Elena Xanthoudakis (born 1978) is an Australian operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Life and career

Xanthoudakis was born in Mount Beauty to Greek father and Australian mother, and raised in Bentleigh. After graduating from McKinnon Secondary College she studied astrophysics in university. In her second year, she gradually turned to music by taking on full-time honours music performance degree at the Victorian College of the Arts. After completing Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2001, she pursued simultaneously Master of Music at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

and Graduate Diploma of Opera at the VCA, receiving both degrees in 2004. She then studied on scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she received Master of Music degree with distinction in 2005. She won numerous prizes in native and international competitions. In 2003, she won the Maria Callas International Grand Prix in Athens, and was a finalist in the

Australian Singing Competition The Australian Singing Competition (ASC) evolved from the Marianne Mathy Scholarship, established in 1982 through a bequest made in the will of Marianne Mathy-Frisdane, a coloratura soprano opera singer and distinguished teacher of opera and class ...

. In 2005, she won third prize as well as "Best Interpretation of Compulsory Canadian Work Award" in the Montreal International Musical Competition. In 2006, she won first prize in the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, and second prize in McDonald's Operatic Aria of the McDonald's Performing Arts Challenge. In 2008, she won third prize in

Operalia Plácido Domingo's Operalia, The World Opera Competition is an annual international competition for opera singers. Founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo, the competition's varied prizes have been given to known artists such as Joseph Calleja, Rola ...

. In 2011, she won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Personal life

Xanthoudakis is married to tenor Paul Featherstone.

Discography

* ''Jewels of the Bel Canto'';

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...

, Royal Northern Sinfonia (2014,

Signum Records Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recordin ...

) * ''The Captive Nightingale''; Clemens Leske, Jason Xanthoudakis (2016, Signum Records)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Xanthoudakis, Elena 1978 births Living people Singers from Melbourne Australian operatic sopranos Australian people of Greek descent University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama 21st-century Australian women opera singers