I am available as both a solo performer in concert, oratorio & opera, and as part of a duo with pianist Miss Maryleigh Hand (please see the navigation bar for ‘Dunstone & Hand Duo’).

 My singing career began in Adelaide, under the guidance of my first teacher, Australian soprano Marilyn Richardson. My first performances were as a concert singer, performing everything from Bach to Schubert to Schoenberg, and even recently composed works. I also performed frequently in oratorio.

My first experiences in opera were as a chorister for the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and The State Opera of South Australia, with whom I subsequently had a cadetship from the Music Board of the Australia Council. After winning the State Opera Aria, and participating in the world premiere of Richard Meale’s Voss with the Australian Opera, I moved to Sydney, where I was a member of the Australian Opera’s Esso Young Artists Development Program, and later a principal artist.

After study in New York and London, I returned to Australia to take up a freelance career, performing opera, oratorio and concert repertoire. I have appeared regularly with the State Opera of South Australia and other regional companies, and have appeared on a number of occasions as a soloist with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Amusingly, some of the most memorable performances have occurred under the most stressful circumstances. There was, for instance, the occasion when I was rung at 8am by the conductor of the Sydney Philharmonia, Anthony Walker, enquiring if I knew C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Requiem. Although I had never sung these works, he was quite insistent that I sing them in the concert hall of the Sydney Opera House that very evening. The scheduled soloist had become ill. The result: sight-reading the works in the morning with the orchestra and performing that night! Never have I been so glad of my musicianship skills.

 

1991–2010                       Freelance Opera Principal & Concert Singer

1987–1990                       Member of the Australian Opera

1984–1987                       Member of the State Opera of South Australia

1980–1987                       Freelance Singer

Prudence E. Dunstone

Singer, Singing Teacher, Musicologist

Prudence E. Dunstone

Singer, Singing Teacher, Musicologist