SUNDAY 2 AUGUST 2026
LOVE, LIFE AND OPERA: A CONCERT
Sunday 2 August 2026
2.00pm: Life, Love and Opera
with sopranos Laura Scandizzo, Jane Ede,
Eleanor Greenwood and Jessica Harper,
tenors Brad Cooper and Kent McIntosh,
baritones Michael Lampard and Eugene Raggio,
and pianist Bradley Gilchrist
presenting a program of Strauss, Wagner, Beethoven,
Lortzing and Meyerbeer,
and some operetta
followed by refreshments and drinks
Venue:
St Columba Community Centre
53A Ocean Street (cnr Forth Street)
Woollahra NSW
Tickets:
Members $50, Non-members $60, full-time students $25
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Laura Scandizzo
Laura Scandizzo is a Texan-born soprano with an extensive operatic repertoire, including lead roles in Gianni Schicchi, Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and The Seven Deadly Sins. She often performs with local companies Operantics, Gente Gente and The Opera and Song Collective. Laura performed with Willoughby Symphony, Napier Civic Choir in New Zealand and Penrith Symphony. An alumna of the Pacific Opera Young Artist program, she has received generous support from them and the Wagner Society in NSW. Laura has performed with the Opera Australia chorus in King Roger, Verdi’s Requiem, Nixon in China, Turandot, Aida, Otello, La Juive, Carmen, La Traviata,La Gioconda, Hamlet, Cendrillon, La Boheme, and Rusalka. Additionally, Laura featured in Shaffer’s critically acclaimed Amadeus.
Laura is launching her own production company, Sydney Cabaretta, withtwo performances of “Life Stories”, on August 8th and 9th at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills. The show features songs from Maltby and Shire’s “Closer Than Ever” which she will performing alongside Angela Hogan, Paul Batey, and John Donohoe.
Brad Cooper
Born in Sydney, Brad Cooper’s upcoming engagements include: covering Giasone (Cherubini’s Medea) at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, performing Max (Der Freischütz) for Chelsea Opera Group, Walter von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger) at Longborough Festival and Siegfried in Grange Park Opera’s new Ring Cycle. Recent appearances include: Siegfried (Wagner’s Ring Cycle) for Melbourne Opera, Apollo (Strauss’ Daphne) for Scottish Opera; Tristan (Tristan und Isolde), Agamemnon (Leben des Orest) and Siegmund (Die Walküre) for Theater Münster; Florestan (Fidelio), Canio (Pagliacci), Giasone (Medea), Albert Gregor (Janáček’s Věc Makropulos), Aegisth (Elektra) and Tambourmajor (Wozzeck) for Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium and with Marilyn Horne in California, as well as Siegfried Jerusalem in Germany. Brad also has a thriving German Kabarett life touring several shows, here and abroad and a schools workshop on The Magic Flute.
https://www.bradcooper-tenor.com
Jane Ede
Jane Ede is a multi award winning singer and one of Australia’s most versatile and highly regarded sopranos, known for her refined singing and dramatic flair. Roles for Opera Australia include Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La Boheme, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Sara in Roberto Devereux, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gerhilde/Wellgunde in The Ring Cycle. Jane won the inaugural Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Competition in 2009, to join the Opera Australia Young Artist program.
Born in Sydney, Jane has a Bachelor of Creative Arts from Wollongong University, a Diploma of Opera from the Sydney Conservatorium and a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Institute of Business.
Bradley Gilchrist
Bradley Gilchrist is a well known accompanist, chamber musician, vocal coach and music director based in Sydney, working across a number of genres. His capacity for nuanced collaboration has led to an extensive career in piano accompaniment and mentorship of young artists. Some career achievements and positions held include-as solo pianist, concerto soloist with the Slovakia Philharmonic and Odessa Philharmonic Orchestras; as repetiteur for Opera Australia and WA Opera; as official accompanist for the IFAC HANDA Australian Singing Competition; as vocal coach and pianist for music theatre productions including Fiddler on the Roof and the Phantom of the Opera; as Music Director for Pacific Opera and Music at Manly; as conductor for numerous school and community groups including the Canada Bay Community Choir; as a mentor for prize winning young artists for competitions, scholarships and awards.
