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The Richard Divall Program
Developing opera singers to a professional, performance-ready standard since 2016
Applications for 2026–2027 open 23 March 2026
Applications Open
Stage one
23 March 2026
Applications Close
Stage one
4 May 2026
Outcomes Advised
Stage one
13 May 2026
Program Commences
Live auditions late May
July / August 2026
About the program
Nearly a decade of extraordinary results
The Richard Divall Program focuses on developing opera singers to a professional, performance-ready standard. Singers are selected for either the Emerging Artists or Developing Artists tier of the program, with the opportunity to reapply for a second year of support. This is a one-year, mid-year intake program — intensive and running throughout the whole year.
As we approach our tenth year, the results speak for themselves. Of the 52 singers supported to date, 39 are in regular remunerated employment as opera singers in Australia and abroad — an outstanding achievement for a program not quite a decade old.
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52
singers supported to date
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39
in regular paid work as opera singers
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~10
years of operations
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What the program provides
- Financial assistance for singing lessons with your teacher
- Opportunities to perform and understudy main stage roles in a professional environment
- Concert and event performances
- High-level coaching for roles being performed and understudied, as well as general repertoire
- Professional rehearsal conditions
- Exclusive masterclasses with visiting artists, conductors and directors
- Language classes — Italian at the Italian Institute of Culture; German at the Goethe Institut Melbourne — plus lyric diction
- Role preparation and stagecraft with 16th Street Actors Studio and guest professionals
- Professional practice instruction and mentoring from senior colleagues
How to apply
Eligibility
Open age program — no age restriction
Full-time Victorian resident throughout the program
Australian citizen and resident
No relocation or interstate travel costs provided
Not a salaried program — other work commitments accommodated within reason
Contact
Program Director
Suzanne Chaundy
suzanne@melbourneopera.com
German Exchange Scholarship
An opportunity to develop abroad
The Richard Divall Program in association with Rotary Central Melbourne through the New Generations Service Exchange, Rotary International, offers an annual German scholarship (July to September, with some flexibility) providing travel, accommodation and living expenses in Germany for three months, allowing singers to pursue their own development interests in a supported environment.
This opportunity is exclusively open to current and past members of the Richard Divall Program. Recipients to date are Breanna Stuart, Asher Reichman, Rachael Joyce, Michael Dimovski, Louise Keast and Olivia Federow-Yemm.
Applications for the next exchange will be announced when available. Contact Suzanne Chaundy for further information. Note: due to Rotary rules, applicants must be under 30 years of age.
About the program
A legacy of generosity and vision
The Richard Divall Program was created to honour the memory of one of Australia’s most lauded conductors, Maestro Richard Divall, supported by a generous bequest made by Melbourne-born international soprano Sylvia Fisher. Upon her death, Sylvia Fisher made this bequest to ensure the continuing support of the development of new artists of operatic excellence in her hometown, Melbourne. Before Maestro Divall’s death in early 2017, he was closely involved in the planning and creation of this program in collaboration with Melbourne Opera.
Managed by a committee of professional opera artists through Melbourne Opera, The Richard Divall Program aims to develop singers of great potential to a performance-ready standard. It will focus on providing opportunities for emerging opera singers to experience the pressure of intensive role preparation, rehearsal and performance in a professional setting whilst continuing artistic development with tailored high quality coaching, workshops, master classes and mentoring.
“Showcasing the extraordinary talents of emerging and developing artists of the Richard Divall Program in a simple yet spirited staging, the work finds both sparkle and sincerity.”
— Australian Arts Review, on the 2025 production of Così fan tutte
2025 Richard Divall production of Così fan tutte
(L–R) Hartley Trusler, Sidra Nissen, Henry Shaw, Heulen Cynfal, Livia Brash and Joshua Erdelyi-Götz. Photo: Robin Halls
Results
The moment preparation meets opportunity
The program’s performance-ready focus was never more evident than when soprano Emily Szabo stepped in to sing the role of Mimì in Melbourne Opera’s La Bohème in September 2024, receiving high praise from Limelight and Classic Melbourne. That ability to deliver under pressure is exactly what this program is built to develop.
