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Month of Masterclasses
24 May - 14 June 2025
The Street Theatre
In line with our commitment to invest in local talent, we are excited to launch our Month of Masterclasses! Across May & June, we will host a variety of sessions with experienced professionals sharing their knowledge on key skills relevant to performers at all levels. Whether you started singing this year, or are an experienced singer with multiple roles under your belt, we encourage you to apply as a chance to build your skills.
Details about each of the sessions are below. Interested singers should apply using the form at the bottom of the page.
Participant applications have now closed.
Masterclass Details
APPLICATIONS HAVE CLOSED
Join us for National Opera's Auditions Masterclass, run by Sarah Mann, designed for aspiring performers looking to refine their audition skills! Whether you're preparing for a university program, a production, or a competition, this immersive workshop offers expert guidance in all aspects of preparing for an audition. Participants will receive personalized feedback on their performance, tips for overcoming performance anxiety, and strategies for making a lasting impression.
Each masterclass session will begin as a mock audition, with participants being expected to present themselves as they would in an audition.
Singers should be prepared to perform an aria or art song - preferably one they expect to use in auditions later in the year.
APPLICATIONS HAVE CLOSED
National Opera is putting the call out to any musical theatre singer who is interested in giving opera a go! With this session run by Dianna Nixon, singers will work through multiple pieces in different genres to compare the vocal techniques used, and diversify their skillset as a performer.
These days singers and voice coaches have a much broader and deeper understanding of the need for genre diversity. This can be applied to the dedicated amateur, auditioning for and performing in locally based community productions and pro-am activity, and even more so to the aspiring or established professional.
Within opera there are areas of specialisation, and not all singers will move outside that chosen focus, but there are outstanding examples of singers who have moved between worlds - Kristen Chenoweth, Bryn Terfel, Barbara Hannigan, Audra McDonald, and Anthony Warlow come to mind.
In music theatre, genres are as diverse as they have ever been. We recently held an audition workshop, and one of the guest presenters made clear that an aspiring professional music theatre performer needs to be as well versed in contemporary voice styles (including rock, pop, rap, country, blue grass and much more) as they are in more traditional vocal territory with the great American songbook, and classic musicals from earlier eras, or which reference those earlier eras.
In contemporary operas there are often requirements to move into vocal genres outside the traditional opera ‘sound’, and I imagine this will only increase over time as the art form continues evolving.
Singers attending this workshop should bring 2 contrasting songs – one more ‘classical’ work (art song, aria, hymn, OR a folk song if you have none of those) and the other bring from music theatre OR a contemporary song. We’ll also do some ensemble singing – a short excerpt from an opera, and a short music theatre ensemble piece – to explore what is common to both, and where there are differences. We’ll do the ensemble work first, so you will be well-warmed up for the 2nd half of the workshop where singers will be exploring their solo items in a masterclass format. The workshop is also suitable for teachers and observers (e.g. theatre directors and music directors).
Join us for the National Opera Male Voices Masterclass, run by Don Christopher, an opportunity tailored specifically for male singers looking to enhance their vocal techniques and performance skills!
Don Christopher (formally Bemrose) is a Gunggari man and Australia’s foremost male Aboriginal Classical opera singer. Don graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance in 2011 from the Victorian College of Arts, University of Melbourne and fulfilled his childhood dream of a contract with Opera Australia in 2012.
Since his first public performances as a high schooler in the early 1990s, Don recognised his unique path was to take his passion for classical music and the operatic voice and infuse it with his strong Gunggari heritage and positive thinking to educate, inspire and entertain. It is his commitment to his community that has led Don to be chosen to sing lead in many world premieres celebrating and sharing Indigenous and Australian stories, most recently, Yalpatja (Barton, 2025) with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble.
Other career highlights include Pecan Summer (Cheetham-Fraillon, 2010) for Short Black Opera Company; From a Black Sky (France, 2013) for The Street Theatre; Cloudstreet (Palmer, 2016) for State Opera of South Australia; Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace (Cheetham-Fraillon, 2017-2022) a Short Black Opera work for orchestra and choir in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia and Parrwang Lifts the Sky (Cheetham-Fraillon, 2022) for Short Black Opera and Victorian Opera.
Much of Don’s success can be attributed to an amazing extended family who have educated him culturally, spiritually, and emotionally, creating a ferocious curiosity to explore this amazing planet and connect with all there is. Indeed, it was Don’s incredible Gunggari grandmother, Nana Ruth Hegarty, a fine church soprano in her day that introduced Don to Australia’s first professionally trained opera singer and tenor Harold Blair who inspired within Don a passion for singing and skill of the classical voice. In 2023, Don was humbled to be on stage at the Dame Joan Sutherland Theatre as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Sydney Opera House to commemorate the musical legacy of Harold Blair alongside his daughter Nerida Blair, and Wakka Wakka Soprano, Nina Korbe.
Don is also a published writer, appearing in the anthology, Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia receiving particular acclaim for his contribution, an epistolary memoir entitled 'Dear Australia' which is "a powerful piece, beautifully written that will give the reader goosebumps as Don shares commentary of his many achievements and challenges."
Singers will be required to submit an aria or art song to participate in the masterclass, which will be worked through with Don to improve both the individual piece and your broader vocal technique.
Our open voices masterclass, run with National Opera Artistic Director Sonia Anfiloff, is open for anyone singing opera or art song to come along and improve their vocal technique and performance skills.
Recently appointed as Artistic Director of National Opera- Canberra, Sonia Anfiloff has many years of performing, teaching, coaching, and programming experience. Sonia completed a Master of Music at The Australian National University, majoring in voice performance, where she was the recipient of the last Kornfeld Scholarship. During her time there, the ANU School of Music was prolific in producing operas and Sonia was fortunate to perform in at least one a year, with 3 major roles in her Masters year: Sly in the world premiere of Grimm and the Blue Crown Owl, written by Joshua McHugh, Minna in Rautavaara’s Gift of the Magi for the Canberra International Music Festival, and Dido in the joint production of Dido and Aeneas with The Street Theatre.
Sonia’s performing career to date has been filled with travel, roles, competitions, recitals, requiems, opera tours, concerts, masterclasses, teaching, coaching, conducting, mentoring, and continued learning. Although Sonia continues to learn for her own vocal abilities, it’s her need to learn and listen continually, to be equipped with the best advice and teaching for her singers. Sonia’s passion is to give singers, and anyone wanting to sing, the tools and confidence to know they are in control of their voices.
Sonia loves performing, not for herself, but to share beautiful, compelling music, and to connect with a broader community of musicians and concert goers, with joy, tears, laughs, warmth, fun, and musical hugs.
Singers should be prepared to perform one aria or art song as a part of this audition.