The artists

Ms Toni Lalich OAM

Toni has worked as an accompanist and vocal coach in Melbourne for the past 25 years, performing with professional singers and instrumentalists. She was Company Manager and Vocal Coach for Short Black Opera for 13 years, supporting the development and training of First Nations singers and instrumentalists. Currently, Toni supports arts and cultural programs in regional areas, working for the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival and The Fairley Foundation. In 2019, she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the performing arts, particularly music.

Liane Keegan

Liane Keegan is a Dramatic Contralto with over 40 years experience on the Operatic and Concert Platform. Her career has taken her all over the world, with residencies with many of the leading Opera Houses and Orchestras in Europe, Australia and America . A specialist in Wagner and Verdi roles, Mahler, Elgar, Vaughan Wiliams Concert pieces to name but a few on the Concert platform and many Oratorios specific to the Contralto voice.

Liane is the Artistic Director of XL Arts inc. and the newly formed Ensemble Creatus in Melbourne. Along with teaching singing, Liane is a fully qualified Arts Therapist and Visual Artist who also has a passion for Directing Opera.

Bethan Ellsmore - Soprano

Bethan Ellsmore is a versatile vocalist with extensive professional experience in opera, music theatre, and cabaret. A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium with a Bachelor of Music in Performance (Classical Voice), she continued with a Master of Music Studies in Jazz & Contemporary Voice. Notable roles include La Fee in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Cathy in The Last Five Years, and Cosette in Les Miserables. Bethan has toured internationally as Penelope with the Australian cast of Circa’s Helpmann Award-Winning Il Ritorno and with Wilde Applause’s productions of children’s circus and opera. Bethan has created, performed, and toured extensively as a founding member of the acclaimed Brisbane cabaret collective Babushka, starring in Doll at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts and the Matilda Award-winning Happy Ever After at Brisbane Powerhouse. Her solo cabaret work Queen of the Night debuted to excellent reviews at the Queensland Cabaret Festival. Bethan co-produced and performed in the 2014 premiere of electro-opera spectacle Aria Moderna and starred alongside Carita Farrer and Lil Fi in the 21st Women in Voice. More recently, Bethan joined XL Arts singing Euridice in a workshop performance of Cherubini’s Medea.

Naomi Summers - Soprano

Naomi Summers was born in Mount Gambier and relocated to Melbourne to commence tertiary studies. Naomi holds a Bachelor of Music Performance and a Postgraduate Diploma of Music Performance and has furthered her operatic training at the Belcanto Summer Vocal Programme for young dramatic voices in Munich, Germany.

Her operatic role debut was in Dvorak’s Rusalka as the Foreign Princess and has since performed Giulietta and Voice of the Mother in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. She has extensive concert and recital experience including Soprano Soloist with the Heidelberg Choral Society in Petite Messe Solennelle; Guest Artist for the Limestone Coast Symphony Orchestra, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Melbourne International Singers Festival and Music Lover’s Society. Naomi is an artist with XL Arts inc, performing regularly in operatic and art song concerts and productions.

For more information about Naomi, visit www.naomisummers.com.au

Shimona Rose - Soprano

Singaporean soprano Shimona Rose is the 2024 Pendine International Voice of the Future. In
2020, Shimona graduated with a Master of Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of
Music where she studied with Amanda Roocroft. The 2018 Opera Scholar of the Year and 37th
Annual Australian National Liederfest winner, Shimona completed a Bachelor of Music under
the tutelage of Carrie Barr at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. In 2019, she also
completed the course of study “Poetry and Performance of the German Lied” at the
Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, which included masterclasses from various coaches
such as Andreas Schmidt, Julius Drake, Roger Vignoles and Helmut Deutsch.

An accomplished performer and experienced recitalist, Shimona has received a number of first
prizes including the Robert Salzer Vocal Championship Award at the Boroondara Eisteddfod in
2017.

Shimona began her musical studies with the piano at 5, achieving an ABRSM Diploma in Music
Performance in 2014. Though the piano was her first instrument, voice was undoubtedly a
significant aspect of her musical life. Shimona has extensive experience with choral music and
has also pursued other musical interests by briefly forming her own jazz band in 2014.
Shimona’s passion lies on the operatic stage but also in the area of music therapy and she is
delighted to be working towards a career in both fields having completed a Master of Arts in
Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2023, where she continued her
vocal training under Theresa Goble.

Stephen Coutts

Stephen has performed extensively with the Victorian Opera, Opera Su Presto, Victorian Concert Orchestra, Amore Duet, Melbourne Shakespeare Company and other leading companies around Australia. In the fields of opera, operetta and musical theatre, he has played many leading roles in productions and he currently studies under the tutelage of Australian operatic soprano, Jessica Pratt. Stephen was a Young Songmakers Scholar in 2019 with Songmakers Australia and was the Maroondah Singers Vocal Scholar between 2020-2023.