Menila Moineaux (she/her) is an early career Burmese-Australian opera director, currently based in Germany, where she is an assistant and staff director at Theater Münster in the 2023-2024 season. She is a 2022 graduate of the Verona Accademia per l’Opera Italiana, where she completed a Masters in Opera Directing (I^o livello) with results amongst the highest in her cohort, generously supported by the Rose Mandelbaum Travelling Scholarship. With a background in musicology and singing, she also holds a Bachelor of Music Studies with First Class Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied on full scholarship.

In the 2022-2023 season and alongside her studies, Menila worked on MASS (Bernstein) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (dir. Damiano Michieletto), Pagliacci at the Macerata Opera Festival (dir. Alessandro Talevi), Simon Boccanegra at the Festival Verdi - Teatro Regio di Parma (dir. Valentina Carrasco), La traviata at Dublin’s Bord Gais Energy Theatre (dir. Danilo Coppola), Stabat Mater (Pergolesi) at the Luglio Musicale Trapanese (dir. Danilo Coppola), and Dalinda (Donizetti – world premiere) with the Berliner Operngruppe (dir. Giulia Randazzo).

Founding The Cooperative in 2019 and combining lifelong passions for opera and social justice, Menila made her directorial debut with The Consul (Menotti) in 2020. In 2021, she directed Sāvitrī (Holst), Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck), Iphigénie en Tauride (Gluck) and Tosca at The Cooperative, and was scheduled to direct Le nozze di Figaro with The Cooperative and assist on the world premiere of Matthews’ Percy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In the upcoming season, Menila will revive and assist on a range of productions at Theater Münster and direct Pagliacci for The Cooperative. She was one of ten semi-finalists in the 2023 European Opera Directing Prize, and is a grateful recipient of grants from the Wagner Society of NSW and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Above all, Menila believe passionately in creating art that engages, benefits, and changes the world around us. Art is inherently political, and she invites her audiences into a space of public dreaming, from which they may re-emerge ready to confront and challenge issues in our wider society.

A director, writer and opera singer, Rebecca lives in Sydney with her husband and writing partner, Jasper, and her Staffy Kelpie Cross, Ripley.

In 2020, Rebecca co-wrote and directed a five-part comedy-adventure webseries, Tales for Uncertain Times, and co-wrote the Monte Miller short-listed TV series Keeping House, currently optioned by Beyond Armana. She is currently developing three series for television and a comedy horror film. She has worked with Opera Australian in production, and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and the Sydney Conservatorium. Le Nozze di Figaro marks her debut as a stage director.

She has worked with the Cooperative on previous productions of The Consul (Magda Sorel), Iphigénie en Tauride (Iphigénie), and Tosca (Tosca). Other notable performances include the title role in Suor Angelica and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, and role creations in premiere productions of Paul Smith's How to Build a Billy, Ursula Caporali's An Italian in Ethiopia, and Anne Boyd’s Daisy Bates at Ooldea. She has also sung with Opera Australia in the chorus, and as a member of the Schools Touring Company in The Barber of Seville. 

Dr Joanna Drimatis is a highly-respected champion of Australian music and contemporary classical music – contributing comprehensively through her output as a performer, conductor, musical director, researcher and educator. After initial studies in Music Education and Violin Performance, Joanna completed a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin (Violin / Orchestral Conducting). In 2009, Joanna graduated with a PhD in Musicology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Her thesis research focused on Symphony No. 1 by Australian composer, Robert Hughes and was awarded the University of Adelaide’s inaugural Doctoral Research Medal. Her research has continued, focusing on the music of Australian composers Robert Hughes and Raymond Hanson, and has been given national attention through radio broadcasts on ABC Classic FM and in Peter McCallum’s book, “The Centenary of the Con”.

As Music Director of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and Conductor for the Adelaide Youth Orchestra association, Joanna initiated numerous collaborations, commissions and premieres, with select performances broadcast on NZ Concert FM and ABC Classic. As a violinist/violist Joanna has played professionally as an orchestral musician both in Australia and overseas including Aspen Music Festival (USA), Strawberry Creek Festival (USA) and International Institute of Music (Germany). Joanna has worked as a sessional academic at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and conducted orchestras such as the Australian Doctors’ Orchestra, the Sydney Youth Orchestra, the Mosman Symphony, the Woollahra Philharmonic and the Orange Chamber Music Festival Ensemble.

Joanna has also given presentations on string and orchestral pedagogy with emphasis on the useof Australian repertoire for training orchestras. This work culminated in an invitation for her to present a workshop on this topic at the 2019 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, USA. Joanna is currently Head of Strings at MLC School Sydney and Music Director / Chief Conductor of the Beecroft Orchestra. In 2020 Joanna was awarded an APRA/AMCOS Art Music Luminary award for her advocacy, programming and performance of Australian music. 

Joanna’s love of opera has been prevalent throughout her musical journey and she has contributed as both a performer and assistant conductor for numerous productions. She is very much looking forward to working with The Cooperative for their Le nozze di Figaro. 

