2017 Concert Series Messiah | Page 11

Operatic roles include Madame Larina: Eugene Onegin (Days Bay); Medora: Il corsaro (New Zealand School of Music); Orlofsky: Die Fledermaus (Opera Factory); Rusalka: Rusalka (Canterbury Opera Youth adaptation); and Witch I: Dido and Aeneas (Canterbury Opera Youth). She is also an experienced chorus member with New Zealand Opera, recently touring the country in their production of Sweeney Todd; an accomplished actor, notably performing the roles of Ophelia and Emilia; composer (1st place in the New Zealand Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Music Composition Competition); and has considerable experience as a conductor, musical director and private singing teacher. On the concert platform, Elisabeth has been the soloist for works which include: Handel’s Messiah; Haydn’s Paukenmesse; Bach’s B Minor Mass; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Donizetti’s Messa Di Requiem ; Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Opus 125; the Mozart Requiem ; and Vaughan William’s Mass in G . Likened to the ‘great ones’ such as Kathleen Ferrier, “Elisabeth’s tremendously rich voice, within which she moves with consummate ease throughout her substantial vocal range,” has been widely recognised on the competition circuit. In July 2016, Elisabeth was awarded First Place in the Dame Malvina Major Aria competition in Christchurch, and in 2014 Elisabeth received the ‘Runner Up’ Award for the Dame Malvina Major Aria in Wellington. Additionally, Elisabeth was a 2016 finalist for the New Zealand Aria Competition in Rotorua. This year, in addition to singing in the chorus of New Zealand Opera’s production of Carmen, and their concert version of The Damnation of Faust , Elisabeth will be engaged in further solo oratorio work with the Palmerston North Choral Society, the Kapiti Chorale, and the Auckland Choral Society, and is performing the role of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro for the Eternity Opera Company in Wellington. Elisabeth is a recipient of a Dame Malvina Major Canterbury Arts Excellence Award and she wishes to gratefully acknowledge the significant support of the Foundation for its role nurturing her vocal career. Robert Macfarlane tenor Robert Macfarlane studied at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide and subsequently at the Hochschule für Musik, Leipzig ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy’ with Prof. Dr. Jeanette Favaro-Reuter, as recipient of the prestigious Thomas Elder Overseas Scholarship. He undertook extensive study of the Baroque repertoire with tenor Howard Crook and has also studied and performed with world-renowned accompanist Malcolm Martineau. Robert Macfarlane was the winner of the Adelaide Critic’s Circle award for best individual performance in 2012 (Bach- St. John Passion ), a finalist in the 11