The Herald Sun Aria, formerly known as The Sun Aria (because it was sponsored by ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with ''The Herald (Melbourne), The H ...

'') is a vocal competition for emerging opera singers held in Victoria, Australia, each year. The competition offers nearly $60,000 in cash prizes. The competition forms the aria section of the Royal South Street Eisteddfod, Australia's oldest and largest eisteddfod. Her majestys ballarat

Three of the most famous past winners of the Aria competition are Wagnerian soprano

Marjorie Lawrence Marjorie Florence Lawrence CBE (17 February 190713 January 1979) was an Australian soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first Metropolitan Opera soprano to perform the immolation scene in ''Göt ...

(1928) and Dames

Malvina Major Dame Malvina Lorraine Major (born 28 January 1943) is a New Zealand opera soprano. Early life Major was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, into a large musical family. As a child she performed at various concerts, singing mainly country and wester ...

(1964)"New Year Honours: Big surprise for opera dame"

NZPA The New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) was a news agency that existed from 1879 to 2011 and provided national and international news to the media of New Zealand. The largest news agency in the country, it was founded as the United Press Associa ...

in ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'', 31 December 2007 and

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...

in 1965. Other previous winners include

June Bronhill June Mary Bronhill (26 June 192924 January 2005), also known as June Gough, was an Australian coloratura soprano opera singer, performer and actress, She was well known for light opera, operetta and musical theatre in London West End theatr ...

(1950),

Jonathan Summers Jonathan Summers (born 2 October 1946) is an Australian operatic baritone who has mainly worked in the UK. He sang the role of Captain Balstrode in the 1980 recording of Benjamin Britten's ''Peter Grimes'' which won a Grammy award for Best Opera ...

(1973),

Judith Henley Judith Henley is an Australian opera singer. By July 2011 the soprano had performed more than 30 major roles both in Australia and internationally. According to Carolyn McDowall of ''The Culture Concept Circle'' she "has received critical acclai ...

(1976), Suzanne Ward (1984), Linda Thompson (1990),

Rachelle Durkin Rachel ( he, רָחֵל, Modern: Raḥel, Tiberian: Rāḫēl, Rāḥēl), meaning " ewe", is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, popularized by the biblical figure Rachel, the wife of Israelite patriarch Jacob. Ashkenazi Jewish matronymic ...

(2000), and

Nicole Car Nicole Car (born 1985) is an Australian operatic soprano. She has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra national de Paris, ...

(2007). The heats (generally two) of the competition are held annually in September at

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, ...

, and the final is held at Hamer Hall in the

Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...

in early November. Finalists are accompanied by

Orchestra Victoria Orchestra Victoria is a full-time salaried orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia, and wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Ballet. Founded in 1969, the orchestra is now a principal performance partner for the Australian Ballet, Opera Austra ...

, conducted by Maestro

Richard Divall Richard Sydney Divall (9 September 1945 – 15 January 2017) was an Australian conductor and musicologist. After nine years as a music producer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, from 1972 on the invitation of Dame Joan Hammond he bec ...

AO, OBE. The competition has a panel of three adjudicators, and Richard Divall has been a panel member since 2001. The other adjudicators in 2014 were Roxane Hislop and Tiffany Speight. Contestants, who are aged 32 years or under, are required to submit four

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

s from

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

prior to the competition, and choose one of these to sing in the heat. Sixteen semi-finalists are selected from those singing in the heats to appear on the evening following the second heat, again at Her Majesty's Theatre and sing another aria, this time chosen from their list by the panel of adjudicators. Five finalists are then chosen to compete in the final at Hamer Hall.

References

{{reflist Music competitions in Australia Ballarat Sun Aria Opera competitions Recurring events established in 1924