Edwin has two degrees from the University of Sydney, with Honours in both Musicology and Pure Mathematics. His studies, for which he was awarded the University Medal, also included oboe and conducting. He has participated in Symphony Services’ conducting programme, learning from Christopher Seaman and the Auckland Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and participated in masterclasses with Sasha Mäkilä in Pärnu, Estonia and Mark Shiell in Newcastle.

Keenly interested in the ways music contributes to theatre, Edwin has taken lessons in opera literature and conducting from Richard Gill AO. In 2018, he was a vocal collaborative fellow at the Miami Music Festival, where he was Assistant Conductor on Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Teseo and The Medium by Menotti. For Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Sydney, Edwin has been Assistant Musical Director since 2016. Elsewhere in Sydney, he has music directed The Yeomen of the Guard and conducted Camelot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Edwin’s first experiences with conducting were with the Bendigo Youth Choir, of which he was a long-time member and sometimes accompanist. He founded and conducted a choir for 5 years while at university, and remains convinced of the importance of community music-making, continuing to participate as conductor, accompanist, vocal coach and continuo player.

A former recipient of the Opera Australia Student Scholarship and graduate of the Talent Development Project, Jeremy has featured as a concert soloist for the Opera Australia Benevolent Fund, Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Early Music Ensemble, Chamber Choir), Argyle Orchestra (Hobart, Australia), Sydney University Symphony Orchestra, Opera Projects Sydney, Concordia Ensemble, con voci Chamber Choir (Wollongong, Australia) and Fiori Musicali (Armidale, Australia).

Jeremy has also been engaged professionally by the Gondwana Choirs with The Muffat Collective as Aeneas in Dido & Æneas (Purcell), St. Paul's College in King Arthur (Purcell) and by The Co-operative as the Secret Police Agent in The Consul (Menotti) and Death in Savitri (Holst). He performed Demetrius in Sydney Conservatorium & National Institute of Dramatic Art's (NIDA) production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten). Future roles include Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) and Uberto in La serva padrona (Pergolesi). Ensemble work includes Don Giovanni (Mozart) and I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo).

Winner of both the Margaret Olive Stewart Bequest Scholarship and the PATIM Fund Scholarship, Jeremy studies with Maree Ryan AM. In the 2018 Sydney Eisteddfod, Jeremy was the Runner Up in the Intermediate Vocal Scholarship (Dame Joan Sutherland Memorial Award). Jeremy received joint first prize at the 4th Fresno State Art Song Festival, (California, USA) and was awarded the Demant Dreikurs scholarship upon winning the Lieder Competition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for 2020. He also received artist assistance from the Sidney Myer Fund & The Myer Foundation's National Assistance Program and an Italian language merit scholarship to L'Università Per Stranieri di Perugia (The University for Foreigners Perugia, Italy) through L'Istituto di Cultura (Italian Cultural Institute, Sydney).

Jeremy is currently reading for a Masters of Opera Performance on the John Holt Todd and Florence Todd Scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, having completed his Bachelor of Music (Performance) in 2020 at the same institution; also on merit scholarship. Masterclasses include that by Jessica Pratt, Gerald Finley OC, CBE and Dr. Graham Johnson OBE.

Tristan was an up & coming violinist, until a repetitive strain injury shunted him unexpectedly (but happily) into a career as a singer. He completed a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2017, and since then has performed regularly with the chorus of Opera Australia.

He has performed in a great many Mozart operas, with roles including Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Nardo (La Finta Giardiniera), and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte). He also has a keen passion for contemporary opera, having performed in the Australian premieres of Mansfield Park (Dove) as Edmund Bertram, and Luzifers Tanz (Stockhausen) as Lucifer.

Other operatic roles include Germont, Baron Douphol, and Dottor Grenville (La Traviata), Escamillo (Carmen), Baron Zeta (The Merry Widow), Alcindoro (La Bohéme), Elder McLean (Susannah), Giove/Giove in Diana (La Calisto), and the Drunken Poet/Corydon (The Fairy Queen). He also worked as a conductor, chorusmaster, director, and artistic advisor for the youth company Operantics from 2015 to 2019.

Tristan has been a finalist in the German Australian Opera Grant, the Australian Singing Competition (“The Mathy”), and the Joan Carden Award. In 2021, he joined the Opera Australia Schools Tour as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, and will continue in the 2022 Schools Tour (production TBA).

Matt has recently come home to Sydney after 12 years living in Canada. Whilst he was there, he obtained a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, majoring in composition, and a Masters of Music in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia, where he studied with J. Patrick Raftery. Roles performed there include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Nika Magadoff in Menotti’s The Consul, and Herzog von Urbino in Johann Strauss’ Eine Nacht in Venedig. He performed the tenor solo for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as concert tours as soloist with the UBC Opera Ensemble to Czech Republic, China, and Christmas concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

 Matt has also performed the role of Tito in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and Tamino in The Czech Republic for the European Music Academy in Teplice, and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Professional chorus and choral work include the Vancouver Opera Company, Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers.

