Nathan Lay
Baritone Nathan Lay began his vocal training with Peter Mander. He gained his Bachelor of Music at Melba Conservatorium of Music in 2008 and won the Robert Salzer Scholarship three times.
In 2009, he was accepted for study at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London but, on the award of the Gertrude Johnson Scholarship, decided to attend The Opera Studio in Melbourne in 2010. He won other awards in that year and was semi-finalist in the Herald Sun Aria.
In 2011, Nathan was awarded a Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust scholarship and has returned to The Opera Studio on the Acclaim Awards/Hon. John Harber-Phillips Fellowship.
Angela Brun
Angela completed an Advanced Diploma of Opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2008 and then played the title role in Rossini’s Cinderella of Opera Australia’s touring OzOpera Schools in 2009. She has participated successfully in several competitions and received numerous prizes and grants.
She specializes in coloratura repertoire. Having won the Opera foundation Vienna State Opera award, Angela sang with the Vienna State Opera in early 2011. She will work with Opera Australia and Pacific Opera and, in October 2011, will perform in Jesi, Italy, as part of her prize as winner of the Italian Fellowship Award.
Jacqueline Porter
Jacqueline Porter holds an Honours degree in Music Performance and a Bachelor of Arts (Italian) from the University of Melbourne. She is a principal artist with Victorian Opera and appears regularly as a soloist with the major orchestras and chorales in Australia.
Jacqueline was the recipient of the 2010 Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust Scholarship and was equal runner-up in the 2009 Herald Sun Aria. She was the winner of the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir 2008 Singer of the Year competition and the 2007 Australian Youth Aria. Jacqueline was runner-up in the 2007 National Liederfest, where she has twice received the prize for ‘Best diction and understanding of the German language’.
Jacqueline made her debut with Sydney Symphony to great acclaim with the Thomaner Chor, Leipzig in Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 and was subsequently invited by Maestro Ashkenazy to sing Prokofiev’s The Ugly Duckling with the Sydney Symphony, which was recorded for international release. Jacqueline was nominated for a 2009 ABC Limelight Magazine Award for Best Newcomer and her performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, ASO in Vienna, was the 2009 New Year’s Eve broadcast on ABC Classic FM.
Further engagements include Symphony under the Stars with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the MSO conducted by Maestro Ashkenazy and Brahms’ German Requiem with MSO Chorus.
Fiona Jopson
In 2009 Fiona graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance (Repertoire) from the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2010 she was the recipient of the Amelia Joscelyne Memorial Scholarship through the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust.
Fiona was a Semi Finalist in the Herald Sun Aria (2010), Runner-up in the Welsh Male Choir Singer of the Year Competition (2010), Finalist in the Armstead Singing Award, Quarter Finalist in the McDonalds Aria (2010), Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Award Finalist (2010), Winner of the Robert Salzer Vocal Championship (2010), Warrnambool Aria Finalist (2010), Semi Finalist in the Herald Sun Aria competition (2009), Finalist in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Vocal Scholarship (2009) and Runner-Up in the Robert Salzer Vocal Championship (2009) at Boroondara Eisteddfod.
Sophie Yelland
Sophie Yelland completed a Bachelor of Music Performance (Honours) in Voice at the Victorian College of the Arts and Music (Melbourne University). She also completed a Bachelor of Music (Cello) at Adelaide University.
Sophie was the recipient of the Recipient of Harold Fisher Opera Scholarship B’nai B’rith Victoria in 2009, the Murray Ormond Vagg Singing Scholarship for 2008 and has performed the role of Pamina in a concert version of Die Zauberflöte with the VCA Symphony Orchestra. In 2008 she played the title role in Schumann’s Der Rose Pilgerfarht in a broadcast performance with Phillip Mayers. Last year she took part in a production of Dido and Aeneas with the Lyric Opera of Melbourne and also a production of Hansel and Gretel in the role of Hansel with The Opera School.
Having completed her studies at the Opera Studio, Melbourne, in 2011 Sophie has been engaged to play the role of Hansel for OzOpera’s Schools Company production of Hansel and Gretel. Sophie will also appear in several Victorian Opera productions.
Stephanie Gibson
A graduate of The University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Stephanie Gibson is a well established coloratura soprano. A recipient of The Dame Nellie Melba Reserve Scholarship from the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust in 2010, Stephanie has been a 2010 Herald Sun Aria Finalist and Liederfest finalist. Currently studying her Masters of Music Performance, Stephanie has worked with some of Melbourne’s premiere musicians and directors including Dr David Kram, Mr Cameron Menzies, Mr David McSkimming and frequently performs with friend and artist Siobhan Stagg.
Stephanie is the 2011 inaugural awardee of the Bruce Doery Memorial Scholarship from Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria.