Profound moment for young soprano

(posted 13.11.09)

A borrowed dream has brought the dreams of Sunshine Coast opera singer Kathleen Parker to life.

The Peregian Springs soprano and former Matthew Flinders Anglican College student will grace the most famous of all the stages on the international scene at Cologne, after winning the Opera Foundation Australia’s 2009 Audi German Opera Scholarship.

Ms Parker believes her performance of a song of Richard Wagner’s heroine in Lohengrin on Sunday, November 8, sealed her fate.

“We performed a song of our choice and then we gave the adjudicators a selection of songs to choose,” she said.

“I was so thrilled when the adjudicator read out Elsa’s Dream (Einsam in truban Tagen) for me.

“As a young singer, there needs to be a right quality of voice and height and stature to perform that music right. It was probably then that I knew the prize was within reach.”

Ms Parker said the scholarship would finally launch her far away from the “emerging performer” tag that has followed her for the past two years at Perth.

She said she hopes the international attention of 12 months on the stage at Cologne, Germany, will put her on a path similar to that of previous scholarship winner and Covent Garden soloist Anita Watson.

“There is such a professional difference between Australian and European opera. It is more valued and appreciated in Europe,” Ms Parker said.

“This is a profound moment of having arrived after working extremely hard for 10 years.”

Ms Parker returned home for one last performance at the Peregian Springs Club on November 20 before she headed overseas to begin her scholarship.

She will spend the next eight months travelling and auditioning before her scholarship work commences in August next year.

There will be some home comforts she will miss, Ms Parker said.

“You can’t beat this Australian climate.”

story by Nikkii Joyce, Sunshine Coast Daily

Sunshine Coast Daily story

Noosa Style story (Dec-March 2010)

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