The mezzo’s latest achievement comes off the back of her 2017 Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award win.

Mezzo-soprano Bronwyn Douglass has been announced as the recipient of the 2017 Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship, awarded by the Opera Foundation for young Australians. Her assured performance at a public recital on Sunday impressed, setting her apart from the other finalists. The 28-year old singer from New South Wales will receive $43,000 to work with internationally renowned vocal, language, and movement coaches in New York.

“[Sunday] afternoon at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with His Excellency General, The Hon. David Hurley, Governor of NSW, and Mrs Hurley in attendance, we proudly announced our 53rd winner of the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship”, said Anna Cleary, Chair of The Opera Foundation for young Australians. “This signature Scholarship was the first ever offered by the Foundation that was founded by my mother in 1963. Each year we offer a portfolio of Awards and Scholarships that open the door the doors to the world of opera for all young Australian operatic performers, conductors, designers, directors and repetiteurs. Our alumni continue to enhance the operatic world across the globe and in Australia.”

“We had five very different performers presenting their best,” added Anke Höppner, 2017 Head Adjudicator and Member of the Foundation’s Music Advisory Council. “The ease with which Bronwyn presented her contrasting arias, her adhesion to the style of the repertoire combined with her advanced vocal technique and her charming stage presence convinced us that she deserved most to win.”

Douglass impressed the judges with Charlotte’s aria from Werther and Rosina’s Una voce poco fa.

An alumna of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, Douglass has received a number of accolades in recent years. These include the 2017 Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award and the Amelia Joscelyne Memorial Scholarship with the Melba Opera Trust in 2016. Douglass recently appeared in Eugene Onegin as Olga for Co-Opera and performed in Tudor Portraits with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Limelight Editor Clive Paget praising “her rich, warm tone, clear at the top, subtle at the bottom, and backed by bags of personality.”