Sunday 19 May 2019
2.00pm: Concert by dramatic soprano Celeste Siciliano
Followed by: celebration of Wagner’s birthday

(No DVD beforehand)

Goethe Institut, 90 Ocean Street, Woollahra
All welcome: Members $25 / Guests $30 / Students fulltime $10

Celeste Siciliano is a dramatic soprano of international repute who is supported by the Wagner Society of New York, and a prizewinner of the Wagner Division of the Liederkranz of New York.

Celeste has been heard in lead roles throughout the US and in Europe. She has performed the title roles in Norma, La Boheme, Un Ballo in Maschera, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca, to name just a few, and has appeared with Landestheater Coburg and Staatstheater Kassel in Germany, One World Symphony in New York, Mahler Philharmoniker in Vienna, Opera Lancaster, Johanna Meier Opera Theater, Amici Opera, Atlantic Coast Opera, and The Opera Project New Jersey.

In addition, she has been a concert performer, teacher, music director and conductor. Trained primarily as a classical vocalist, she has also studied the piano, oboe and various styles of vocal production, including jazz, pop, choral and musical theater styles.

She holds a Masters of Music from The University of Delaware where she was also a teaching assistant for the music theory department, a Bachelors of Music from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a Certificate in Arts Administration from New York University.

She is an awards recipient of The Liederkranz Foundation, The Wagner Society of New York, The Barry Alexander International Competition, The Metropolitan International Music Festival Competition and The Opera Project of New Jersey among others, and has been featured several times at Carnegie Hall and in Bruno Walter Hall at Lincoln Center.

Pianist Jonathan Wilson will accompany Celeste.

Jonathan returned to Australia after being awarded a Doctorate of Music (Piano Performance) by the University of Montreal, under the tutelage of Marc Durand and Paul Stewart.

Jonathan has performed regularly throughout Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia and France. Highlights include solo performances at such prestigious venues as Wigmore Hall, St James Piccadilly London, Australia House London (in the presence of the Governor General of Australia), the Jacqueline du Pre Hall in Oxford, the National Library of Estonia in Tallinn, the Glaaspaleis in Heerlen (Netherlands), the Birmingham Town Hall, and the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

He particularly enjoys collaborating with singers and instrumentalists. His concerto performances include Mozart Concerto K414 with the European Union Chamber Orchestra (Bromsgrove Festival), Liszt Concerto no.1 with the Sussex Concert Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Concerto no.1 with Finchley Chamber Orchestra (London) and with the Sussex Concert Orchestra. Jonathan’s recitals have been broadcast nationally on ABC Classic FM. 

Jonathan was a recipient of the Margaret Schofield Opera Scholarship and répétiteur with the Melba Opera Trust, a répétiteur with Pacific Opera in Sydney, and an official accompanist for the Sydney Eisteddfod.

He has won numerous competitions including first prize in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, second prize in the Australian National Piano Award and third prize and highest placed pianist in the Bromsgrove Young Artists Platform. Jonathan's past teachers include Joan Havill and Anne Queffélec. He has participated in masterclasses with such well known pianists as Leon Fleisher, John Lill and Ferenc Rados.