Program members have taken on principal roles and covered major productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Suor Angelica, Samson et Dalila and Don Giovanni, and have gone on to work with Victorian Opera and companies interstate and abroad.
Emerging Artists — 2025 to 2026
Meet the current cohort
Emerging Artist
Breanna Stuart
Soprano
Tasmanian-born Breanna Stuart is a soprano based in Melbourne. In 2023 she graduated with a Masters of Opera Performance from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Music (Melbourne Conservatorium of Music), an AMusA in Classical Voice, and Diploma of Music (University of Tasmania).
Breanna made her professional debut as Ianthe in Lyric Opera of Melbourne’s Green Room Award winning production of IPHIS. Her other credits include Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Suor Angelica (Melbourne Opera), The Grumpiest Boy in the World (Victorian Opera), and the world premiere of Meta Cohen’s Kiss My Sword with Lyric Opera of Melbourne.
In 2024 Breanna participated in the Master Course in the Interpretation of German Lied at the Franz-Schubert-Institute in Austria. She was awarded first prize in the 2024 OSA Art Song and Aria Competitions, the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Sydney International Song Prize and is a Herald Sun Aria finalist.
Emerging Artist
Heulen Cynfal
Soprano
Originally from North Wales, Heulen is a classically trained soprano now based in Melbourne. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London (BMus and MA Voice under Lillian Watson), she also trained at the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester from the age of 16. She is currently continuing her vocal development under the guidance of mezzo-soprano Roxane Hislop.
Heulen’s operatic roles include performances with Opera Cymru and British Youth Opera. Her solo work has seen her perform in concerts across the UK, US, and Canada, and more recently across Melbourne, where she has sung with the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir at venues including St Paul’s Cathedral and MLC Kew.
Winner of the prestigious David Ellis Blue Riband at the 2023 National Eisteddfod of Wales. Heulen has also been a finalist in the Bryn Terfel and W. Towyn Roberts Scholarships, and has participated in masterclasses with artists such as Rebecca Evans and Simon Lepper.
Emerging Artist
Sidra Nissen
Mezzo-Soprano
Melbourne based Mezzo-Soprano Sidra Nissen joined Opera Scholars Australia as a Graduate Scholar in 2025. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in 2023 at The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Her performance career began with the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble (VOYCE) and she made her professional debut with Victorian Opera in Il Mago di Oz (2022), and subsequently, Cheremushki (2023).
Sidra has received numerous awards including first place Oratorio/Art song category and runner up in the Warrnambool Eisteddfod final (2025). She was the winner of both the Robert Salzer Foundation Scholarship for Best Female Singer and Ian Field Memorial Award for Outstanding German Language Interpretation at the 2023 National Liederfest Competition.
Sidra has been selected as a finalist in the IFAC HANDA Australian Singing Competition and the OSA Aria competition. In Australia, Sidra studies under Suzanne Johnston and has had the opportunity to learn from Professor Graham Johnson OBE, Janice Chapman, Neil Semer, Bryan Wagorn, and Bryan Zeger.
Emerging Artist
Joshua Erdelyi-Götz
Tenor
Tenor Joshua Erdelyi-Götz was born in Melbourne. He completed his Master of Music Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2018 as a baritone, and after graduating began transitioning to tenor.
As a tenor, Josh has participated in several fully staged operas including Acis and Galatea (Coridon), A Husband at the Door (Florestan Ducroquet), Maria Stuarda (Chorus), Werther (Schmidt), Fledermaus (Alfredo), and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Chorus and Apprentice role).
In 2016 and 2017, Josh was a member of the Gertrude Opera Young Artist program. He recently made his principal debut with Melbourne Opera singing the First Philistine in Samson et Dalila.
Emerging Artist
Hartley Trusler
Baritone
Hartley is a Melbourne-based baritone originally from Perth, Western Australia. He graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2020 with a Bachelor of Music before completing his Master of Opera Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2023. He has been a member of Opera Scholars Australia since 2023.
Hartley’s performance credits include an Apprentice in Melbourne Opera’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the roles of Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte) and Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Melbourne Conservatorium, as well as Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) at WAAPA.
