Linnhe Robertson has worked extensively in major opera houses and music centres throughout the world as a vocal coach, repetiteur, accompanist, chorus master and harpsichordist. Her professional career began on the music staff of the Australian Opera. Then, after a further period of study in Germany, Linnhe remained in Europe working at the Bayreuth International Wagner Festival And as an accompanist in recitals in Germany. With her relocation to Great Britain, Linnhe shifted music direction and pursued a high profile career as a harpsichordist throughout the U.K. and Europe. She performed and recorded extensively with chamber orchestras & ensembles such as, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and English Baroque Soloists. She also made frequent returns to opera on the music staff of the English National Opera under the Music Directorship of Sir Mark Elder.

In 1989 Linnhe was invited to take up the position as Head of Music Staff and Director of the Young Artists’ Programme at the Victoria State Opera based in Melbourne, a position which continued with the merger in 1997 of that company and the Sydney-based national company which was renamed Opera Australia. Through the success of her work with the training and development of young opera singers, Linnhe was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1993, which she used for further research into world-wide training systems for young singers.

On her return to U.K. in 1999, Linnhe completed a Masters Degree in Arts Management at London City University. She was appointed Deputy Head of Vocal Studies and subsequently Head of Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London in 2001. She currently holds the position of Artistic and Research Consultant for Opera & Voice at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

In addition to her duties at the Guildhall School, Linnhe has an active career as collaborative pianist in concerts throughout UK and Europe; she is an adjudicator on the panels of many International Singing competitions and also works as Chorus Master for opera productions in Europe including the preparation in 2005 of the chorus for Trevor Nunne’s production of Peter Grimes at the Salzburg Festival and in Berlin with conductor Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic; Chorus Master for Aldeburgh Festival’s The Rake’s Progress and Peter Grimes; Chorus Master for performances of Cavalleria Rusticana in Italy, and for many concert performances with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under the baton of high profile world renowned conductors.

Yvonne Kenny is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation and has been the Chair of the Australian Music Foundation (UK) since 2014.

Born in Sydney, she went to London and made her operatic debut in 1975 in Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marzelline (Fidelio), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Liu (Turandot), Alcina , Aspasia (Mitridate) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni).

She has built herself an enviable international reputation as a dazzling interpreter of Handel’s soprano roles and has enjoyed particular success in the title roles in Semele and Alcina (Covent Garden, La Fenice, Venice and Opera de Nancy) Romilda in Xerxes for English National Opera (both in London and on tour to the USSR) and Bayerische Staatsoper, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Armida in Rinaldo for Opera Australia (winning a Green Room Award for the former) and the title role in Deborah at the BBC Promenade concerts (also recorded).

International appearances include the Wiener Staatsoper (Susanna, Cinna in Lucia Silla , the Countess in Capriccio and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier); La Scala, Milan (Pamina); Staatsoper, Berlin (Countess/Capriccio and the title role in La Didone); Opera de Paris (Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni); Hamburg (Oscar); English National Opera (Marschallin/Der Rosenkavalier and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen); Zurich and Glyndebourne (Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni) and her first Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for the Washington Opera which she has repeated at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. She returns frequently to Australia where she has sung Gilda (Rigoletto), Pamina, Susanna, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Cleopatra, Alice Ford (Falstaff) , The Governess (Turn of the Screw) Elle (La Voix Humaine) Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) Gräfi(Capriccio) Blanche (A Streetcar Named Desire) and the title toles in Maria Stuarda, Alcina, Massenet's Manon , Poppea ( L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Hannah Glawari (The Merry Widow).

Yvonne Kenny appeared regularly on the concert platform throughout Europe and North America and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, in Carnegie Hall and has been a regular guest at the BBC Promenade concerts. She also became the first artist to give an official performance at the newly reopened Royal Opera House (a recital in Floral Hall). More recent Australian concert engagements include Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Ross Edwards' Second Symphony with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, a gala concert with Bryn Terfel at the Leeuwin Estate Winery in Western Australia televised nationally on ABC and an Australian Tour with Musica Viva.

