (The Co-Operative).

    During his studies Elias was a recipient of the Donald Lionel Egerton Scholarship, and twice the recipient of the Helpmann Family Fellowship. In 2019 Elias travelled to Hangzhou, China, supported by a Vice Chancellor’s Mobility Scholarship, and performed excerpts by Puccini and Bernstein at a Zhejiang Conservatorium voice recital.

    Elias is a 2022 Ensemble Artist with The Song Company, and sings for the choirs of St James King Street and Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney. He has recorded for ABC Classic under the direction of Tamara-Anna Cislowska as part of Luminescence Chamber Singers, and has performed as a consort singer in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne under the batons of Roland Peelman, Antony Pitts, Paul Stanhope and Carl Crossin.

    Elias has previously performed as La Rainette in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges (Sydney Con Opera), and in the choruses of Verdi’s La Traviata, and Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, directed by George Torbay for Opera New England.

    Elias is supported by the Harold Blair Opera Scholarship as a 2022 Artist with the Melba Opera Trust.

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    Marcus Wong

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca

    Having previously sung and performed with the Sydney University Musical Society and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir Marcus is thrilled to be making their operatic debut with The Cooperative in this production of Tosca. Marcus has also performed with the Sydney University Education and Social Work Revue, and is very excited about returning to the stage. 

    This year, Marcus plans to continue to pursue their own musical development through further lessons and performance opportunities, following a small break during the pandemic.

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    Noriko Yamanaka

    Mezzo-soprano

    Roles: Chorus - Tosca | Chorus - Le nozze di Figaro

    Noriko’s first stage appearance was when she had a queen role of Pantomime in Rapunzel! Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale with Rockdale Musical Society in 2015. She then joined the chorus for Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, and has performed in the chorus for the Rockdale Opera Company since 2016. Noriko appeared as circus troupe and dancer in The Bartered Bride and performed as a dancer in The Gypsy Baron with The Rockdale Opera Company. She is a member of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and enjoys performing with the SSO and world-renowned conductors. She is also a violinist with the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

    Noriko is passionate about performing on the stage.

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    Alexander Young

    Tenor

    Roles: Basilio - Le nozze di Figaro

    Sydney tenor Alexander Young holds a Bachelor of Classical Voice from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is currently undergoing his Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) under the tutelage of Maree Ryan AM. Alexander made his operatic debut in 2017 in Cavalli’s La Calisto produced by the Conservatorium Opera School, followed by a chorus role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In December of 2021, Alexander performed the role of Francis Flute in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In December of 2018, Alexander made his Tasmanian debut as tenor soloist in Messe de minuit pour Noël by Charpentier with the Argyle Orchestra. Alexander has also featured as the tenor soloist in Handel’s The Messiah with the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Ecumenical Choir, and will be performing as the tenor soloist in the Town Hall Messiah later this year. Alexander has had the opportunity to work several times with the Sydney Conservatorium Early Music Ensemble, acting as tenor soloist for Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Bach’s Cantata BWV166 conducted by Paul Stanhope, and in a concert of Handel operatic repertoire conducted by Erin Helyard. Alexander is thrilled to be performing the role of Basilio in his first production with The Cooperative, and greatly anticipates returning with the company for productions later in the year after his time spent performing the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Prague Summer Nights Festival this July.

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    Orfeo ed Euridice

    An opera in three acts

     

    Music by

    Christoph Willibald Gluck

     

    Libretto by

    Ranieri de' Calzabigi

     

     

    "What will I do? Where will I go? ...

    There is no more hope, on earth or in heaven."

     

    Since time began, we have tried to make sense of life, of death, of how we experience grief and loss. It is an eternal question; something we are desperate to understand, yet ironically can never really answer.

    Unfolding as a fantasy on grief, Gluck and Calzabigi's 1762 opera Orfeo ed Euridice draws upon a "myth" which finds an equivalent in every place and time. In 2021, its voice is as pertinent as ever.

