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The Herald Sun Aria, formerly known as The Sun Aria (because it was sponsored by ''
Three of the most famous winners of the Aria competition are Wagnerian soprano
The Sun News-Pictorial
''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with '' The Herald'' to form the '' Herald-Sun''.
''The Sun News-Pictorial'' was p ...
'') is a vocal competition for emerging opera singers held in Victoria, Australia, each year. The competition offers nearly $60,000 in cash prizes.
The competition forms the aria section of the Royal South Street Eisteddfod
Not to be confused with the historical Ballarat Welsh Eisteddfods.
The Royal South Street Eisteddfod, also known as The Grand National Eisteddfod of Australasia, is held annually in Ballarat, Australia and is administered by the Royal South Street ...
, Australia's oldest and largest eisteddfod.
Three of the most famous winners of the Aria competition are Wagnerian soprano Marjorie Lawrence
Marjorie Florence Lawrence Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (17 February 190713 January 1979) was an Australian dramatic soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first Metropolitan ...
(1928) and Dames Malvina Major
Dame Malvina Lorraine Major (born 28 January 1943) is a New Zealand opera soprano.
Early life and family
Major was born in Hamilton on 28 January 1943, the daughter of Vincent and Eva Major. She grew up in a large musical family, and as a chil ...
(1964) and Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...
in 1965. Others include June Bronhill
June Mary Bronhill (26 June 192924 January 2005), also known as June Gough, was an Australian coloratura soprano opera singer, performer and actress,
She was well known for light opera, operetta and musical theatre in London West End theatr ...
(1950), Jonathan Summers
Jonathan Summers (born 2 October 1946) is an Australian operatic baritone who has mainly worked in the United Kingdom. He sang the role of Captain Balstrode in the 1980 recording of Benjamin Britten's ''Peter Grimes'' which won a Grammy Award fo ...
(1973), Judith Henley
Judith Henley is an Australian soprano opera singer. Biography
In 1981 she played Violetta in the Victorian State Opera's production of Verdi's '' La traviata'', then reprised her role in the Australian Opera's production in December 1985, in ...
(1976), Suzanne Ward
Suzanne may refer to:
People
* Suzanne (given name), a feminine given name (including a list of people with the name)
* S. U. Zanne, pen name of August Vandekerkhove (1838–1923), Belgian writer and inventor
* Suzanne, pen name of Renée Ménde ...
(1984), Linda Thompson
Linda Diane Thompson (born May 23, 1950) is an American songwriter, former actress and beauty pageant winner.
Thompson began her acting career as a " Hee Haw Honey" on the American television variety show ''Hee Haw''. She was also a girlfrien ...
(1990), Rachelle Durkin
Rachel (, Modern: , Tiberian: , ), meaning " ewe", is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, popularized by the biblical figure Rachel, the wife of Israelite patriarch Jacob.
History of usage
Ashkenazi Jewish matronymic surnames Rokhlin (vari ...
(2000), and Nicole Car (2007).
The heats (generally two) of the competition are held annually in September at Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, and the final is held at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre Melbourne
Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...
in early November. Finalists are accompanied by Orchestra Victoria
Orchestra Victoria is a full-time salaried orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia, and wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Ballet. Founded in 1969, the orchestra is now a principal performance partner for the Australian Ballet, Opera Austra ...
, conducted by Maestro Richard Divall
Richard Sydney Divall (9 September 1945 – 15 January 2017) was an Australian conductor and musicologist.
Born in Sydney, and after leaving Manly Boys High School, Divall joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a music producer in th ...
AO, OBE.
The competition has a panel of three adjudicators, and Richard Divall has been a panel member since 2001. The other adjudicators in 2014 were Roxane Hislop and Tiffany Speight.
Contestants, who are aged 32 years or under, are required to submit four aria
In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
titles from grand opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...
prior to the competition, and choose one of these to sing in the heat.
Sixteen semi-finalists are selected from those singing in the heats to appear on the evening following the second heat, again at Her Majesty's Theatre and sing another aria, this time chosen from their list by the panel of adjudicators.
Five finalists are then chosen to compete in the final at Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Hamer Hall, formerly the Melbourne Concert Hall, is an Australian concert hall. The 2,466-seat hall, the largest indoor venue at the Arts Centre Melbourne, is mostly used for orchestral and contemporary music performances. It was designed by Ro ...
.
Other Sun Arias
Sun Aria (Geelong)
Comunn-na-Feinne'' is a Scots Gaelic association, founded in Geelong in 1856 The ''Sun-Pictorial'' sponsored an Aria Prize in conjunction with Geelong's festival in 1925 and subsequently. The last contest was in 1933. Notable winners includeMarjorie Lawrence
Marjorie Florence Lawrence Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (17 February 190713 January 1979) was an Australian dramatic soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first Metropolitan ...
in 1928.
Sun Aria (Bendigo)
The newspaper offered similar prizes for the Bendigo musical, literary, and elocutionary competitions held in May 1925 and every year thereafter to 1936. Results 1925–1930 have not been found.Sun Aria (City of Sydney)
The newspaper offered two prizes each year from 1933 to 1941, there was none held 1942–1945 and a single prize thereafter. It became a section of theSydney Eisteddfod
Sydney Eisteddfod is an independent, community-based, not-for-profit organisation in Sydney, Australia. It aims to promote the performing arts through competitions and public performances.
About
The Sydney Eisteddfod is an annual musical compet ...
in 1949.
Notable prizewinners include Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s to the 1980s.
She possessed a voice ...
in 1949 and June Gough, better known as June Bronhill
June Mary Bronhill (26 June 192924 January 2005), also known as June Gough, was an Australian coloratura soprano opera singer, performer and actress,
She was well known for light opera, operetta and musical theatre in London West End theatr ...
, in 1950.
See also
*List of Sun Aria winners
The Sun Aria singing contest began in 1924 as a new segment of the annual contests conducted since 1891 by the South Street Society of Ballarat, Victoria. The prize, initially of 23 guineas, was for "an aria from Grand Opera, to be sung in English" ...
*Shell Aria
The Shell Aria, originally Shell Open Aria, contest was an Australian vocal competition for young classical opera singers, held annually in Canberra from 1955 to 1986, named for and sponsored by, Shell Australia in conjunction with the Australia ...
, a similar contest
*South Street Society
The South Street Society was an organisation based in Ballarat, Victoria, which conducted a series of performing arts contests and concerts originally styled the "South Street Competitions", which developed into the "Grand National Eisteddfod", l ...
, historically important
*Mobil Quest The Mobil Quest was an Australian competition for operatic vocalists which ran from 1949 to 1957, sponsored by the Vacuum Oil Company and broadcast by Melbourne radio station 3DB and relayed to affiliates throughout Australia. It is remembered with ...
References
{{reflist Music competitions in Australia Ballarat Sun Aria Opera competitions Recurring events established in 1924