Family Opera Afternoon - about the show

Producer/at the piano              Dr David Kram                 www.davidkram.com

 

Dr David Kram AM, Artistic Director of the MTO-German-Australian

Opera Grant and of Concertori Recordings (USA) and Senior Fellow, The University of Melbourne, is a distinguished conductor, artistic director, academic, composer and pianist in Australia, Europe and Asia.  

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In 2020 David was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to the performing arts, to opera and chamber choirs, and to education”.

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Conducting positions include Kapellmeister, Stadttheater Basel; Erster Kapellmeister, Nationaltheater Mannheim; Resident Conductor, The Australian Opera, and Music Director, State Opera of South Australia.

David gained a PhD in musicology from Monash University, Melbourne in 2000. He was Head of Opera at the Victoria College of the Arts 1996-2006 and Senior Lecturer at Melbourne University until 2010.

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Guest conducting 2016-2023 has included a CD with Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra; Pecan Summer and Eumeralla for Short Black Opera; Così fan tutte for Iopera; the world premiere of Alon Trigger’s Kristallnacht Cantata and, for Melbourne Opera, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Der Rosenkavalier and Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

David returns to Europe for part of 2024 for a number of artistic projects including teaching and lecturing. He will also launch his own production ‘Family Opera Afternoon’ in the UK. This includes his multimedia version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, condensed to sixty minutes.

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Baritone                                       John Ieuan Jones       www.johnieuanjones.com

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Welsh baritone John Ieuan Jones graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2019, generously supported by the Drapers’ Company, D’Oyly Carte Trust, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, and the George Henry Peters Scholarship.

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He has worked with some of the UK’s leading opera and theatre companies, including Welsh National Opera, Grange Park Opera, and The National Theatre, London. Recent roles include Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Maximilian (Candide), Claudio (Beatrice & Benedict), and Marcello (La bohème).

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Ieuan has traveled extensively throughout the UK and internationally as a guest soloist in various concerts. Notable highlights include being guest soloist at the Festival of Male Voice Choirs at The Royal Albert Hall and his collaboration with Sir Bryn Terfel in the opening show of the National Eisteddfod at the Millennium Centre. Additionally, he has participated in opera galas held at prestigious venues such as the Bridgewater Hall and St. David’s Hall. In 2018, he was invited to perform at the North America Festival of Wales in Washington, DC and following this, Ieuan participating in a series of concerts in Philadelphia as part of the same festival in 2022. Last year, he travelled to Ottawa to perform at the Ontario Festival of Wales.

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Ieuan is more than an opera singer. He performs in musicals and in straight theatre, most recently at the National Theatre. He’s a familiar face on Welsh television channel S4C and is also a harpist. When he's not performing, you'll find Ieuan exploring the Welsh mountain roads on his motorbike.

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Soprano                                              Sky Ingram                  www.skyingram.com

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Sky Ingram is an Australian soprano, of English, Scottish and Norwegian ancestry, who trained at the Elder Conservatorium, WA Academy of Performing Arts, Guildhall School Opera Course, and the National Opera Studio in London. Sky has performed oratorio, concert and recital repertoire around Australia, the UK, New York, Norway, France, and Germany, and has sung on ABC and BBC radio. Music awards & scholarships include; Opera Awards Foundation Bursary, 5MBS Young Performer of the Year, SA Young Achiever of the Year, Royal Overseas League Trophy, Scholarships to GSMD & NOS, and is a George Boland, Australian Music Foundation, Tait Memorial, and Wingate Scholar. 

 

Previous roles include: Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni (Garsington Opera), Rusalka/Rusalka (Valladolid, Spain), Lea/Glare & Venus/Orpheus (Royal Opera House UK), Avis/The Wreckers (Bard SummerScape, New York), Fiordiligi/Cosi fan tutte, Musetta/La Bohème & Dido/Dido and Aeneas (ETO), Helena/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Musetta/La Bohème , Katya cvr./Katya Kabanova, Alcina cvr./Alcina (Opera North), La Contessa/Le Nozze di Figaro (Kristiansand Norway & Nevill Holt Opera).

  

Recently Sky debuted with the Hallé Orchestra in their Viennese Concert tour, Foreign Princess/Rusalka with Garsington Opera & the Edinburgh International Festival, Female Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia with The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the title role of Fedora for IF Opera. Upcoming roles include; Woglinde cvr./Rheingold and Götterdämmerung in Wagner’s Ring Cycle for Longborough Festival Opera, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte for State Opera South Australia and Sieglinde/Die Walküre for Saffron Opera Group.

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Tenor                                                    Roberto Abate          www.robertoabate.com

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Perth-born Roberto Abate relocated to the UK in 2012 to pursue a Master's degree at the Wales International Academy of Voice with Dennis O’Neill, as a recipient of the Australian International Opera Awards scholarship and the Tait Memorial Trust Frank and Viola Tait Award. 

 

Roberto is excited to journey into the Wagner repertoire for Brunnhilde under the direction of David Kram. 

 

In April Roberto will perform Radames in Kentish Opera’s production of Aida.

 

In 2023 Roberto performed Don José for St Paul’s Opera and Saro in the Armenian Opera Anoush for the London Armenian Opera. His European debut in 2017 saw him as Don José for the International Bel Canto Academy in collaboration with Opera Noord-Holland-Noord.

 

In the UK, Roberto's performances have included Azael in The Prodigal Son (Pegasus Opera), covering Don Carlos at Grange Park Opera, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and covering Cavaradossi in Tosca at Opera North. He has also covered Canio in I Pagliacci for Opera North and performed the role with Kentish Opera. 

 

Other notable UK performances include Don José in Carmen at The Grange Festival and Opera-Up-Close, various roles at Grange Park Opera such as the Bandit in Don Quixote, Parpignol in La bohème, and the First Philistine in Samson et Dalila (Grange Park Opera). Additionally, he has appeared as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera with Bury Port Opera, Rodolfo in La bohème with Regents Opera and King’s Head Theatre, and Fenton in Falstaff with (Fulham Opera/Grimeborn/Woodhouse Opera/Wilton’s Music Hall), Luigi Il Tabarro (Opera Vera/ Fulham Opera) among others.

 

Roberto has sung the tenor solos in Verdi's Requiem, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B minor, and appeared as soloist in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Gala Concert with Sumi Jo in 2010, and Opera Gala with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Dennis O’Neill at the Wales Millennium Centre in 2012.

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