Yvonne now conducts Masterclasses and teaching. She has given masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, at the Oxenfoord Summer School and acclaimed Masterclasses based on Purcell’s Fairy Queen at the Britten/Pears Summer School in Aldeburgh, at the Samling Masterclasses and for the Jetta Parker Young Artists Programme at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

She became a Professor of Voice at the Guildhall School in 2007. Yvonne Kenny was made a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Music in 1989 and in 1999 was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Sydney.

www.yvonnekenny.com

Dr. Anke Hoeppner-Ryan holds a Master’s in Performance and Opera from the Hanns Eisler University of Music, Berlin, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2019).

With 40 years of experience as an opera singer, she has performed with Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera, and Opera Queensland, among others. Her repertoire includes the title roles in Turandot, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, Fidelio, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Jenufa, as well as roles such as Mimi (La Bohème), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), and Elvira (Don Giovanni).

A seasoned concert artist, she has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Melbourne and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Sydney Philharmonic Choir, and at the London International Song Festival. She has worked with conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Simone Young, Patrick Summers, and Johannes Fritzsch, and with renowned directors Harry Kupfer, Neil Armfield, Graeme Murphy, Christine Mielitz, Michael Gow, Lindy Hume, Stuart Maunder, Moffatt Oxenbould, Nigel Jamieson, and Andrew Sinclair.

Dr. Hoeppner-Ryan won the inaugural Helpmann Award for Madama Butterfly, 1st Prize in the Hanns Eisler Song Competition (Berlin), and the Bayreuth Scholarship. She is Discipline Advisor for Classical Voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Joanne Goodman has been a member of Opera Australia’s Artistic management team since 2006, guiding casting of performers and conductors for the company’s mainstage productions.

Before joining the management team of Opera Australia, Joanne had a rewarding performance career as a mezzo soprano with the Opera Australia Chorus, also performing and covering numerous principal roles including Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Sandman (Hansel and Gretel), Giovanna and Maddalena (Rigoletto), Emilia (Otello), Annina (La traviata) and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) to name a few. Joanne was also in high demand as a contemporary music specialist having been a founding member of the contemporary vocal ensemble Voiceworks.

Joanne’s formal qualifications include Bachelor of Music, Master of Music (Performance), and Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music; together with Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) from the University of Sydney, and Graduate Certificate of Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

As a principal soprano with Opera Australia, Natalie has performed Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, the title role in Manon, Konstanze & Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Musetta in La bohéme, Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Gilda in Rigoletto, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Oscar in Un ballo in Maschera, Morgana in Alcina, Eurydice & Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Casilda in The Gondoliers, Hero in The Love of the Nightingale and Bubba in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Mills). She has sung Königin der Nacht for the Volksoper in Vienna; Woglinde in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for State Opera South Australia; Adele in Die Fledermaus and the title role in Patience for West Australian Opera; Adina and Königin der Nacht for Opera Queensland as well as Gilda and Königin der Nacht for OzOpera National Tours.
Natalie is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (Bachelor of Music); the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (Master of Music) and the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (Master of Arts/Voice Pedagogy). She teaches at Firbank Grammar and is an Associate Teacher of Voice at Monash University.

Stephen Grant is Head of Voice at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and director of the vocal ensemble e21. His has performed with Europes best-known early music ensembles, performing widely and making over 30 CD recordings (for BMG, deutsche harmonia mundi, Harmonia Mundi France, Wergo & Arcana). His interest in both early and contemporary repertoire has led to premieres of works by Saariaho (Paris), Fritsch (Bonn), Staub (Köln, Göteborg & Saarbrücken), Cheetham (Marupna) and Thomson (Hobart). His work has led to festival performances in the Sydney & the Melbourne Festivals, and in Melbourne’s 2023 RISING Festival.

His passion for historical vocal performance led to his doctoral work on the music of the German composer Heinrich Schütz and he is currently working on a translation of a handbook for opera singers and directors with the German opera director Beverly Blankenship. He has taught voice workshops in Germany, Switzerland, Norway, the USA, Canada and Australia. His teaching incorporates a combination of perspectives through his work as a singer, conductor and Feldenkrais Practitioner, and he has been on staff at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music since 1999.

