Testimonials
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“It was my great
pleasure to be part of last year's successful Finals Concert and I look
forward to once again conducting Sydney Symphony for the 2006 Concert. I
wholeheartedly support the Australian Singing Competition in its
longstanding generosity to young singers struggling in an extremely
competitive field. The prizes bestowed by the Competition provide
invaluable opportunities for gifted young Australians. The Marianne
Mathy Scholarship offers a wonderful launching pad for young
classical singers in Australia."
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Maestro Richard
Bonynge
Biography
“I believe it is crucial
to the Australian and International musical communities that we ensure the
next generation of gifted classical singers have the appropriate
opportunities to develop their talents. For this reason, I was honoured
to be the National Adjudicator for the 2005 Australian Singing Competition's
Mathy Awards. To observe the young singers as they approached the various
stages of the Competition, and to guide them towards success was an enormous
pleasure. There are great rewards in imparting one's knowledge and
experience, especially in the bestowing of scholarships and prizes to
deserving talent."
Glenn Winslade
Biography
Past Winners
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"The Marianne Mathy
Scholarship gave me the confidence, the recognition, and the financial
means to take my career to a far higher level. Without the help of the
Australian Singing Competition and its many scholarships and prizes
Australia would be far poorer
artistically."
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Jason Barry-Smith
Biography
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"As a 19 year old finalist
in the inaugural Mathy competition, it brought me to immediate National
attention, and with my subsequent win the following year, the Mathy
Award provided me with the funds and contacts to launch my career
nationally and since internationally. I would wholeheartedly support the
endeavours of the Mathy in identifying young outstanding Australian
talent and nurturing it to full fruition."
- Jeffrey
Black
Biography
“I really wouldn't have
got to this place in my career without this tremendous support from the
Australian Singing Competition."
Rachelle Durkin
Biography
“The Australian Singing
Competition gives young Australian opera singers a unique opportunity to
showcase their talents on the stage and gain invaluable exposure to experts
in the field of opera. In my case, I was very fortunate to be ‘discovered’
and offered work for Opera Australia.
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The Australian Singing
Competition has set me on the path to an international singing career,
giving me the financial resources to study overseas with some of the best
singing teachers and coaches. The experience overseas opened my eyes to
international standards and inspired me to work harder to improve. I am so grateful to the
ASC for giving me the resources to travel, study overseas and be heard
by the Australian public. After all, what is a voice without the opportunity
to be heard? Winning the Mathy when I
was 23 years old was one of the highlights of my career to date. It was very
fortunate that Moffatt Oxenbould was adjudicating the competition and
offered me a contract with the Australian Opera. I will always be grateful
to the ASC for helping to establish my opera career and was very proud to be
nominated by Opera Australia for the Opera Awards in 1996. Designed to help
singers who are already forging a career in the opera, the award gave me
the opportunity to further my studies overseas."
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Amelia
Farrugia
Biography
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“As the
winner of the Marianne Mathy Scholarship, The Australian Singing
Competition fortified my courage in the pursuit of a
professional operatic career by giving me the financial stability to study
with world class teachers and conductors, thus helping to develop my full
artistic potential. I sincerely support the continuation of the ASC's
marvellous contribution in helping young Australian singers achieve their
goals."
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Fiona Janes
Biography
"I sincerely hope that the sponsors of the
Australian Singing
Competition are
aware of how far-reaching are their actions. From my personal point of view
their support was essential in gaining the necessary overseas training and
experience without which it is impossible to launch an international
career".
Alexandra Sherman
Biography
"Without question the
Australian Singing Competition's Mathy & Opera Awards is in no small
part responsible for setting me upon my current career path.
The opportunities that I
was afforded by the ASC, for example: Funding to audition for (and
ultimately be accepted into) one of the most prestigious Institutions for
the study of Opera singing in the world would not have been and could not
have been undertaken without the invaluable assistance that the ASC
provides.
Quite apart from the
obvious huge financial requirements that the study of singing and related
skills (languages, stage-craft, acting etc.) that the ASC is able to assist
with (when no assistance more often that not means that the study simply
cannot be undertaken!), in my own personal example, the ASC Mathy Award was
in fact the catalyst that impelled me to devote myself to this career. I am
quite sure that without the ASC Scholarship I would never have made the
career choice I subsequently made.
The many years of vocal
training, study of languages, learning of repertoire is an arduous and
expensive process, one that without the ASC and its supporters would
probably be beyond the means of the young Australian singers that rely on
its support, not only today, but in the past and more importantly, into the
future.
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I commend to you the ASC
Mathy and Opera Awards, and fervently hope that it will be able, through the
generous support of sponsors and other benefactors, to continue to provide
an incomparable “head-start” for generations of young Australian talent."
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Stuart Skelton
Biography
