None but the Lonely Heart

fortyfivedownstairs recital blurb:

Melbourne-born Greek-Cypriot Australian soprano, Christiana Aloneftis, is coming home to perform with one of Australia’s finest collaborative pianists, David Barnard, an eclectic and exciting program of Debussy, Donizetti, Verdi, Rimsky-korsakov, Dvořák, Rachmaninoff and much more.

Currently based in Paris, the young soprano has been described by Joyce DiDonato (The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall) as having ‘an exceptionally warm, expressive soprano voice…. She performs with poise and graceful, nuanced phrasing’.

None but the Lonely Heart, is a fundraising concert to enable the young soprano to undertake the final stages of her artistic training in Munich with Bavarian State Opera professionals and to kickstart her formal auditioning tour in Europe. The concert will feature Victorian Opera Artists, Stephen Marsh (baritone) and Tomas Dalton (tenor).

PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES: fortyfivedownstairs RECITAL

Christiana Aloneftis (Soprano Lirico)

Recent graduate (full-scholarship) of the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot Paris, young Greek-Cypriot Australian soprano has performed a variety of roles including Musetta (Connecticut Lyric Opera/ 2016 Greve Opera Festival), Zerlina, Susanna, Despina (EMA 2016 and The North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) and most recently Annina with Opera Classica Europa (2017). In 2017, she was the youngest finalist in the Australian Opera Awards, made her US debut as the soprano soloist for Bach’s  BWV 32 with The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and was awarded the Acclaim Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to support her studies. In 2018, she will sing  the leading principal role, Tsarevna, (Kashchey the Immortal – Rimsky-korsakov) at the Melbourne Recital Centre, create her own recital for the prestigious Pharos Arts Foundation in Cyprus and undertake intensive coaching with Bavarian State Opera professionals in Munich.

David Barnard (Collaborative Pianist)

David has collaborated with many high-profiled singers and instrumentalists including Lesley Garrett CBE, Sarah Fox and members of the London Symphony Orchestra.  David was invited to Buckingham Palace in October 2011 as a ‘Significant Australian living and working in the UK’. David was based in the UK for 13 years and returned to Australia in 2013 as he was appointed Head of Music for the State Opera of South Australia. He is now based in Melbourne and is an active casual staff member of the University of Melbourne (MCM) and Monash University. David is a 2015 50th Anniversary Churchill Fellow. www.barnard.live

Stephen Marsh (Guest Performer – Baritone)

Stephen made his professional debut in Victorian Opera’s Sleeping Beauty in 2017 and was a developing artist for the company for the second half of the year, performing in a regional tour of Hansel and Gretel, Heroes and Villains (a gala concert) and the Snow Queen (Gordon Kerry’s commissioned work). Other companies he has performed with are Melbourne Opera, Melbourne Lyric Opera and Shoestring Opera Company. He has been the recipient of multiple scholarships including the Barbara Pigdon Memorial, the Betty Amsden AO Scholarship ‘Opera Scholar of the Year’ for the Australian Music Events 2016/17 season and the John Duncan scholarship.

Tomas Dalton (Guest Performer – Tenor)

Tenor Tomas Dalton completed his voice studies at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and also holds an AMusA in piano. Tomas has recently returned from three months of study in Italy as an Acclaim Awards Italian Opera Fellow. 2017 operatic highlights included the roles of The Villager in Respighi’s The Sleeping Beauty (Victorian Opera), The Notary in Bellini’s La Sonnambula (Victorian Opera), Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Opera Australia, Victorian Schools tour). Tomas has also been a finalist in several competitions, including the Opera Foundation for Young Australians: Deutsche Oper Berlin Award, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria, and for the German Australian Opera Grant. In 2018 Tomas returns to Victorian Opera as The Witch in their production Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel. Stonnington Classics marks Tomas’s debut in the role of Pinkerton.

• Ticket Prices:

Full: $38,

Concession: $33,

Concessions:

Pensioners/Full-time students/MEAA members

NO BOOKING FEE SURCHARGE

Purchase tickets at: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/wp2016/event/none-lonely-heart/

• This event is proudly under the auspices of Agora Dialogue and GCMV.