He appeared in Victorian Opera’s The Grumpiest Boy in the World and The Selfish Giant, and in Melbourne Opera’s La Bohème and Samson et Dalila. Hartley is a finalist in the OSA Aria competition and recently won numerous awards at Eisteddfod by the Bay. Prior to his vocal training, Hartley trained as a classical ballet dancer at the WA Conservatoire of Classical Ballet.
Emerging Artist
Livia Brash
Soprano
Soprano Livia Brash is the 2025 winner of the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship and inaugural Sylvia Fisher Award in the Herald Sun Aria. In 2025, Livia covered the role of Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and performed Musetta (La bohème) for Melbourne Opera, later reprising the role for BK Opera.
She made her debut as Rusalka for Boroondara Arts’ Opera in the Park and premiered Kevin March’s Song for Dark Days with Lyric Opera of Melbourne. She appeared in the animated Ring Cycle BrünnhAilde with More Than Opera, and Chloe Charody’s song cycle Truth in the Cage with Nightingale Performing Arts.
Upcoming performances include her debuts as Abigaille (Nabucco, The CoOperative), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth, BK Opera), and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte, Melbourne Opera). Livia has received the Opera Foundation Dalwood-Wylie AIMS Award and the AIMS Sundell Award, which supported her studies at the Vienna State Opera.
Hartley is a Melbourne-based baritone originally from Perth, Western Australia. He graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2020 with a Bachelor of Music before completing his Master of Opera Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2023. He has been a member of Opera Scholars Australia since 2023.
Hartley’s performance credits include an Apprentice in Melbourne Opera’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the roles of Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte) and Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Melbourne Conservatorium, as well as Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) at WAAPA.
He appeared in Victorian Opera’s The Grumpiest Boy in the World and The Selfish Giant, and in Melbourne Opera’s La Bohème and Samson et Dalila. Hartley is a finalist in the OSA Aria competition and recently won numerous awards at Eisteddfod by the Bay. Prior to his vocal training, Hartley trained as a classical ballet dancer at the WA Conservatoire of Classical Ballet.
Developing Artists — 2025 to 2026
Building the next generation
Uma Dobia
Coloratura soprano
Uma is a coloratura soprano, holding both a Bachelor of Music (Performance: Classical Voice) and a Master of Music (Opera Performance) from The University of Melbourne. During her masters Uma performed the role of Tytania in their 2022 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the roles of Fairy 2 (Fairy Queen), Amy (Little Women) and Amore/Valetto (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and made her professional opera debut as Bessie/Helen II in The Spare Room workshop with Monstrous Theatre in January 2023. Uma was previously a member of Opera Scholars Australia, and as part of the ACOCO Emerging Artists Program, Uma has performed as Milly in Figatroll, Anna Gomez in Endure and was involved in workshopping new Australian opera.
Cen Wei
Tenor
Moved from China to Australia and began his Bachelor of Music degree at Monash University in 2016, where he laid the foundation for his classical vocal training. From 2019 to 2021, he was a member of Opera Scholars Australia. Cen went on to pursue advanced training and successfully completed his Master of Opera Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2023.During his master’s program he appeared in The Selfish Giant and The Grumpiest Boy in the World with Victorian Opera. His university performance credits include Monostatos in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, the Chinese Man in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Snout/The Wall in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Nicholas Matters
Tenor
Nicholas is a Melbourne-based tenor specialising in musical theatre and opera. He completed a Diploma of Musical Theatre at Box Hill Institute in 2016 and a Bachelor of Music at the Australian Institute of Music in 2018. His interest in classical music led to his selection for Opera Scholars Australia (2022–2024. In June of 2025 he completed his Honours degree Music Performance graduating with First Class Honours. Nicholas is the resident tenor of the Victorian State Concert Orchestra and is known as a soloist/cantor in Catholic churches across Melbourne. He made his professional ensemble debut with Victorian Opera in English Eccentrics. He is once again working with Victorian Opera in August 2025 as a member of the ensemble for Abduction and in November 2025 as a member of the ensemble for Boojum. He recently won second prize in the Lieder section of the Eisteddfod by the Bay.