Natasha Isabella Gesto is a young Uruguayan-Australian Soprano with an electrifying onstage presence and a natural gift for weaving stories. Natasha is extremely proud and grateful to be a recipient of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where she will commence her Master of Music (Voice) in August this year. Whilst in Australia, Natasha studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 2018-2022, where she completed her Bachelor of Music (Classical Voice), and a Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance). Natasha was the recipient of a number of scholarships, including the Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen Scholarship, 'Henderson Traveller’s Scholarship, and Helen Myers Scholarship.

Natasha has been described as having a “sumptuously gifted voice,” (Dr Graham Johnson OBE), and her craft has taken form in her musical involvement across Australia and Europe as both an operatic principal and concert soloist. Her roles include La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro, Prague Summer Nights Festival, 2022), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte, Sydney Conservatorium, 2022, cover – performed), Dame Nellie Melba (Percy – The Opera, Sydney Conservatorium, 2022) and Francesca – The Fox (Pinnochio, Musgrove Opera, toured across NSW 2018-2019). Some of Natasha’s concert soloist performances include Brahm’s German Requiem (Dr. Carlos Alvardo, 2023), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Omid Zadeh, 2022), Poulenc’s Gloria (Sydney Conservatorium, 2021) and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor (Sydney Conservatorium, 2020). Natasha was also proud to be selected as a Young Star of Australian Opera for the nationally televised Carols in the Domain.

Natasha was most recently a semi-finalist in the Sydney Eisteddfod’s Opera Scholarship 35 & Under competition, one of Australia’s most distinguished opera awards. As a very young entrant, Natasha was very proud to have been selected.

Natasha is so excited to begin her studies at The Juilliard School and hopes that the audience will enjoy this fabulous production of Pagliacci.

Tony craves variety. Post careers in IT, natural medicine, journalism, and personal security he funded his retraining as a theatre director, actor, singer and lighting designer by performing folk and social protest songs in cafes and restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. 

Performance credits step across genre, style and even artform divides, ranging from major Shakespearean roles, G&S comic baritones, church soloist/cantor positions, male lead for an ABBA tribute group, as well as supporting tenor roles and chorus from Verdi to Baroque and musical theatre. 

Tony has been an advocate for social justice his entire life.

Richard is a tenor who sings with the Macarthur Singers, the Byrd Consort and River City Voices.

He has performed in opera choruses for La Traviata and The Merry Widow and has played Schaunard in La Boheme, in addition to many roles in musical theatre, most recently that of the Snake Preacher in Lloyd-Webber's Whistle Down The Wind.

Richard has only recently discovered the Cooperative, is delighted to be a part of this production of Tosca, and hopes you will enjoy it too.

Melanie Jha is a soprano in her final-year of a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of New South Wales. She is preparing a project on contemporary opera and non-lexical singing under Sonya Lifschitz’s guidance.

She was part of the chorus in Cooperative’s production of Tosca. She was a Developing Artist for Pacific Opera from 2019 to 2020 and has performed with a diverse range of music ensembles such as Bulgarian Voices, Latin Conjunto, Collegium Musicum Choir and the New Music Collective.

She also completed a Bachelor of Arts, with a Theatre and Performance Studies major and Film Studies minor. She was an Emerging Artist in first co-hort of Australian Council for the Arts and Inner West Council’s Survival Guide for Emerging Artists Program of 2020.

Ellen Malone, mezzo soprano, holds her Bachelor of Music in performance from ANU, and her postgraduate Diploma in Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Ellen has performed in opera, oratorio, cabaret and recital, and at gala functions in many prestigious venues including the Sydney Opera House, Parliament House (ACT), Floriade, the National Gallery and St Mary's Cathedral (Sydney). She has sung with many orchestras including the SOM, NCO, and Melbourne Opera Orchestra.

She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, and has released her first CD, a duet album entitled 'For Two Equal Voices'.

She has performed major works with the ANU and NCO orchestras including Mozart's 'Requiem', Mahler's second symphony, ‘ El Amor Brujo’ and Handel's 'Messiah'. In 2010, she premiered the role of 'Scout', which was written especially for her, in the CAT award winning ' Grimm and the Blue Crown Owl'.

She has performed several major song cycles for the mezzo soprano, including the Brahms 'Zigeuner Lieder', for which she was awarded the Margaret Smiles Award for most outstanding vocalist.

Ellen currently runs her corporate performance business ‘Sopranos on Stage’ and appears regularly in oratorio and corporate functions across Sydney.

In addition to her singing accomplishments, Ellen is a public speaker, writer, and award winning make up artist.

Rachel Mink, soprano, is a 2021 Pacific Opera Young Artist and ensemble member of Luminescence, a virtuosic vocal consort.

Highlights of Rachel’s operatic credits include Émilie in Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie; Colin in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera Le Devin du Village, Belinda and the First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and Zirphile (cover) in the American premiere of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Sympathy with Victory Hall Opera. Rachel was an active chorus member with Charlottesville Opera and performed in La Traviata and Amahl and the Night Visitors. In masterclasses, she has had the honor of working with Renée Fleming, Karita Mattila, Danielle Telemantes, and Rachelle Fleming.

