Prudence Dunstone has performed many principal roles with the State Opera of South Australia and the Australian Opera, in operas including Rigoletto, Die Walküre, Lucia di Lammermoor, Death in Venice, The Gondoliers, The Magic Flute, Carmen, La Traviata, Salome, Falstaff, Eugene Onegin and Le Nozze di Figaro. Highlights have included the title role in Handel’s Ariodante, Katisha in The Mikado and Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera. She has also prepared the role of Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for De Nederlandse Opera. Ms Dunstone appeared as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music for the Sydney Vocal Arts Centre.

Ms Dunstone has made recital broadcasts for the ABC, and sung as a soloist with ABC orchestras for performances including The Messiah and Schubert’s Mass in C. She has appeared as a soloist with the Adelaide Harmony Choir in the St Matthew Passion, and in Sydney with the Philharmonia Choirs for the Mozart Requiem, C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater. She has performed Berlioz’s song cycle Les Nuits d’Été with the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra, and has also performed as a soloist with Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

As Katisha in The Mikado  with Brian Gilbertson

(Photo by Heather Blewett)

As Olga in Eugene Onegin, with Claire Primrose

(Photo by Heather Blewett)

As Vittoria in The Gondoliers

Prudence E. Dunstone

Singer, Singing Teacher, Musicologist

In 2008, Ms Dunstone performed the song cycle Fünfzehn Gedichte aus ‘Das Buch der hängenden Gärten’ by Schoenberg with pianist Miss Maryleigh Hand in Adelaide.  

Engagements in 2009 included full length recitals (with pianist Maryleigh Hand) in Sydney and Adelaide (to raise funds for the Adelaide Eisteddfod Society) entitled Reflections of Nancy Thomas, featuring the repertoire of the celebrated English contralto. The programs included Dvorak’s famous Gypsy Songs, Op. 55, performed in a new English version devised by Miss Dunstone.

In 2010, Maryleigh and Prudence again collaborated to perform the recital, Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness, including works by Handel, Beethoven, Brahms, Barber and Burleigh.

Prudence Dunstone studied in Adelaide at the Elder Conservatorium first as a flautist, and then as a singer, graduating with First Class Honours. She held a cadetship with the State Opera of South Australia from the Music Board of the Australia Council, and then moved to Sydney to work with the Australian Opera, where she was a member of the ESSO Young Artists Development Program.

 

An Australian Postgraduate Award enabled Ms Dunstone to undertake a PhD in musicological research at the University of Newcastle. Her topic was concerned with performance practices in early nineteenth century Italian vocal music for women, and included a full thesis with five discs of recorded live concerts, illustrating the research. Ms Dunstone has had work published by Cambridge Scholars Press (London) and in Australian Voice.

Ms Dunstone is a Lecturer in Music at the Wesley Institute (NSW). She has taught singing since 1984, preparing students for AMEB, HSC and tertiary examinations and auditions. She has been an adjudicator for the National Amateur Song Contest and Lake Macquarie Eisteddfod (2001); Warringah Eisteddfod and The Sydney Angels Singing Competition (2003).