Give Voice to 2027
Help Melbourne Opera's Richard Divall Program artists bring their next season to the stage.
Donate nowWhy this matters
Every year, Melbourne Opera's Richard Divall Program gives emerging Australian singers the training, mentorship and stage time to build a career in opera. Today, as part of Creative Australia's national AusArt Day, we're asking you to help fund their next season. Every donation goes directly toward getting our RDEAP artists on stage in 2027.
Support the 2027 seasonNearly a decade of extraordinary results
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.
Real training, real stage time
- Financial assistance for singing lessons with their own teacher
- Opportunities to perform and understudy mainstage roles in a professional environment
- High-level coaching for roles performed and understudied, plus general repertoire
- 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
From rehearsal room to professional stage
Seven program singers have been selected as Victorian Opera Prizewinners, each receiving a year's contract with the company. Two have been awarded Deutsche Oper contract positions through the Opera Foundation. Others have gone on to the Rotary German Exchange Scholarship, the Lisa Gasteen Summer School, and professional work in Austria, Germany, England and Scotland.
Supported by
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.
Meet the artists
New videos from our Richard Divall Program artists go live throughout the day.