Alastair Jackson International Opera Award

The Alastair Jackson International Opera Award (formerly Australian International Opera Award) is one of the most coveted opera awards in Australia.

Valued at over $180,000 AUD the Award offers a singer of outstanding quality and promise the opportunity to complete their operatic studies at one of the world’s leading institutions, the Royal College of Music (RCM) Opera Studio, London. The Award is open to citizens of Australia and New Zealand, and provides a full-tuition scholarship, plus travel and living expenses allowance, to complete the two-year postgraduate Artist Diploma in Opera – the highest level of postgraduate study.

Management of the Alastair Jackson International Opera Award transitioned to Melba Opera Trust in 2023, and it will continue in perpetuity thanks to the extraordinary generosity of philanthropist Dr Alastair Jackson AM.

ANNOUNCING THE 2025 ALASTAIR JACKSON INTERNATIONAL OPERA AWARD RECIPIENT

Eden Shifroni, soprano

Eden Shifroni is quickly establishing herself as one of Australia’s leading young sopranos.

She holds a Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance) and a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In 2024 she was awarded the Marianne Mathy Scholarship at the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. She also received the JSRB Foundation Award at the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award Finals.

Operatic highlights include Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Vienna Summer Music Festival, Musetta in La bohème and Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica at the Mediterranean Opera Festival in Sicily and Poppea for the Sydney Conservatorium and NIDA’s Australian premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s re-orchestration of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea.

Eden created the role of Ada Crossley in the opera Percy by John Matthews and Margery Smith and originated the role of Jess in Track Works; a new site-specific pastiche opera at Sydney’s Mortuary Station.

Concert appearances include Vaughan-Williams’ Benedicte with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and Eric Zeisl’s Requiem Ebraico with the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Eden is the current recipient of the Dame Nellie Melba Scholarship, Patrick & Vivian Gordon Award and Ryman Healthcare Opera Scholarship with Melba Opera Trust.

In 2025 she will make her Pinchgut Opera debut in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. As the recipient of the 2025 Alastair Jackson International Opera Award, Eden will relocate to London in September to commence an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music.