Originally hailing from the USA, Rachel studied vocal performance and musicology at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland and earned her BA from the University of Virginia with a double major in music and arts administration. In her spare time, she works as a fundraising professional for the Boulanger Imitative, a non-profit committed to promoting music composed by womxn.

Tharushi Mitiyamulle is a Sydney based soprano in her third year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Her roles include Barbarina from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with The Cooperative in their 2022 season. She will be joining The Cooperative once again for their 2023 season as Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Tharushi will also be joining Concordia Ensemble in their 2023 production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen as Fairy 1 and Woman 1.

Celebrated for her compelling dramatic interpretations and moving vocal performances, Rebecca Moret is a Sydney-based soprano who has performed with Victorian Opera, Opera Projects Sydney, Blush Opera, Pacific Opera, and Opera Australia. This year in addition to making her role debut as Magda Sorel, she will sing die Vertraute and study Chrysothemis in Strauss’ Elektra at the Dramatic Voices Program in Berlin.

Her performed roles include the title role in Suor Angelica, Giorgetta (Il Tabarro), Marcellina in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Elisabetta in Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto, and Amor and Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo. She has sung with Opera Australia as a member of the Schools Touring Company in The Barber of Seville and in the chorus. A frequent performer of new works, she has created roles in premiere productions of Paul Smith's How to Build a Billy, Ursula Caporali's An Italian in Ethiopia, and Anne Boyd’s Daisy Bates at Ooldea, as well as the Australian premiere of Paul Smith’s The Spidermaiden and the Runaway Plum Blossom.

She has been a recipient of both the Deborah Riedel Award and the Dante Alighieri prize as a finalist in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation Bel Canto Award, and received the University of Melbourne's Dame Nellie Melba Prize. An alumna of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, she has performed Mozart’s Donna Anna and Elettra with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne before moving to Sydney to study for her Advanced Diploma of Opera at the Sydney Conservatorium.

Soprano Amelia Myers has been a member of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for a decade, predominantly with VOX, the youth ensemble of the company. Her experience spans a wide range of genres; from large works at the Opera House including Mahler's Das Klagende Lied with Simone Young in 2019, to a variety of film soundtracks and chamber music. Earlier this year Amelia was thrilled to sing in Burden of Truth with The Song Company and is excited to be making her operatic debut in the chorus of Tosca with The Cooperative.

When not singing, Amelia is a commercial illustrator with a passion for portraiture and fantasy art.

Emma is a soprano from Brisbane, Australia. In 2019 Emma was selected as a Young Artist for the Pacific Opera program, with concert credits including soloist in A Viennese Gala with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Dr Nicholas Milton AM. She made her Opera Queensland principal debut as Gretel in the 2019 schools touring Hansel and Gretel and covered the roles of Novizia and La Maestra Delle Novizie in Suor Angelica (Puccini) for Pacific Opera. Emma also appeared in the ensemble for Opera Queensland’s 2019 production of A Flowering Tree (Adams).

Across 2017 and 2018, Emma performed with Opera Queensland in Lindy Hume’s acclaimed production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore (Bridesmaid) and was an ensemble member in Britten’s Peter Grimes and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She also performed as part of the ensemble of the 2019 Opera Queensland season launch and at The Brisbane Airport “Artist in Residence” program.

During her time as an undergraduate at the University of Queensland she performed varied roles in excerpts including: Juliette (Romeo et Juliette), Magda (La Rondine), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), First Lady (The Magic Flute). She was also awarded the Margaret Nickson prize in voice and accompaniment, and concert credits such as soloist in the Schumann Requiem for Mignon with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and University of Queensland Chorale, the Rutter Magnificat with The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, and the Vivaldi Gloria with the Alexandra Chorale.

Early 2020 will see Emma make her Sydney debut as ‘A Foreign Woman’ (The Consul) for The Cooperative.

From Jindera New South Wales and residing in Sydney, Alexandra Nixon completed a Bachelor of Music Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2015.

During her studies, Alexandra performed with the Conservatorium on numerous occasions, highlights including Bernstein’s MASS at the Sydney Opera House for the Conservatorium Centenary celebrations, Haydn’s Orfeo ed Euridice under the baton of Richard Bonynge. She was a member of the Conservatorium Chamber Choir for five years, and with them performed a range of repertoire spanning from Nyman, Bach to Britten, via many world premières.

In 2017 Alexandra graduated from the Conservatorium with a Master of Music (Performance) under the tuition of Anke Höppner-Ryan.

In 2018 Alexandra travelled to Brandenburg to participate in the Lotte Lehmann Akademie and studied the role of Contessa from W.A Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro under Karen Armstrong.

In 2019 Alexandra joined Rockdale Opera Company in role of Mirabella in their production of Johann Strauss II The Gypsy Baron. Alexandra made her debut with The Cooperative in their maiden production of The Consul in February 2020 as Vera Boronel and is thrilled to be joining The Cooperative again in 2021.