Australia’s most highly awarded soprano, Emma Matthews performs with all the Australian opera companies, orchestras and festivals, and is Head of Classical Voice and Opera Studies at West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth. She has won seven Helpmann Awards, nine Green Room Awards, the Remy Martin Australian Opera Award and Limelight Awards for Music Personality of the Year and Australian Artist of the Year.

Her repertoire includes the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Opera Australia); for Opera Australia: Lulu, Lakmé, Lucia di Lammermoor, Partenope, (title roles); Amina (La sonnambula), Philomele (The Love of the Nightingale), the four heroines (The Tales of Hoffmann), Violetta (La traviata), Fiorilla (The Turk in Italy), Gilda (Rigoletto), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Almirena (Rinaldo), Morgana (Alcina), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Marie (La fille du regiment), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Zwaantie (Batavia), Leila (The Pearlfishers), Rosina (The Barber of Seville). She returns to Opera Australia in 2025 as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

Other highlights have included Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo conducted by Yakov Kreizberg and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Ismene (Mitridate) for Sydney Festival.

Emma’s recordings include Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo (Deutsche Grammophon/ABC Classics), Mozart Arias and Agony and Ecstasy (ABC Classics) and Opera Australia productions of La traviata and Lakmé on DVD.

Nicole Youl, a previous winner of the ASC, has performed; the title role in Madama Butterfly (OA), Mimi in La bohème (OA, OQ, Guatemala), Tosca (OA, VSO), Liu in Turandot (OA), Giorgetta in Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (OA), Leonora in Il trovatore (WAO, OA), Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (OA), Elsa in Lohengrin (OA), Leonore in Fidelio (OA, SOSA), Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (OA, WAO), Micaela in Carmen (OA, OQ, WAO), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (VSO), First Lady in The Magic Flute (OA), Grimgerde in Die Walküre and Die Vertraute and Die Vierte Mägd in Elektra (Rome Opera).

In 2021 Nicole performed Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro (WAO) and La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica (FFO). In 2023 she sang in her first musical, Sondheim’s Into the Woods (WAO) playing Jack’s Mother.

In 2025 Nicole debuts the role of Azucena in Il Trovatore (WAO) under the baton of Asher Fisch.

Nicole currently teaches classical voice at WAAPA.

Gregory Massingham is one of Australia’s most experienced singers whose performances range across opera, oratorio and concert repertoire. Notably his performances as the Evangelist in the Bach Passions and his interpretation of the works of Benjamin Britten are highly regarded. He has appeared regularly with all the major orchestras and choral societies, performing under such distinguished conductors as Sir David Willcocks, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Schuller, Bruno Weil and Dame Jane Glover.

Mr Massingham has been a staff member at the Queensland Conservatorium for many years, serving as Head of Opera from 1995 until his retirement in 2014.

With a strong interest in new works, he has given the Australian premiere of works by composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, John Corigliano and Howard Blake. Most recently, he gave the first Australian performance of Brett Dean’s Winter Songs with the Melbourne Symphony Chamber Players and later at the Sydney Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet.

A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Leanne Kenneally made her Opera Debut as Pamina in 1996 with Opera Australia and as Donna Anna with Opera Queensland. She has since appeared with all the leading opera companies throughout Australia and was a member of the Cologne Opera in Germany (1999–2001). Leanne performed alongside all the major Australian Symphony Orchestras, Choirs and Australian International music festivals (including New Zealand and Bangkok).
Notable stage appearances include the title role of Lakmé, Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), Leïla (Les pêcheurs de perles), Philomele (Richard Mills 'The Love of the Nightingale '), Mimi (La bohème), Third Norn (Götterdämmerung), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Despina (Cosi).
Leanne’s concert schedule has included Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C, Handel (Messiah, Saul, Samson), Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Britten’s Les Illuminations Op. 18, Moya Henderson’s Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Mendelsson’s Elijah, Mahler’s Symphonies 2, 4, 8, Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Leanne can be heard in the role of Venus in Saint-Saëns’ Helene, released by Melba Recordings in 2008 and in a 2023 Navona records release Mythical Creatures with music by Paul Kopetz.

Performances this year include Mahler’s Rückert lieder with The Southern Cross soloists and Voxalis, Relic -The Australasian Dance Collective,  Carmina Burana - Queensland Choir, Global composer project Emocean 2 and in recital with Opera Queensland.