     

     

    Orfeo ed Euridice

     

    Music - Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Libretto - Ranieri de' Calzabigi

     

    Music Director - Edwin Spark

    Director - Menila Moineaux
     

    Orfeo - Laura Wachsmann

    Euridice (Amore) - Alison Paris

     

    Chorus:

    Sarah Cherlin

    Tarryn Frappell

    Ava Madon

    Katrina Noela

    Joanna Swadling

    Michael Burden

    Ella Coddington

    Cassandra Doyle

    Alexandra Nixon

    Martin Everett

    Paul McLeod

    Matthew Avery

    Andrew Pennycuick

     

    This production was generously supported by the City of Sydney.

     

     

     

  • Create With Us

    This callout has closed, but we welcome submissions throughout the year. Email us: thecooperativesydney@gmail.com

     

    The Cooperative

    Audition Callout – 2023 Season

     

    The Cooperative is delighted to open SINGER AUDITION SUBMISSIONS, and

    expressions of interest from MUSIC and CREATIVE TEAM, INSTRUMENTALISTS, and PRODUCTION TEAM for our 2023 season.

     

    We invite submissions from artists at all levels of experience, and especially

    encourage artists otherwise underrepresented in opera. Roles are on offer for all

    voice types and fachs, and we welcome non-traditional and inclusive casting.

     

    In 2023 we are planning a varied program of live performance in line with our Covid-

    Safe policy and relevant regulations. We immensely value the safety and security of

    all our artists and will continue to work with current health advice in rehearsals and performances.

     

    In this audition round, we will seek to fill remaining roles in our rescheduled productions of

     

    Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)

     

    The Turn of the Screw (Britten)

     

    We will also seek to cast all roles in new production/s within the 2023 season, as well as chorus positions where relevant.

     

    Please note that at this stage involvement in our productions is unpaid. We are

    seeking funding to offer artists a small honorarium, but please proceed on the basis that these projects are unpaid for all involved.

     

    Please send your submission to thecooperativesydney@gmail.com by end of day

     

    Friday 30th December 2022.

     

    Following your initial submission, you may be asked to attend a live callback in early

    January. This request will be made if we need to hear you in person - please note

    that not receiving a callback invitation does not mean that your audition has been unsuccessful.

     

     

    About The Cooperative:

     

    The Cooperative combines our dual passions for opera and for social justice.

    Our auditions are open to all.

    Onstage, we aim to explore political and socially relevant ideas.

    We are committed to making opera accessible: audience entry is on a pay-as-you-feel basis.

    We believe that opera should benefit the world around us.

    All profits from productions are donated to causes connected to the ideas explored onstage.

     

    Submission requirements for performers:

     

    • A current CV / bio.

     

    • Two video recordings: one in English, and one in another language.

     

    • At least one piece must be an opera aria, and one should be from the 20th or 21st century (this can be the same piece).

     

    We are looking for strong actors as well as musicians, so please select works that also showcase your dramatic skills.

     

    Please upload your audition videos to a platform (such as youtube, google drive,

    drop box, vimeo etc.) and email us the links (along with any password / access details needed to view if applicable).

     

    We fully empathise with the unique challenges that video auditions pose!

    As long as we can clearly hear your voice and see you, we’re very happy to accept

    anything from a home smartphone recording through to professional videos.

     

    Submission requirements for Creative and Music team:

     

    Please contact us with an initial EOI, portfolio or links to previous work (if available),

    and CV/bio, and we will be in touch to organise a virtual discussion.

     

    Submission requirements for instrumentalists:

     

    Please contact us with an EOI and a brief CV/bio.

     

    Submission requirements for Production team:

     

    Please contact us with an EOI, including any areas of production you’d like to be involved in.

     

     

    All submissions should be sent to thecooperativesydney@gmail.com by end of day Friday 30th December 2022.

     

     

    If you have any queries at all, please feel free to contact us any time.

    We look forward to hearing you soon!

     

    Download our audition callout here

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