Since 1982 MOST® has administered the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. MOST has provided opportunities for career development by offering within this Competition awards, scholarships, prizes, and education and performance opportunities for Australasian singers under the age of 26.
The IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition is recognised as one of the longest-running events of its kind, offering a range of scholarships, prizes, career and network opportunities, which also make the competition one of the richest in terms of financial and career opportunities available to opera and classical singers in Australasia.
Though many prizes and career opportunities now make up the Competition, the Marianne Mathy Scholarship remains the premier award in the Competition. The recipient of ‘The Mathy’ receives the Marianne Mathy Scholarship plus a selected suite of valuable cash prizes and opportunities.
Thousands of young singers from Australia and New Zealand have participated in the Competition and have had the benefit of being interviewed and heard by eminent professionals from the Australian and international singing and music fraternity. Many Competition participants have gone on to pursue successful careers in Australia and overseas.
The IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition evolved from the Marianne Mathy Scholarship, established through a bequest made by Marianne Mathy-Frisdane, a coloratura soprano opera singer and distinguished teacher of opera and classical singing. The Competition is now well into its third decade discovering, rewarding and providing career opportunities to emerging Australasian opera and classical singers under the age of twenty-six.
The Competition consists of a number of components and processes, including Heats, Semi-Finals and Finals. More recently a MasterClass and selected Workshops have been added.