Damien Beaumont
Photo courtesy of ABC Classic

Damien Beaumont

The popular ABC Classic presenter discusses quitting a science degree to train as a bass-baritone, his excitement at landing a radio job, and his new obsession with bird song.

There was always classical music and operetta playing in the house when I was growing up. Gilbert & Sullivan was big. A lot of people used to refer to us as the Von Trapp Family, which was quite funny because I grew up in Hahndorf [in South Australia] so there was that German connection, though my family aren’t of German descent. Dad was a great singer. He was a dairy farmer but he studied singing at the Con and did all the...