“Magnificent!”, “Magical!”, an "energy and presence [that] is beyond this realm". These are but a few of the many descriptions Katrina Noela, a sought-after international vocalist, has received by her audiences over that past few years. It is her impressive versatility and vocal sincerity that moves audiences of all sizes.

Having performed across the globe in Australia, Italy, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand and on TV, such as The Voice, Katrina Noela commands a highly emotive room and stage, large or small, with an authentic connection that audiences of all ages relate to.

Coming from an operatic heritage and over 20 years of classical training and professional experience that includes La Traviata, Magic Flute, Pearl Fishers, Pirates of Penzance and more, Katrina's repertoire features famous diva ballads through to powerful show-stoppers from Opera, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Contemporary and more.

Bass Aidan O’Donnell is a passionate and animated performer whose love for storytelling is conveyed through his singing. Currently in his fourth year of studies for classical voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of David Greco, Aidan has participated and performed in a range of performances and positions including his current position as a choral scholar at St James King Street, led by musical director Warren Trevelyan-Jones. 

As well as choral singing, Aidan has been a part of many performance productions, masterclasses and competitions featuring as a soloist. 

Most notably, he attended and participated in the Melbourne international festival for lieder and art song in 2019 conducted by Professor Graham Johnson. Aidan played the role of ‘The Judge’ in the Musgrove Opera show ‘Pinocchio’ in 2018 and on tour in 2019. Aidan was awarded as a finalist in the Demant Dreikurs Song Competition in 2020, and was honoured to feature as part of the young stars of Australian Opera in the 2020 Carols in the Domain.

Most recently, Aidan performed in the second Musgrove Opera production, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, as the father.

Mezzo-Soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington was awarded first class honours for studying a Bachelor of Music (Performance, Classical Voice) at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2022.
While at the Conservatorium, she studied under the tutelage and supervision of Mr Barry Ryan OAM and Dr Anke Höppner-Ryan respectively. Ella has also been awarded a Diploma of Languages Studies from the University of Sydney. She focused her studies on German, with some additional classes in Italian and Latin.

In September she will begin her Master of Arts (Vocal Performance) with scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Catherine Wyn-Rogers. Ella also recently undertook an exchange program at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

She completed her bachelor’s degree with full scholarship support having been awarded the Kevin and Margaret Duffy Scholarship, the Patricia Lucas Music Achievement Award, the Costa Rosa Harsas Award Scholarship, the Greenburg-Gurney-Jensen Scholarship and the Quinquin Foundation Scholarship. Ella was the 2022 winner of the Demant Dreikurs German Song Competition, having won both the audience choice and adjudicator prizes. In 2023, Ella won the prestigious Wollongong Eisteddfod aria competition.

Ella has undertaken masterclasses with several esteemed industry professionals including Gerald Finley OC, CBE at the Fourth Fresno State Art Song Festival. At the Sydney Conservatorium, her masterclasses were undertaken by David Miller AM, Emily Kilpatrick, and Dr Maria Briggs.

Ella has performed the title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Juno in Handel’s Semele, Joas in Handel’s Athalia, Irene in Handel’s Theodora, La Feé in Viardot’s Cendrillon, Night & Juno in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Spoletta in Puccini’s Tosca, A Priestess in Gluck’s Iphégenie en Tauride, A Bridesmaid in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Suzie in Reeves’ Ever the Best of Friends.
She has appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Sparrow Mass. She has performed in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. Ella has appeared in principal roles for Concordia Ensemble and The Cooperative, as well as in concert for the Con Lieder Series and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In 2023, she will appear in Sydney as Juno in the premiere of Cousins’ new opera Echo, Mrs Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Tobias is currently in his second year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying a Bachelor of Music – Performance (Classical Voice) under the guidance of Barry Ryan OAM. He is a recipient of the Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen Fund Scholarship.

Tobias has appeared as a principle with Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney over a number of years, having performed as "Sergeant of Police" in The Pirates of Penzance, "Sir Roderick Murgatroyd" in Ruddigore, and the title role in The Mikado. In 2021 he performed in the chorus of The Co-Operative’s production of Puccini’s Tosca as well as presenting individual and group items in Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney’s June Concert Soiree. Already this year Toby has sung the role of "Father Phillipe" in Holt's The Wandering Scholar and Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, both with Concordia Ensemble.

Soprano Alison Paris holds a Bachelor of Music with first class Honours and a Graduate Certificate of Music from the University of Queensland, both majoring in classical voice performance. 

During her studies, she was awarded the Ethel Osbourne Prize for Classical Voice in 2018, and was runner up for the 2017 Margaret Nickson Prize. She performed the role of Dido in the university’s production of Dido and Aeneas, and was the soprano soloist in the university’s performances in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre of Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. 

Outside of the University of Queensland, Alison has performed in multiple productions in Brisbane and Singapore, the first role being Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cuskelly College of Music, directed by Peter Coleman-Wright and Cheryl Barker. After this, she was invited back earlier this year to perform as two roles in Il Trittico: Nella in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica. She has also been a chorus member for several productions including La Traviata with Singapore Lyric Opera and most recently Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor with the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.

