Rossini Petite Messe solennelle

After studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Tasmanian soprano Sharon Prero became a Young Artist with Opera Queensland. During this time, she was a National Finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards and appeared as soprano soloist in Les Illuminations with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She was a finalist in the German Operatic Awards and the Metropolitan Opera Awards and the winner of the Dame Mabel Brookes Fellowship.

Her major operatic appearances for Opera Australia have included: Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Musetta in La bohème, Gutrune in Die Götterdämmerung, Micaela in Carmen. Juliette in Die tote Stadt, Nella in Gianni Schicchi and High Priestess in Aida.

Sharon has sung Marguerite in Faust for Opera Queensland; Mimi in La bohème and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance for Victoria State Opera; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Pamina in The Magic Flute for State Opera of South Australia; and Carlotta in the The Phantom of the Opera for Cameron Mackintosh and Really Useful Group.

Concert engagements include Mahler's Symphony No. 2 and Vaughan-Williams' Sea Symphony with the Queensland Symphony, Handel's Messiah and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tasmanian Symphony – and performances of Vaughan-Williams Sinfonia Antarctica, Louis Andriesson’s De Staadt and the World Premiere of John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music.

Sharon was a guest artist for Puccini Festival Australia in Le donne di Puccini. International appearances have included Nella in Gianni Schicchi (Macau International Music Festival) and concerts in Noumea and Jakarta for the Conservatoire de Musique de la Nouvelle- Caledonie and the Indonesian Opera Society. In 2020, she sang Siegrune in Die Walküre at The Esplanade, Singapore.

Recordings include soprano soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Opera Australia/TSO) released by ABC Classics and a DVD release of The Pirates of Penzance with Victoria State Opera.

At age 12 Jennifer Marten-Smith was invited to study piano with Professor Gediga-Glombitza at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany.

At age 16 she made her public debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Schumann’s A minor Piano Concerto, having previously recorded the Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto with this orchestra. Two years later she again performed with the TSO, playing Rubinstein Piano Concerto No 4. That same year, Jennifer was the youngest graduate of the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music, where she was awarded a high distinction as a double major in piano performance and accompaniment.

Other concertos in her repertoire include works by Beethoven, Brahms, Dohnányi, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky, and she has appeared as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover.

Jennifer has performed as solo pianist throughout Australia and Europe and was a member of chamber groups Trio Médard (Germany) and The Kettering Piano Quartet (Australia).

In 1989 she began work as a repetiteur with the State Opera of South Australia, after which she joined the Victorian State Opera Young Artist Programme. From 1997 to 2001 she was a full-time member of the music staff at the Staatsoper Hannover, Germany, subsequently working as music staff at Opera Australia for the next 11 years, before returning to her beloved city of Hobart.

Jennifer is in demand as a soloist, accompanist, teacher, vocal coach and chamber musician.

Australian/German mezzo soprano Cassandra Seidemann has featured extensively on both stage and screen. She is a favourite with audiences having sung throughout Australia, Asia and New Zealand. 2019/2020 highlights included Rossweisse in the Singapore premiere of Die Walküre, appearances in Opera Queensland’s productions of A Flow’ring Tree, Tosca and Orfeo and concert appearances in Ausralia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In 2022, she sang Bradamante in National Opera’s production of Alcina.

In 2017, she was soloist for Opera Under the Stars in Broome, Western Australia and in Handel’s Messiah for Christchurch City Choir; she also appeared in The Pearl Fishers and Ruddigore for Opera Queensland. Cassandra returned to Opera Queensland in 2018 as Olga in Graeme Murphy’s new production of The Merry Widow and starred in a Chinese New Year gala concert at the Sydney Opera House.

Cassandra graduated with honours from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Music (Opera Performance). There she performed the title role in Dido and Aeneas as well as Hansel in Hansel & Gretel.

She then joined Opera Queensland as part of the Young Artist Program appearing as 2nd Bridesmaid in The Marriage of Figaro and understudying Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. Her affiliation with Opera Queensland has continued to the present day performing and covering the roles of Wowkle in La fanciulla del West, Countessa Ceprano in Rigoletto, Flora in La traviata and Kate Pinkerton and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly.

Other operatic highlights include the title role in Carmen with the Sydney Philharmonia and appearing in concert with Jeff Mills, Derrick May and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

On screen, she has been featured in the Lord Mayor's Carols in the City, numerous television commercials, was a featured artist at the Carols in the Domain 2015 to 2020 and, most recently, played the role of Mary in the short film Jade.

Cassandra's musical theatre appearances include Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Ernest, Tessa in The Gondoliers and Laurey in Oklahoma! On the concert stage, she has taken the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass in A Major, Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass.

Cassandra was a grant recipient of The Joan Sutherland Society, a finalist in the Opera Foundation Australia German Opera Scholarship and a finalist in the Opera Foundation Australia Lady Fairfax Scholarship.

