OPERA IN PARADISE - Biographies
OPERATIF!
Since formation in 1994, OPERATIF! has given Queenslanders of all tastes, ages and budgets a wide variety of wonderful experiences of Opera, Operetta and Song. OPERATIF! as a full-time, self-started enterprise is unique. Proudly based in Queensland it provides regular work opportunities for many fine local artists.
For the corporate world OPERATIF! has performed for tens of thousands of overseas visitors, convention and conference delegates and VIP guests at functions such as the Premier's "Queenslander of the Year" Awards, the opening of the Conrad Treasury Casino and Hotel, and the Queensland Tourism Awards.
In addition to concerts, OPERATIF! has produced and staged intimate operas for events such as the Brisbane Festival and in venues including the Cremorne and QUT Theatres, Brisbane. All have received wide critical acclaim and the last of these, Madam Butterfly, received standing ovations. This production commanded a return season, at the Suncorp Theatre in October 1998. Over 2000 people attended.
No strangers to outdoor concerts, OPERATIF! has performed at many such special events, including Opera in Noosa Amphitheatre, Opera in the Outback at Undara, Opera in Buderim Forest and Music Beneath the Stars, Ormiston House. OPERATIF! was invited to perform on board The Norwegian Star, when this luxury cruise ship made its inaugural voyage to Australia. In 2005 OPERATIF! performed at an inaugural event "Opera in the Ruins" on Norfolk Island .Since then the event has grown each year to now become a major event on the outdoor opera calendar in the South Pacific. The six 2008 events were totally sold out. In 2009 OPERATIF! took over the management and marketing of the Opera Festival, renaming it OPERA in Paradise. 2012 sales are already strong and other OPERA in Paradise Festivals in other exotic locations will be announced soon. OPERATIF! has recently expanded their musical travel with a hosted tour to Italy in 2012. HEAR OPERATIF
Jennifer Parish - Soprano
Born and educated in Melbourne, Jennifer studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, before beginning her professional career with Victoria State Opera.
As a young company member, Jennifer worked with visiting vocal coaches and at the invitation of David Harper, went to London and subsequently Germany for intensive periods of study.
Australia was always home however and Jennifer returned to settle in Brisbane where she sang with Opera Queensland, Queensland Symphony and Queensland Pops Orchestra. Realising that work opportunities for professional opera singers were scant, in 1994 she launched OPERATIF! onto the Brisbane music scene via a concert with colleagues at Old Government House. The popularity and demands of what quickly grew into a full-time company have occupied much of Jennifer’s time ever since.
In OPERATIF! productions, Jennifer received wide acclaim in the taxing role of Magda Sorrel in Menotti's "The Consul" for the 1996 Brisbane Festival and in 1997 shone as Puccini's tragic heroine, Madam Butterfly, in a specially devised production sung in English, first in 1997 for the 4MBS Festival and reprised in 1998 for a major season in the Suncorp Theatre.
Despite much acclaim for the small-scale operas OPERATIF! produced, necessary Arts funding was elusive and the decision was taken to concentrate on concerts,festivals and special events, teaming with other talented colleagues to take the glory of Opera and Song to broad and diverse audiences in S E Queensland and beyond. HEAR JENNIFER
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Stewart Cameron - Baritone
Stewart Cameron was born in Auckland, New Zealand where he gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Italian Literature and Language before winning his country's biggest opera competition, the N.Z. Herald Aria. At just 17, he was moved into the then National Opera of NZ Chorus and then offered small roles and major understudies.
Granted a scholarship to the Opera School at the N.S.W. Conservatorium of Music he moved to Sydney and studied under the direction of Myer Fredman, learning more than a dozen major baritone roles and taking leads in operas including "La Clemenza di Tito" and "Pelleas and Melisande".