A nonbinary performer with a versatile vocal range, beautiful dreams, a passion for learning and a commitment to craft. Fi is an independent creative who has been performing from an early age. Early highlights have included acting roles in advertising campaigns, performances at the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Football Stadium, high school workshops with Opera Australia, theatrical development with the Australian National University and voice specialisation with the University of Wollongong in initial undergraduate studies in the 1990s.

Managing mental health struggles, alternate career development and parenting young adults, Fi brings an empathic, well-rounded and diverse skillset to ongoing creative development both personally as a performance artist and in ongoing production roles that benefit both individuals and the wider community, most recently producing a mental health storytelling theatre event for This Is My Brave Australia in Bathurst, playing Friar Laurence in Bathurst Shakespeare Player's 2020 production of Romeo and Juliet, and debuting as script writer and director for Keystone 1889's Christmas Spectacular which also heralded a return to solo vocal performance for the first time in over two decades.

Most recently Fi has been busy with vocal studies, participating in the SongCo Lab in April 2021 and preparing for AMus Musical Theatre exams under the guidance of Amy Moore. Tosca marks Fi’s return to the stage in full-scale theatre production after a 15 year hiatus.

Born in Yerevan, in 2007 Marianna has graduated from French University of Armenia holding her BA in Law and Political Science. Meanwhile, in 2004 was awarded entry to IREX student exchange program to do undergraduate studies in International Relations at Utica College, NY. In 2008, she obtained her MA degree in Advanced European and International Studies from Institut Européen des Hautes Etudes Internationales (IEHEI), Nice, France.

In 2009 she was entitled as Policy Officer to European and International Organizations.

In 2013 her Monograph Happiness vs GDP got published in Germany by Lambert Academic Publishing. Apart from her formation in Political and Legal aspects since childhood she was involved with and has mastered few forms of Performing Arts such as singing, dancing and composing. Having graduated with excellency Musical School after Sayat-Nova piano department in 1998 later on in 2006 she has won the First Prize at Naregatsi Young Composers Award in Piano Improvisation category.

For 12 years she sang at the internationally proclaimed best children choir Little Singers of Armenia lead by Conductor and Artistic Director Maestro Tigran Hekekyan where she has formed and developed refined and deep understanding and appreciation of spiritual, secular and contemporary music dating from 5th century till nowadays. The Choir has toured around the World performing at the most renowned concert halls, cathedrals and festivals.

Later on Marianna has started a solo career in singing while taking private classes at Yerevan State Conservatory at Sergey Danelyan’s class. Meanwhile she has attended trainings and masterclasses with singers like Vladimir Chernov, Raina Kabaevanska, Darina Takova, Arax Mansourian etc.

In 2009 she has been accepted to Regional Conservatory of Nice right away to the 3rd year of Voice Department.

Since childhood Marianna has been involved and trained in various dance companies which later on has led her to have a dream of becoming ballerina. Her first victory was in 2008 when she has won a Grand – Prix at First Armenian Dance Olympiad in Adults Modern Solo Category with a piece danced and choreographed by her.

Later on after enormous vigor, efforts and unimaginable will power in 2009 she made her dream to come true and got accepted to the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Armenia as a Featuring Actress and Ballerina. She has worked there for 8 years and even had a number of solo roles in Ballet Romeo and Juliet, Opera Carmen, Opera Sayat – Nova.

In 2016 at the same Opera theater she has played Maria at the A. Piazzolla’s Operita Maria de Buenos Aires inviting featuring famous bandoneonist Maestro Carlos Buono. From 2014 – 2017 she has worked as an instructor, actress and dancer at the Yerevan National Center of Aesthetics, Small Theater where in collaboration with British Council of Armenia she was sent to London to be trained at Candoco Inclusive Dance Company. After the training with her colleagues they have formed the first inclusive dance company in Armenia.

Currently Marianna is based in Sydney with her husband and daughter. She is an assistant of the instructor at Tamzara Armenian Folk Dance Group by AGBU  as well as the vocal teacher of Sunday School Children Choir at the Armenian Apostolic Church of Holy Resurrection in Chatswood.

She has performed at Concourse Chatswood, Avoca Beach Theater as well as at the Critical Path for Unity Space Air Project.

Laura’s 2022 engagements include a Croatian Opera and Art song concert for Croatia House and performing as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah for Penrith Symphony Orchestra in December.

Her operatic roles include Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Wally in La Wally, Suor Angelica and Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and Leonora in Fidelio. Laura has performed with the Opera Australia chorus in King Roger, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s Carmen, The Nixon Tapes, Verdi Requiem, Aida, Turandot, La Traviata, Otello, and La Juive.

Xiaoxu Aleta Shang is a young professional lyric-coloratura soprano. She completed a Bachelor of Music Studies, a Graduate Diploma of Music (performance) and a Master of Music (opera performance) with scholarships at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying under Dr Anke Höppner-Ryan.

