From time to time Petah will post items of interest here. Details of appearances by pupils both past and present. Anything she thinks newsworthy, or may be of benefit to her pupils.
James Homann is now Principal Baritone with the Stadtstheater Heidelberg.
Young Erin Healey scooped the under 10s singing pool in the 2013 Brisbane Eisteddfod.
Congratulations to Yvette and Delilah for achieving High Distinctions in the recent AMEB exams. Yvette Keong was also spectacularly successful in the recent City of Sydney Eisteddfod.
My two talented tenors are doing very well. James Gander with his eisteddfod successes and his forthcoming appearance as Jesus in the production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Sone Lele with the Western Opera Group and will be going solo for their Christmas gig at the Opera House.
Jessica Czerner has had a great year with the Australian Girls Choir and her regular jazz gigs. She along with her father, George have scored some spots in the 2014 Tamworth Country Music Festival.
While on the subject of Tamworth, country singer extrodinaire Brad Marks has blitzed the talent quests this year and will appear at the Tamworth Music Festival. Brad also has regular pub and club gigs.
Jessica Walls has left for Germany to continue her vocal studies on the road to stardom. Good Luck Jessica
Juniors Yvette Keong and Alex Grzesik are both doing very well; Yvette on the Eisteddfod front while Alex has followed on from her successes in past Eisteddfods with even more success in the Club Talent Quest Circuit.
Opera Australia tenor, Martin Buckingham makes his debut as a Principal Singer with the Company when he sings "Rudolpho" in the season's final performances of La Boheme. Martin is just back from concert appearances in China with the Company. He is currently appearing as "The Duke" in Oz Opera's production of Rigletto.
Busy boy.
Promising tenor, Levi Gardner has just scored the principal role of "Max" in Chatswood Musical Society's forthcoming production of Rent... quite a coup against stiff competition.
James Gander has just finished a season with the Rockdale Municipal Opera Company as the leading man, "Strephon", in their highly successful production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe in which he looked incredibly handsome and sang divinely.
Liz Cousemacher Sydney Cabaret chick is now a featured Jazz Singer at the Venetian Casino in Macao.
Elizabeth Cousemacher managed to land herself an extra Chrissie present. With just three days to go she decided to enter herself into the Sydney Cabaret Showcase. Not content with just winning her heat, she then went on to win the final at The Basement, with the judges congratulating her on her excellent choice of songs (Petah take a bow).
This the second time one of Petahs student's has won this award. Luv Ya Liz, Nice one!
Among her fabulous prizes is a trip to Adelaide to appear in the Cabaret Fest. For those who would have liked to have seen Liz in action; if you haven't booked already, you're too late. Her show was the first to be completely booked out.
Wow Liz, you really are that good!
Congratulations to Jessica Walls who has been accepted into the Ensemble for Pacific Opera's forthcoming production of Hansel and Gretel.
Jess has also managed to attract lots of engagements for Christmas; Parties and Weddings. Busy Girl!
Martin Buckingham has done well in reaching the semi-finals of the the 2010 German-Australian Opera Grant sponsored by the German-Australian Community and Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. The semi-finals are held on Friday 13th November, with the finals on Saturday 14th November in Melbourne's Federation Square.
Marty will be appearing as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème in 2010, details to come.
Julia Philipson is auditioning for Wicked in London.
James Gander has been accepted into the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Symphony Chorus and loving every moment of it. The choirs are rehearsing for their double offering of Stravinsky to showcase at the 2010 Sydney Festival music program. They will be presenting both Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on January 28–30.
James, smile for a camera and bring the result to Petah so it can go in here →.
James Homann if not already a busy young man he certainly will be in 2010. James is currently studying at the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and is a regular guest in Staatsoper productions. In 2010 James will appear in the following productions as:
- The Imperial Commissioner in Puccini's Madame Butterfly
- The Captain of the Crossbowmen in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra with Plácido Domingo as Simon Boccanegra
- Zaretsky in Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin
- Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca
- The First Nazarene in Strauss' Salome
- Moralès in Bizet's Carmen
Details of James' appearances are available from his James' Staatsoper webpage (dead link).
Jessica Walls plans to take a break in August 2010 to go overseas and take part in the prestigious Lotte Lehmann summer school.
Jess now has her own website up and running and for lovers of fine music she has recorded a couple of songs for the site so have your ears on when you visit. Her special style and stunning presence is also available to brighten up any special event you may be planning; details are on her site which can be found at www.jessicawalls.com.au (dead link).
Elizabeth Cousemacher has just finished starring in City of Angels and Miss Saigon to great public and critical acclaim. Liz is now a fully fledged music teacher in her own right. A photo would be nice to put in here too, please Liz.
Martin Buckingham reached the final of the Opera Australia's "The Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program." Competition between the eight finalists was fierce and while Marty was very good, he unfortunately failed to finish in the top three.
Your first major role is always hard, but when when it is the title role in Tosca and you have had just three rehearsals, then it is doubly hard. Yet that is what Jessica Walls has just accomplished. She articulated clearly, her platform demeanour was exemplary, she acted well, and she looked fabulous. If she is this good now, just imagine to what heights she will rise to in the future.
Jess will be appearing as Tosca for the Sydney Lyric Opera's 2009/2010 season. Performances will be at the Independent Theatre, North Sydney, at dates to be announced on the SLO's website, with tickets priced at $30 each.
It is a pity the SLO had not publicised this event more. Their objective is to present a 'barebones' performance of several well known operas at a price many people who would not normally attend a full scale performance can afford. Reviews of the performances are similarly lacking, which is sad as it fails to give the performers some feedback on how they went.
The beautiful, smart, witty, but apparently morally bankrupt Meagan Caratti* is appearing in the hit musical "MORALLY BANKRUPT" at the Sound Lounge on Thursday May 14 & 21 at 8.15pm. The venue is the Seymour Centre, cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale 2008. Tickets are all $25,and you can buy them online from the Seymour Centre or through the Seymour Centre Box Office on (02) 9351 7940.
Don't forget: "MORALLY BANKRUPT" at the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale 2008, at 8.15pm on Thursday May 14 and again on Thursday May 21.
Rush in for your tickets NOW;
*The whole thing was Meg's idea, she devised the show, then starred in it's opening season in Melbourne, gaining high praise like "Cleverly funny... Caratti bedazzled us: Cabaret Hotline"
Literally within minutes of arriving in London, our very own Julia Philipson submitted a program to the "A Little Night Music" concert series. She says they liked her program and called her in to audition. After what seemed like a gruelling program she was told they would get in touch within the week.
Not having packed any laurels, Jules then auditioned for the role of The British Woman in "Turkish Delight the Opera." She writes:-
"They did the first round before lunch, then they did callbacks and said they were going to cast it on the day! So i got asked for a callback, then they kept a few of us back to workshop some of the pieces from the show, then i finally left at 6:30pm (got there at 10am!) They said that they couldnt possibly cast it as everyone was so good. Which they were.
Got the call yesterday and i got it!!"
Staged by the London based theatrical initiative "A STAGE KINDLY" sound recordings of the show can be heard at www.turkishdelighttheopera.com (dead link). These are from an earlier presentation of the show; hopefully Julia's version will soon be the one available on the site.
And hopefully Julia will also be appearing in the "A Little Night Music" concert series.
....On yuh Jules!
Meanwhile... back in the Bong...................!!!!!?
Please look in ocassionally for any updates.
If you think something should be posted here, please Contact Petah
You may also visit Petah's blog at: The Singer and the Song