Michael Power completed a Bachelor of Music in Performance with Dr Gian-Franco Ricci and Helen English at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, during which time he was awarded the Nan Price Memorial Scholarship, and graduated with Honours in chamber music and collaborative piano studies with Gabriella Pusner.

Michael has collaborated with artists such Sally Walker, Andy Firth and Jane Edwards, and performed newly commissioned works by Australian composers including Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Jarman, Don Kay, and Jim Coyle. He held the position of School Accompanist and Teacher of Piano at Newcastle Grammar School for 14 years, touring as pianist to the USA and China, and held a similar position at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music.

Since moving to Hobart with his husband and their son in early 2020, Michael has performed as orchestral and rehearsal pianist with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and in the Festival of Voices. He performs regularly as a collaborative pianist in recital, examinations, and competitions in and around Hobart.

Image credit: Graziano Di Martino

Australian-American tenor Nick Seidenman has performed extensively in opera and concerts both here and in the US. His operatic roles include Nemorino (Elisir D'Amore), Rodolfo (La Boheme), Count Almaviva (Barbiere di Seviglia), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and many others. He is a regularly-featured tenor soloist in works such as Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, and Handel's Messiah. Nick lives in regional Victoria near Bendigo.

Image credit: Glenn Stephenson

Gabrielle Cayoun is a classically-trained pianist and piano tutor who works in a variety of styles, with focus on collaborative piano. Under the tutelage of Dr Arabella Teniswood-Harvey, she was awarded a Conservatorium of Music Scholarship at the University of Tasmania and graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. She is a twice-recipient of the Royal Over-Seas League Piano Award (2020 & 2021) and was a semi-finalist of the 2021 Ossa Music Prize as member of the improvisational ensemble Silikill.

A graduate of the Melba Conservatorium of Music, Samuel Dundas’ performance experience encompasses opera, musical theatre and concert performances. He has sung in concert throughout Australia and New Zealand, including with the Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Major role debuts will be a feature of Samuel Dundas’ year as he performs Wolfram (Tannhäuser) for Opera Australia, the Count (Capriccio) for Victorian Opera, and Donner (Das Rheingold) for Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also returns to both the TSO and WASO for Faure’s Requiem, to West Australian Opera for Marcello (La Boheme) and appears in the opening concert of Perth Festival, Music of the Spheres. Samuel will finish his year by creating the title role in Richard Mills’ new opera, Galileo.

In recent seasons Samuel has appeared in the role of Aphron in The Golden Cockerel for Adelaide Festival, as Marcello and the title role (Voss) for State Opera South Australia, (Marcello also for Opera Australia) Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and Mozart‘s Requiem for Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana for Festival of Voices, Hobart and Adelaide Symphony, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, for Victorian Opera, and given recitals, The Wanderer’s Life, in Burnie and for the Ten Days on the Island Festival, for Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and in the Chamber Landscapes series at Ukaria for Adelaide Festival.

Samuel joined Opera Australia as a member of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist program and subsequently became a principal artist with the company, where his many roles include Marcello (La Boheme), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Papageno and Priest (The Magic Flute), Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Silvio (Pagliacci), Marquis (La Traviata), Prosdocimo (Il turco in Italia), Yamadori (Madama Butterfly), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Ceprano (Rigoletto), Pish Tush (The Mikado), Morales (Carmen), Gaoler (Tosca), Sid (Albert Herring), Fiorello, Ambrogio and Notary as well as covering Figaro (The Barber of Seville), Doctor/Inquisitor/Judge/Stanislaus (Candide), Handsome (La Fanciulla del West), Cascada (The Merry Widow) and Starveling (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). He has also taken the title role in Opera Australia’s Regional Tour of Don Giovanni and the roles of the High Priest, Politician and The Reporter in Sydney Opera House: The Opera, celebrating Opera Australia’s 60th Anniversary Season on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

Further opera engagements include the title role in a new opera Ned Kelly (Styles) commissioned by Lost & Found Opera and Perth Festival; Dancairo and Morales in Carmen for State Opera South Australia; Count Carl Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music for Victorian Opera; Papageno (The Magic Flute) for New Zealand Opera; Marcello (La Bohème) for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour; Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) and Valentin (Faust) for West Australian Opera; Marcello in Hanoi, Vietnam and Morales and Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) in concert performances with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

After making his operatic debut with Opera Queensland in 2005, Samuel went on to become a member of Victorian Opera’s Artist Development program. Roles he has performed with Victorian Opera include the title role in Don Giovanni, Papageno (The Magic Flute), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Harasta (The Cunning Little Vixen), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Belcore, Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Second Soldier (The Love of the Nightingale), Creon/The Messenger (Oedipus Rex) and Chief Clerk (Metamorphosis), as well as Schaunard in the Puccini: The Sacred and Profane Gala concert.

Further concert engagements have included Fauré Requiem with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Carmina Burana with the Adelaide and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Fauré Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Brahms Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Opera Under The Stars, Broome, and the inaugural concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.

In 2013 Samuel won the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship and in 2014 was the proud recipient of the inaugural Dame Heather Begg Award.

Image credit: David Noles