The Roles she has performed in opera include La princesse in L’enfant et Les Sortileges by Ravel; Hannchen in Die Opernprobe by Lortzing; La Fée in Cendrillon by Massenet. She also has performed in recitals (art songs and arias), opera gala, and chorus (Requiem by Mozart, Orfeo ed Euridice by Haydn, The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar, Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev, Tosca by Puccini) in Australia and overseas.

This is Joanna’s first production with the Cooperative, and she is excited to be a part of this wonderful team. She is currently completing the last semester of her Master’s of Music Performance at Excelsia college, where she has been exploring different vocal styles with her vocal teacher Julia Michaels, as well as completing a research paper on music in aged-care.

Joanna previously graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she studied classical voice under Barry Ryan. She has also loved being involved with amateur musical theatre companies, where she played roles such as Lucy in “Narnia” with Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society (EUCMS), Alice in “Through the Looking Glass” (2015) and Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” (2019) with Normanhurst Uniting Church Musical Society (NUCMS), as well as taking part in several cabaret and variety concerts throughout the years. She was set to play Princess Ida in G&S’ “Princess Ida” in 2020, a production which was sadly postponed due to COVID-19, but will hopefully resume at a later date.

Born in Australia, then raised partly in Fiji, Sitiveni studied at the Australian National University before completing the Young Artist Program with West Australian Opera.

He was the winner of the Marianne Mathy Award in 2008, and has been part of the permanent chorus and a soloist with Opera Australia since 2012.

Colombian Bass Lucas Tamayo Blandon graduated from the Conservatorium of the University of Antioquia, where he completed his Bachelor of Music and Teaching with an emphasis in Operatic Voice. 

To much acclaim, in 2007 Lucas made his operatic debut as Fiorello in the Barber of Seville. Since, he has represented such notable roles as Sarastro / The Little Magic flute; Huberto / La Serva Padrona; Bartolo / Le Nozze di Figaro; Zuniga / Carmen; Doctor Grenvil / La Traviata; and, Alidoro / La Cenerentola as well as other roles.

Lucas has been under the guidance of esteemed directors such as Dante Ranieri, Guillermo Brizzio, Francisco Rettig, Alessandro Vitiello, Miquel Ortega, Guerassim Voronkov. Winner of the second place in the international singing competition, University EAFIT Medellín, Colombia in 2016, Lucas has been invited as the special guest at lyrical galas at the National Level. 

Mikayla Tate is a Sydney-based soprano who holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) and was a Young Artist with Pacific Opera from 2019-2020.

In 2021 Mikayla made her professional debut playing Servilia in National Opera’s inaugural production of La Clemenza di Tito where she worked alongside Covent Garden’s Catherine Carby and Metropolitan Opera’s Helena Dix. Receiving high praise from critics, Mikayla displayed “admiral presence and a clear, sweet soprano in such illustrious company”.

In 2019 Mikayla made her German debut in the role of Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte under Covent Garden’s Tom Seligman. Other operatic credits include; Pamina (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Musetta (Puccini, et al: Bohéme a piacere), Prima Sorella Cercatrice and La Sorella Infermiera (Puccini: Suor Angelica), Virginia (Scarlatti: La caduta de decemviri), and Gretel/Sandmann/Dewfairy alternate (Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel).

In 2022 Mikayla is delighted to be performing the role of Pamina for Chatswood Culture Bites with the Willoughby Symphony as well as debuting the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro | Mozart), Sophie (Werther | Massenet) and Governess (The Turn of the Screw | Britten).

Australian-Malaysian Baritone, Andrew Taylor Knight is an up-and-coming performer studying his Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

He has trained under the tutelage of Maree Ryan AM and Simon Lobelson since he first moved to Sydney in 2017 to pursue his bachelor’s degree.

Raised in the New England Region of New South Wales, Andrew thrived in the excellent performing arts program at The Armidale School. In his time there he was offered both the Jim Graham Scholarship for Performing Arts and Honors in Music, and later offered the Opera Australia Regional Scholarship.

Since moving to Sydney, Andrew was the recipient of the Patricia Bell Grant Scholarship, The John Holt Todd and Florence Todd Scholarship, St. Andrew’s College Vocal Scholarship and Country Education Fund Scholarship.

With the recent success of his professional chorus debut with Pinchgut Opera, Andrew hopes to add to his experience in this production of The Cooperative’s Tosca.

Daniel Verschuer is a graduate tenor of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a current Young Artist of Pacific Opera. Daniel has previously portrayed several roles on stage including Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Basilio (The Marriage of Figaro), Frederick (The Pirates of Penzance), and Ottokar (The Gypsy Baron) in Sydney. He has also performed with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Opera Australia.

Daniel is a current Young Artist of Pacific Opera, having been involved with the program since 2019.

Laura is in her final year at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she is completing a BMus Performance (Classical Voice) under the tutelage of Narelle Yeo.