After graduating, Stewart moved to London to study with renowned vocal coach David Harper. He also studied repertoire in Cologne with the internationally renowned conductor, Simone Young. Whilst overseas Stewart performed regularly on the opera and concert stage, including taking the title role in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro for the Cornwall Festival and London season
Now based in Brisbane, Stewart performed the role of Papageno in The Magic Flute for Wellington City Opera (NZ) and has appeared as a soloist with all of Queensland’s major professional orchestras and also with OPERATIF! and Opera Queensland. When time permits he is a soloist on the concert stage. As an accomplished linguist and versatile performer,
he is equally at home in the realm of oratorio, German lieder, French melodie and English art songs and ballads.
Stewart performed the role of John Sorrel in the highly acclaimed production of ‘The Consul’ for the Brisbane Festival.The following year he sang the role of Consul Sharpless, in Madam Butterfly, a production devised by OPERATIF! for a local Festival and later reprised the following year for a mainstream ( and sold-out ) season at Suncorp Theatre. Recently he was the featured soloist in The Best of British with The Queensland Pops Orchestra at the Concert Hall.
Currently, Stewart concentrates much of his energy on the business development of, and performing with, OPERATIF! in the company’s busy annual calendar of concerts and special events. Whilst continuing a busy performance career, he also runs a successful teaching studio in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast and is director of Voices of Angels.
READ ABOUT STEWART'S OPERATIC ROLES
HEAR STEWART
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John Woods- Pianist/Accompanist
JOHN WOODS was born in Stirling, Scotland. After studying piano and bassoon at The Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama he was awarded scholarships from The Scottish Arts Council and The Ralph Vaughan Williams
Trust to specialise in piano accompaniment at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He has since worked at
the R.N.C.M. and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In 1992 he joined the staff of The Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University as an accompanist and vocal coach, preparing many of its operas, including the
Australian premiere of Britten's "Billy Budd", as part of the 1993 Brisbane Biennial Festival.
Engagements have taken him throughout Great Britain, Europe and Australia, accompanying singers and instrumentalists
on the concert platform and in radio and television broadcasts. He has worked with some of the finest singers of the
present generation including Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Simon Keenlyside and in particular, Jane Eaglen. In
Australia he has appeared in concert with Lisa Gasteen, Jeffrey Black. Joanna Cole and Rosario la Spina.
He has accompanied master classes given by several distinguished singers including Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame
Janet Baker, Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Sir Peter Pears and Luigi Alva, whom he has also accompanied in recital.
As Musical Associate for Granada Television, John Woods has credits on a wide range of arts and drama programmes
which include "The Dame Joan Hammond Masterclasses", "Coronation Street", "Sherlock Holmes" and "Lost Empires"
- the eight-hour serialisation of the J.B. Priestley novel in which he worked with the late Sir Laurence Olivier.
GUEST PERFORMERS
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Max Olding and Pamela Page
Maxwell Charles Olding AM was born on 4 July 1929. His career has embraced conducting symphonic, choral, operatic and theatre works as well as teaching, administration and as organist and choirmaster. In 1950, at age 21, he was appointed an Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) Examiner. He won the Commonwealth final of the 1952 ABC’s Concerto Competition.
He began his tertiary teaching career at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. He was an adjudicator at the 1952 City of Sydney Eisteddfod and has since adjudicated at most of Australia’s major music competitions, has chaired many of them and has acted as external examiner for higher degrees at the Universities of Melbourne, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, Southern Queensland and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Read full biography
Pamela Harcourt Page was born on 4 April 1934. She won an Empire Overseas Scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London, where she was awarded the Maude Seton Prize for the most outstanding student. She later performed on BBC radio and television and gave solo and concerto performances in London and the English counties. She was subsequently accepted into Walter Gieseking’s master class in Saarbrücken.
Back in Australia, she provided the close-up scenes of the pianist's hands in Wherever She Goes, a 1953 biographical film about Eileen Joyce (whose character was otherwise played by Suzanne Parrett). She gave many concerto performances in all capital cities, recitals on ABC radio, live TV appearances and also hosted a TV children’s show. Later she was appointed as Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Music, University of Queensland. She is also a painter.
