Sydney Eisteddfod

28/08/2026

🎟️ Book your tickets for tomorrow night’s Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Final. 🎟️

One year ago, soprano Livia Brash won the 2025 Opera Scholarship. Since then, she has performed Abigaille in Nabucco, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Marguerite in Faust and Musetta in two productions of La Bohème, covered Turandot with Opera Australia, and performed at Melbourne Recital Centre.
The Scholarship also enabled her to undertake further study in Italy.

“I am so thankful to the Sydney Eisteddfod for facilitating my study trip to Italy. It’s invaluable to be able to see my repertoire performed on the world’s most iconic stages, create professional connections and to coach this repertoire with the best of the best.”

Tomorrow night, five finalists will perform for the opportunity to take their own next step, with the winner receiving the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship to support further overseas study.

Come and hear them live, support these remarkable emerging singers, and be there when the 2026 winner is announced.

📅 Saturday 29 August
⏰ 7.00pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
🎟️ Book now: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/whats-on/opera-scholarship-final/

27/08/2026

🎟️ Book your seat NOW for the Opera Scholarship Final this Saturday night. 🎟️

📅 Saturday 29 August
⏰ 7.00pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Five emerging opera singers will each perform two works before adjudicators Natalie Aroyan, Stuart Maunder AM and Vanessa Scammell, competing for the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship.

The program moves from Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Verdi through to Berlioz, Humperdinck and contemporary composer Jake Heggie.

Five different voices, ten varied arias, and one very important decision at the end of the night.

Come and hear them live, support these young artists, and help us give them the audience this Final deserves.

Opera Scholarship | Final Saturday 29 August 2026, 7.00PMMusic Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Enter Now Buy Tickets Immerse yourself in a world of fantasy and passion with The Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship. Originally known as the Sun Aria, this event was established with the first S...

26/08/2026

On Sunday evening, Senior Singer of the Year finalist Avni Khanna took to the stage with Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You.

In the wake of the news of Parton’s passing, we return to this performance with great affection.

Written and first recorded by Parton herself, I Will Always Love You became one of the defining songs of an extraordinary career, travelling across generations, genres and voices while remaining unmistakably hers.

Here is Avni’s performance from Sunday night: a beautiful young voice interpreting the work of an artist whose songs will continue to be sung for generations to come.

Vale Dolly Parton. 🤍

🎤 Avni Khanna, Senior Singer of the Year finalist
🎶 I Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton

Video by Winkipop Media

26/08/2026

🎼 Meet our wonderful, formidable adjudicators, and compere, for the 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Final. 🎼

This Saturday, our five exceptional Opera Scholarship finalists will perform before a panel with an extraordinary breadth of experience across opera, theatre, orchestral music and musical direction.

✨ Natalie Aroyan
One of Opera Australia’s leading sopranos, with major roles including Tosca, Aida, Mimì, Desdemona and Amelia Grimaldi.

✨ Stuart Maunder AM
Artistic Director of Victorian Opera, and a director whose career across opera and musical theatre spans more than four decades in Australia and New Zealand.

✨ Vanessa Scammell
Conductor and musical director with credits across Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, major symphony orchestras, musical theatre and film-in-concert productions.

And guiding us through the evening is Phoebe-Celeste Humphreys, our compere: a multi-award-winning vocalist, arts educator, producer and adjudicator with more than 20 years’ experience across the Australian and European performing arts industries, including a decade in Opera Australia’s full-time chorus.

Together, our adjudicators have the enviable, and very difficult, task of selecting this year’s recipient of the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship, supporting further overseas study and the next stage of an operatic career.

With five very different voices and a program spanning Mozart, Verdi, Handel, Rossini, Berlioz, Humperdinck and more, it promises to be a fascinating Final.

Come and hear the performances for yourself, support these remarkable young singers, and be in the room when the 2026 winner is announced.

📅 Saturday 29 August, 7pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
🎟️ Tickets: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/artfuel/purchase/tickets/20325/sale

25/08/2026

In 1949, twenty-two year old Joan Sutherland won the Sun Aria at Sydney Eisteddfod.

This year marks 100 years since her birth, and this Saturday another singer will add their name to the history of the competition we now know as the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship.

It is quite a history.

June Bronhill. Heather Begg. Jonathan Summers. Stuart Skelton. Daniel Sumegi. Warwick Fyfe. Pene Pati. Stacey Alleaume. Amina Edris.

And Dame Joan Sutherland.

This Saturday, five emerging opera singers perform in the Final, with a $43,000 scholarship for overseas study awaiting the winner.

Perhaps the most exciting part? We don’t yet know which of these young voices we’ll still be talking about decades from now.

🎼 Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship Final
📅 Saturday 29 August, 7pm
📍 Music Workshop, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
🎟️ Tickets: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/artfuel/purchase/tickets/20325/sale

Image from the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation

24/08/2026

What a night!