James Penn
Tenor / conductor
James is an emerging tenor and conductor, returning as a developing artist this year. He began his musical training as a boy chorister at All Saints church, St Kilda East. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts, and a Graduate Diploma in Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In 2016 he co-founded BK opera. His roles include Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana), Camille de Rossillon (The Merry Widow), Lucentio (The taming of the shrew), Frederic (the Pirates of Penzance), Ralph Rackstraw (HMS Pinafore), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Pollione (Norma), Beadle Bamford (Sweeney Todd), Don Curzio (Marriage of Figaro), and the title role in Werther. For Melbourne Opera James recently covered the role of Zorn in and sang an apprentice role (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and was the cover Messenger and first Philistine (Samson et Dalila).
Awards & Achievements
A decade of extraordinary recognition
Awards and achievements by our singers include the Sydney Eisteddfod, the Marianne Mathy Scholarship (Australian Singing Competition), the Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Sydney International Song Prize, the Herald Sun Aria — including the Sylvia Fisher Award, the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Prize, the Richard Divall Prize and the John Fulford Prize — OSA Scholars of the Year, and the Singer of the Year Award (Welsh Male Choir).
Seven of our singers have been selected as Victorian Opera Prizewinners, each receiving a year’s contract with Victorian Opera — the most recent recipients have both been renewed for a second year. Opera Foundation Awards have seen two singers awarded Deutsche Oper contract positions. Further international recognition includes the AIMS Award (Austria), the Margaret Baker Genovesi Travelling Scholarship, the German Australian Opera Grant, the Rotary German Exchange Scholarship, the Dramatic Voices Program Berlin, the Lisa Gasteen Summer School, and the MTO Development Award.
Our singers are in high demand in productions and on the concert platform across Victoria and Australia, have received GRA nominations for performance, and are currently working professionally in Austria, Germany, England and Scotland. An outstanding achievement for a program not quite ten years old.
Past program members
Program history
| 2025–26 | EmergingBreanna Stuart, Joshua Erdelyi-Götz, Hartley Trusler, Heulen Cynfal, Sidra Nissen, Livia Brash (2025 only) DevelopingUma Dobia, Cen Wei, Nicholas Matters, James Penn |
| 2024–25 | EmergingLivia Brash, Rachael Joyce, Emily Szabo, Lily Ward, Caitlin Weal, Amanda Windred, Asher Reichman, Bailey Montgomerie, Henry Shaw DevelopingBreanna Stuart, Joshua Erdelyi-Götz, James Penn, Daniel Felton |
| 2023–24 | EmergingOlivia Federow-Yemm, Rachael Joyce, Asher Reichman, Henry Shaw, Emily Szabo, Caitlin Weal, Amanda Windred, Jordan Kahler |
| 2022–23 | EmergingAlastair Cooper-Golec, Naomi Flatman, Olivia Federow-Yemm, Esther Gresswell, Teresa Ingrilli, Adam Jon, Jordan Kahler, Amelia Wawrzon, Alex Byrne DevelopingAndrew Alesi, Shania Eliassen, Finn Gilheany, James Park, Syrah Torii, Leah Phillips |
| 2021–22 | Alastair Cooper-Golec, Naomi Flatman, Eleanor Greenwood, Teresa Ingrilli, Adam Jon, Jordan Kahler, Amelia Wawrzon |
| 2020–21 | Eleanor Greenwood, Jane Magao, Darcy Carroll, Louise Keast, Michael Dimovski, Georgia Wilkinson |
| 2019–20 | EmergingLouise Keast, Jane Magão, Shakira Dugan, Chloe Harris, Michael Dimovski, Louis Hurley, Darcy Carroll AssociateRebecca Rashleigh, Stephen Marsh |
| 2018–19 | Rebecca Rashleigh, Alison McIntosh-Deszcz, Shakira Dugan, Michael Dimovski, Michael Lampard, Darcy Carroll, Stephen Marsh |
Alumni
Associate Artists
Graduates of the Richard Divall Program who continue to be part of the Melbourne Opera family.
Supporters
The Richard Divall Program is grateful for the support of the Sylvia Fisher Fund, the Ian Potter Foundation, Friends of Melbourne Opera, the Mietta Foundation, and Allan Myers AC and Maria Myers AC. Every contribution helps Melbourne Opera provide this essential program. To find out more, contact Company Manager Robbie McPhee: (03) 9600 2488 or info@melbourneopera.com