Max Olding and Pamela Page have one son, the violinist Dene Olding.
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Benjamin Fifita Makisi - Tenor
Benjamin is a Tenor of Samoan and Tongan Descent who has been affectionately dubbed the ‘Polynesian Pavarotti’ because if his stature, stage presence and his strong, pure voice.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand and also a Master of Performance (Opera) from University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has won many awards and International competitions including Australia’s prestigious Sydney McDonald’s Aria Competition in 2002.
Benjamin has appeared in many musicals and has sung lead roles for both Opera New Zealand and Opera Australia.
He has performed for HRH Prince Charles at the Aotea Center, Auckland and has sung for many dignitaries including former Prime Minister of NZ Hon. Helen Clarke, former Prime Minister of Australia Hon. John Howard, HRH King Ta’ufahau of Tonga and at the funeral of the late Sir Edmund Hillary.
Benjamin continues to pursue his goal of working as an International Opera singer and hopes to inspire under-privileged children and to combine his operatic abilities with his Pacific Heritage music, to encourage the importance of being a Pacific Islander through his cultural identity. Benjamin has been a guest artist with OPERATIF! on several occasions and is featured on their latest CD, Serenade. HEAR BENJAMIN
READ MORE ABOUT BENJAMIN
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Spiros Rantos - violin
Spiros studied in Athens, Vienna and USA and taught in major music institutions in both Vienna and Graz. He has performed and recorded in most of the musical centres of the world including two years of successful seasons at the Musicverein and the Vienna Concert Hall.
In 1976 he visited Australia for a six-month Artists-in-Residence program at the (then) Victorian College of the Arts and so enjoyed their time that he decided to stay here! From 1978 to 1985 he taught at the University of Southern Queensland. He then spent a decade in Melbourne before settling in Brisbane where he was a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland.
His playing combines Viennese finesse with Mediterranean temperament.....central European refinement with Southern charm and warmth. This gives a special magic to his performances.
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Deborah Rogers - mezzo-soprano
Originally from Brisbane, Deborah graduated with Honours in Music from the University of Southern Queensland in 2005, as a recipient of the Special Achievement in Music Award. Since then, she has completed an Advanced Diploma in Performing Arts, a Graduate Diploma in Music (Performance) at the WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and in 2010, a Masters in Music (Performance). Deborah has performed as one of six national finalists in the prestigious Opera Foundation Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship and in 2011, was a recipient of the Australian Voice Assocation’s Student Encouragement Award for her commitment and passion to vocal study, teaching and performance.
Her role credits include Elizabeth Proctor in the Australian Premiere of Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize winning Opera, “The Crucible” (2008: WAAPA), Madame de Croissy in “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (2009: WAAPA), Kitty Vaughan in “The Last Maharajah” (2010: Eastman Group), Sister Chantelle in “Bare: A Pop Opera” (2009: for the Perth Pride Festival). She has also performed as a member of the West Australian Opera Chorus in Peter Grimes (2010), Carmen(2010), The Mikado(2010), Cavelleria Rusticana(2010) and I Pagliacci (2010). On the concert platform, Deborah has appeared as a support artist to Michael Buble (Perth leg: 2008 Australian Concerts), artist for “Opera in the Vineyard” (2011) and “Sunset Opera”(2011), current member of the Seven Sopranos – Sirens of Song (2011) and a soloist with the West Australian Charity Orchestra raising funds for the Perth Children’s Hospital (2008-2009).
Deborah is a 2011 Young Artist with Opera Queensland. Her engagements with the company include understudy of the role of Dorabella in “Cosi fan Tutte” and her role and company debut as Flora in “La Traviata” for the Brisbane Festival’s, Opera at the Racecourse. 2012 will see Deborah returning to Opera Queensland to commence a second year with the Young Artist Program. She will also be understudying the roles of Peep Bo in “The Mikado” and Mercedes in “Carmen”.