Congratulations to our 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod Singer of the Year winners:

🌟 Junior Singer of the Year: Abbey Hammond
🌟 Senior Singer of the Year: Will Hogan

Singer of the Year is always one of the liveliest nights on our calendar, but this year was something special. Ten young singers, a live band, a wonderfully responsive audience and a standard of performance that had our adjudicators remarking on just how difficult their job had become.

And they were right. There was so much individuality on that stage. Big voices, beautiful storytelling, terrific musicianship and young performers who knew how to connect with a room.

Abbey and Will, congratulations. Two very deserving winners from an exceptionally strong field.

And to every finalist: thank you for giving us such a brilliant night. It was an absolute pleasure to hear you.

We suspect this won’t be the last time we hear many of these voices. 🎤✨

Thank you so much to Petersham RSL for their ongoing support of the Singer of the Year.

20/08/2026

Before two new names join the Singer of the Year honour roll this Sunday, a look at where this stage can lead. 🎤

2005 winner Natalie Carboni went on to a career spanning Broadway, television,international entertainment, session singing and voice work, and now mentors young performers.
Molly Stewart won the Junior title in 2015 and the Senior title in 2016, later training in musical theatre at NIDA and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

And the story keeps circling back. 2022 Junior winner Jensen Mazza returns this year as a Senior finalist, while 2025 Senior winner Robbi Morgan is back as compere and guest artist.

You don’t need to know a finalist to enjoy the night either. Singer of the Year is a terrific live music event for anyone who loves discovering a great voice.

So who joins them next?

Find out this Sunday at the 2026 Singer of the Year Finals.

📅 Sunday 23 August, 6pm
📍 Petersham RSL Club
🎟️ Buy your tickets NOW!

Singer of the Year | Final Sunday 23 August 2026, 6.00PMPetersham RSL Buy Tickets The Sydney Eisteddfod Singer of the Year provides a platform for the finest contemporary singers to own the stage with a live band. This popular event is a chance for young vocalists and singer/songwriters to perform b...

18/08/2026

With everything from musical theatre and pop to soul, contemporary favourites and original singer-songwriter material, Singer of the Year is a brilliant live music event in its own right, with something for just about everyone.

You don’t need to know a finalist to enjoy this one. Come along, discover some exceptional young voices and settle in for a night of live music at Petersham RSL Club.

🎤 Meet your 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod Singer of the Year finalists:

🌟 Junior Singer of the Year Finalists
Frankie Kong
Abbey Hammond
Amelia Noble-Murray
Shreya Naveen
Liyana Saker

🌟 Senior Singer of the Year Finalists
Jensen Mazza
Avni Khanna
Will Hogan
Paige Hewlett
Madison-Rose Koniseti

They’ll perform live with our band under Musical Director Steven Kramer, before adjudicators Simon Ward and Erin Mortimer, with 2025 Senior Singer of the Year Robbi Morgan returning as compere and guest artist.

📅 Sunday 23 August
⏰ 6.00pm
📍 Petersham RSL Club
🎟️ Tickets: https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/artfuel/purchase/tickets/20142/sale

17/08/2026

What a day. 💫

65 schools, 153 groups. 3,307 dancers. More than 7,000 audience members. And one tooth lost side stage. 🦷

Primary School Dance Day is the biggest event on the Sydney Eisteddfod calendar, and Sunday was a wonderful reminder of why it holds such a special place within our Festival.

Across three sessions at the Sydney Opera House, thousands of children had the chance to step onto the Concert Hall stage with their classmates and perform for an audience that came ready to cheer them on.

The scale is extraordinary, but it is the individual moments that stay with us all: the excitement of walking onto that stage, the concentration in the wings, the teachers willing every step from the sidelines, the celebrations afterwards and the pride of families filling the whole opera house.

This day encapsulates so much of what Sydney Eisteddfod stands for. The stage is for everyone, and we love offering opportunities for every performer to shine.

Our sincere thanks to Debbie Goddard and the John Lamble Foundation, whose generous support helps us set the stage for thousands of young performers to have experiences like this.
What a day. 💫

📸 Winkipop Media

14/08/2026

🩰⚡🎭 What does Primary School Dance Day actually look like?

This Sunday, thousands of young dancers will take to the Concert Hall stage at the Sydney Opera House, representing their schools after weeks and months of rehearsals, choreography, preparation and teamwork.

Across three sessions, audiences will see, from Primary Schools all over Sydney:

🌟 Infant and preschool performers
🎭 Musical theatre groups
🙌 Boys’ dance
🩰 Classical ballet
⚡ Contemporary
💫 Lyrical
🔥 Hip hop
🎷 Jazz

For some, it will be one of their first major performances. For all of them, stepping onto Australia’s most iconic stage with their classmates is a pretty special moment.
And they deserve a full house cheering them on. 👏

Our 8.30am session is now close to capacity, but there are still tickets available for the 1.30pm and 6pm sessions.

If you’ve been thinking about coming along, this is your final call. Bring the family, support these incredible school groups and help us fill the Concert Hall for them.

📅 Sunday 16 August
⏰ 8.30am, 1.30pm and 6pm
🎟️ Choose your session:
https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/dance/primary-school-dance-day