Eleanor Greenwood
Dramatic soprano, Eleanor Greenwood holds a Master of Arts (Distinction) from the Royal Academy of Music, and a bachelor music degree with honours from ANU. She is a multi award winner including the 2024 Opera Awards Australia. She has performed key roles across Wagner’s Ring Cycle, including Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Ortlinde, Third Norn (Götterdämmerung), and covered the role of Freia (Das Rheingold), appearing in full cycles of Melbourne Opera’s Ring Cycle in Bendigo. In concert, Eleanor has been engaged as a Wagner soloist with the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach, performing Wagner excerpts as Senta and Gerhilde at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth in 2025. Eleanor is about to travel to Germany for coaching in Wagner roles, especially Kundry in Parsifal (supported by the Wagner Society in NSW).
Jessica Harper
Soprano Jessica Harper, a Melba Opera Trust alumna, graduated summa cum laude with a Postgraduate Concert Soloist Diploma from the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. She is a multi award winner, and an artist supported by the Wagner Society in NSW. She last performed for WSNSW in December 2022 with her husband cellist Joseph Eisinger. Since then, they have been living, studying and performing in Belgium. In early September 2022 she made her debut at Semperoper Dresden as a guest soloist. Jessica currently has a fixed position at the Opéra Royale de Wallonie, where she recently performed the role of Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) in a concert celebrating emerging conductors on the world stage. She had the great pleasure of preparing this scene with celebrated maestro Giampaolo Bisanti.
https://jessicaharpersoprano.com
Michael Lampard
Sydney-based baritone Michael Lampard is a multi-award winner and principal artist with Opera Australia, and made his company debut at the Sydney Opera House in La Bohème in 2019. Since then, he has toured nationally in Carmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and La Bohème, with performances throughout Australia, Asia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. His repertoire encompasses more than 80 operatic roles, spanning Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and contemporary works. He has sung many Wagner roles for Melbourne Opera. Equally at home on the concert platform, he is particularly acclaimed for his interpretations of English and German Romantic Lied repertoire and Australian art song. Alongside his performing career, Michael is a sought-after classical voice teacher, directing a private studio on Sydney’s Upper North Shore.
Kent McIntosh
Born in Auckland, tenor Kent McIntosh, began playing French horn in the RNZ Navy Band. He studied music in NZ, Sydney and Canberra, gaining a M. Mus. He sang roles, many of them leads in The Magic Flute, Albert Herring, The Turn of the Screw, Capriccio, and Madama Butterfly. His Oratorio soloist highlights include Messiah, Israel in Egypt, St John Passion, Monteverdi Vespers, Bach B minor Mass, CPE Bach and JS Bach Magnificats, Carmina Burana, Elijah, The Creation, and many others. Kent has performed many recitals in NZ, and the Eastern seabord and Regional NSW. Kent has been broadcast live on ABC and Classic FM and has performed with the Opera Australia chorus on over 3000 occasions in the opera houses of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Eugene Raggio
Australian-Maltese bass-baritone, Eugene Raggio is a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium. He has toured the title role in Das Phantom Der Oper in Germany in successive years. Eugene has appeared with Berliner Wagner Gruppe (sponsored by Wagner Society in NSW), Berlin Summer Festival, and Berlin Dramatic Voices. He has toured with Opera Australia, Co-Opera and sung with Berlin Opera Festival, York Trust Summer Opera, and Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival. His repertoire includes Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Lohengrin, Eugene Onegin, Hänsel and Gretel, Gianni Schicchi, Armide, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Boheme, Tosca, Faust, La Traviata, The Consul and Mozart y Salieri. Eugene covered Hans Sachs for Melbourne Opera’s Meistersinger and featured in SOSA’s recent Roméo et Juliette. Eugene is the founding conductor of the Australian Remembrance Foundation’s ANZAC concerts.