2019 marked Laura's operatic debut. She played 'Second Woman' in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (The Other Theatre Co.) and 'Coridon' in Handel's Acis and Galatea (Ensemble Polyphème). She was also a chorus member for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's semi-staged production of Britten's Peter Grimes, as well as Ravel's L’enfant et les sortilèges (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

Laura made her debut with The Cooperative, where she played 'John Sorel' in a re-imagined production of Menotti's The Consul (The Cooperative). Early in 2020 she was a part of Pacific Opera's 'Pocket Opera' production of Die Zauberflöte as 2nd Sprite.

Laura is extremely excited to be working with The Cooperative again this year and hopes to have a safe and flourishing year of performance.

Kate Wilmot studied music in South Africa. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The University of the Witwatersrand. Kate was a principle artist for Spier Arts Trust/ Broomhill Opera Cape Town and Promusica Opera Roodeport, South Africa.

Since relocating to Australia in 2009 Kate has sung as a guest artist for The Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation, Arts Bundanoon, Opera New England, The Southern Highlands Opera Appreciation Group and The Illawarra Choral Society performing Mozart’s Requiem (2012), Vivaldi’s Gloria (2013), Faure’s Requiem (2017) and then Vivaldi’s Gloria (2019) this time for the St George Chamber orchestra, South Hurstville conducted by Dr Anthony Clarke.

Kate has been the recipient of the Doris Smith Memorial trophy for English Art Song (2010 Wollongong Eisteddfod), the Mary Jane Cordery Memorial Award for Lieder (2014 Wollongong Eisteddfod) and the Regional winner of the Opera Section of the Wollongong Eisteddfod (2014).

Roles for Rockdale Opera Company include Juno, Orpheus in the Underworld (2016); Ludmilla, The Bartered Bride (2016); Fiametta, The Gondoliers (2017) and Alms Sister, Suor Angelica (2017). Kate has also been a principle for Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney where she performed the role of Rose Maybud in their 2018 production of Ruddigore. In 2018 Kate was a Guest artist for the opening of the 12th Eutick Memorial Still Life Award at the contemporary Artspace in Wollongong. In July 2019, Kate was one of 16 singers selected to participate in the 2019 MIFLAS Art song festival where she was a participant in the masterclasses and concerts given by Graham Johnson OBE in Melbourne. Kate is a member of Pacific Opera’s Adjunct singer’s programme. Before the onset of covid Kate successfully auditioned as an extra chorus member for Opera Australia and was also contracted to sing the South African anthem at the Tri nations rugby tournament for the Springboks three games. Unfortunately due to covid they pulled out of the tournament. At the beginning of 2021, Kate performed with 4 other members of Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney in a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera favourites concert which was performed in Gloucester and modified and performed in Sydney, she was a Soloist at Rockdale Opera’s Roll over Corona concert and a member of the ensemble in The Cooperative’s production of Tosca.

Elias Wilson is an emerging tenor with experience in opera, chamber and sacred music, and recently completed a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In 2021 Elias made debuts with Pinchgut Opera in Cavalli’s The Loves of Apollo & Dafne, conducted by Erin Helyard, and with NIDA as Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Kate Gaul. Elias also appeared as Madame de la Haltière (adapted for Tenor) in a film of Massenet’s Cendrillon (Sydney Con Opera), and as Satyavān in Gustav Holst’s Sāvitri (The Co-Operative).

During his studies Elias was a recipient of the Donald Lionel Egerton Scholarship, and twice the recipient of the Helpmann Family Fellowship. In 2019 Elias travelled to Hangzhou, China, supported by a Vice Chancellor’s Mobility Scholarship, and performed excerpts by Puccini and Bernstein at a Zhejiang Conservatorium voice recital.

Elias is a 2022 Ensemble Artist with The Song Company, and sings for the choirs of St James King Street and Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney. He has recorded for ABC Classic under the direction of Tamara-Anna Cislowska as part of Luminescence Chamber Singers, and has performed as a consort singer in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne under the batons of Roland Peelman, Antony Pitts, Paul Stanhope and Carl Crossin.

Elias has previously performed as La Rainette in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges (Sydney Con Opera), and in the choruses of Verdi’s La Traviata, and Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, directed by George Torbay for Opera New England.

Elias is supported by the Harold Blair Opera Scholarship as a 2022 Artist with the Melba Opera Trust.

Having previously sung and performed with the Sydney University Musical Society and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir Marcus is thrilled to be making their operatic debut with The Cooperative in this production of Tosca. Marcus has also performed with the Sydney University Education and Social Work Revue, and is very excited about returning to the stage. 

This year, Marcus plans to continue to pursue their own musical development through further lessons and performance opportunities, following a small break during the pandemic.

Noriko’s first stage appearance was when she had a queen role of Pantomime in Rapunzel! Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale with Rockdale Musical Society in 2015. She then joined the chorus for Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, and has performed in the chorus for the Rockdale Opera Company since 2016. Noriko appeared as circus troupe and dancer in The Bartered Bride and performed as a dancer in The Gypsy Baron with The Rockdale Opera Company. She is a member of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and enjoys performing with the SSO and world-renowned conductors. She is also a violinist with the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Noriko is passionate about performing on the stage.