About Donna
After more than 25 years living, performing, and teaching in Germany and the US, including 15 years as senior adjunct professor of voice at Hofstra University in New York, Donna moved back to her native Sydney in 2018 to manage Opera Australia’s prestigious Young Artist Program. Since 2021, she has been working as a voice teacher and opera coach at her alma mater, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, in her busy private studio in Neutral Bay and as a visiting coach for Opera Australia.
Donna’s career in music has featured parallel paths of performance and coaching. As a performer, she has worked with an impressive list of conductors and stage directors and studied with eminent European and American coaches. Drawing on this extensive experience, and being an accomplished pianist, Donna has long been in demand as a coach and accompanist for her professional colleagues as well as for students. As a teacher and coach, she has prepared singers for performances at Opera Australia, Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, La Scala, the Wiener Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera New York; and for successful auditions for the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and the Lindemann Young Artist Program at the Metropolitan Opera. She has given master classes for the American Choral Directors Association, the New York Classical Singer Convention, the Youth Program at Canterbury Opera, the Young Artist Program at Opera Queensland, and the Sydney Conservatorium.
During a successful career as a performer, Donna’s operatic engagements have included work with European companies (Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kammeroper, Düsseldorf Opera, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart), as well as with Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and Canterbury Opera. As a concert artist, she has performed repertoire from Bach through Verdi to Nono with orchestras and ensembles including the Prague Symphony, China National Symphony, Residentie Orchest of Den Haag, Junge Deutsche Philharmonic, Symphony of the Americas, Sydney Opera House Orchestra, and with Ensemble Moderne and the Seymour Group.
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Donna holds a Bachelor of Music and Diploma of Opera from the Sydney Conservatorium, and a Masters in Educational Leadership and Policy from Hofstra University.
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