Featured artists
David Rogers-Smith, Coordinator of Classical Voice
- David Rogers-Smith is the Classical Voice Coordinator at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance. He is a performer, teacher, workshop leader and choral conductor. He is also on staff at Toorak College, Mt Eliza. David’s performance career saw him appear on opera, musical theatre, concert, oratorio, and cabaret stages and has performed with all major orchestras in Australia (SSO, MSO, APO, OV). David is a clinician for the annual Junior Theatre Festivals in both Australia and the USA - running workshops for several thousand young singers. Musical Theatre credits include over 2,500 performances as Ubaldo Piangi in The Phantom of the Opera; Les Miserables, Chicago, Funny Girl, and Marry Me A LIttle. With Victorian Opera: Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, and Sweeney Todd. Operatic credits include Iain Grandage's The Riders, Paul Grabowsky's Banquet of Secrets, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, the title roles in both Pagliacci and Faust, Carmen, Kirov Opera’s Salome, Gaugin – a synthetic life, From A Black Sky and The Merry Widow.
Judith Dodsworth
- Judith is an accomplished performer across the genres of opera, oratorio, chamber music and art song. After gaining her Bachelor of Music with Distinction from Canberra School of Music, she furthered her studies in London and Vienna, and later completed her Masters in Performance at the University of Melbourne. In opera she has sung roles from composers as diverse as Rameau (Pygmalion) to Bizet (Carmen), up to and including contemporary works by Maxwell Davies (Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot), for companies including Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Checkpoint Theatre (Singapore) and Stopera. In demand as an exponent of new music for her versatility and musicianship, Judith has collaborated with many Australian and international composers and ensembles, and has performed, recorded and premièred numerous contemporary vocal, operatic and chamber works throughout Australia.
Suzanne Johnston
- Currently an associate voice teacher at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, Suzanne was a principal artist with Opera Australia and state opera companies for over 20 years. She performed as a guest artist at Glyndebourne and Salzburg Festivals, and is the recipient of 4 Green Room Awards, MO Award (now known as Helpmann Award) and Churchill Fellowship. ARIA award winning CD with Judi Connelli - "Perfect Strangers" Videos and DVD's released on ABC Classics: Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Gondoliers, Fledermaus and Pirates of Penzance. Television appearances include Carols by Candlelight, Carols in the Domain, Midday Show, Good Morning Australia, Good News Week. Suzanne is an experienced competition adjudicator for Herald Sun Aria, Australian Singing Competition and many local Victorian eisteddfods.
Natalie Jones
Currently an associate voice teacher at Monash University, Natalie Jones is one of Australia’s most accomplished and popular sopranos. As a principal soprano with Opera Australia and guest artist with all the state opera companies, Natalie has performed a vast array of lyric-coloratura roles to warm critical acclaim. Alongside her operatic career, Natalie has performed extensively on the concert platform and her repertoire extends from baroque to contemporary works, spanning genres into operetta and music theatre. Natalie is a passionate voice teacher, performance coach and mentor of developing singers, whose research interests lie in peak performance psychology.
Stuart Maunder
Beginning his career in stage management at the then Australian Opera, Maunder has a long history in opera, as a director and arts administrator. He served in senior management roles at Opera Australia from 1999 to 2008 before being appointed General Director of New Zealand Opera in 2014. He was appointed Artistic Director of State Opera South Australia in 2018. In his time at State Opera, Maunder has proved a passionate advocate for finding a distinctive Australian voice, championing Australian repertoire, developing the next generation of Australian artists while still pursuing a balanced repertoire designed to reach the widest possible audience. His work as a director is highly revered and has ensured Maunder has remained a consistent presence on Australian stages for over three decades. A frequent collaborator with Victorian Opera, Maunder has directed several popular productions including four musicals by Stephen Sondheim (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Little Night Music), Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen and a co-production of Richard Meale’s Voss with State Opera South Australia. Maunder’s production of Sweeney Todd was co-produced with New Zealand Opera and toured New Zealand and Australia following its debut in 2015.
Phillipa Safey
- Phillipa Safey has worked as a pianist and vocal coach with the Victoria State Opera, Chamber Made Opera and with leading choral groups in Melbourne. Whether performing with instrumentalists or singers, she is equally at home on the concert platform and in the recording studio. Phillipa was born in New Zealand where she studied applied mathematics at Massey University before moving to Australia to study accompanying and chamber music at the Victorian College of the Arts - in turn followed by a period of study of languages and lieder in England and Germany. She has worked as a pianist and vocal coach with the Victoria State Opera, Chamber Made Opera and with leading choral groups in Melbourne. Whether performing with instrumentalists or singers, she is equally at home on the concert platform and in the recording studio.