The 2019 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition Finals was held on 19 September at The Concourse Concert Hall in Sydney.

Manase Latu was named the winner of the Marianne Mathy Scholarship after his stunning performances of Mozart’s Tradito, Schernito and Rossini’s Ecco ridente in cielo accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra conducted by Dr. Nicholas Milton AM.

At the 2019 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition Manase won:

The Marianne Mathy Scholarship (‘THE MATHY‘)
AUD $30,000 to assist with a program of study and/or singing activity
The winner of The Mathy will also receive:
1. Audition Prize from Lyric Opera of Chicago‘s Ryan Opera Center: an opportunity to audition for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s professional-artist development program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center.
2. Lili Ussher Prize Portrait: a painting of the winner in concert dress.
3. Oral History Award: a taped interview by oral historian Diana Ritch will be recorded and retained within the Oral History Collection of the National Library of Australia.
4. The Mathy: a limited-edition Drago Marin Cherina sculpture presented by Music & Opera Singers Trust Ltd (MOST®).

Manase was also awarded the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Prize: a professional engagement to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

The Adjudicators were: Noëmi Nadelmann (National Adjudicator), Jeffrey Black, Joanne Goodman, and Dr. Narelle Yeo.

View the ASC Finals Programme HERE.

Manase graduated from a Bachelor of music in Classical Performance majoring in voice in 2017 with first class honours from the University of Auckland. He is this year’s Freemason resident artist with the New Zealand Opera and is also a member of the Kiri Programme, an elite program for aspiring opera singers that helps to develop their performance and musicality skills. Manase was the recipient of the George Wilson Turner Scholarship, the University of Auckland STEAM Scholarship, the Auckland Choral Scholarship and the Kathleen Mary Reardon Memorial Scholarship.

Manase has performed Candide and Manon with the Freemasons Opera Chorus and the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also the understudy for Nemorino and a member of the chorus in The Elixir of Love with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performed Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville with the Opera in Schools Tour earlier this year.

In 2020, Manase will start the Masters programme at The Royal Northern College.