Xenia Puskarz Thomas has been announced as the recipient of the Melba Opera Trust’s 2026 Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award. The Brisbane-born mezzo-soprano will be awarded $25,000 to support the development of her professional career.

Xenia Puskarz Thomas. Photo supplied

Puskarz Thomas is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and The Juilliard School, and was named as one of The New York Times’ ‘Five Breakout Artists‘ of the 2024 Salzburg Festival for her performance as Aglaja in Weinberg’s Der Idiot.

She will perform at the 2026 Glyndenbourne Festival next week in director and artist William Kentridge’s major new production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.

Earlier this year, she performed alongside Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon in Orfeo at the Adelaide Festival, and in 2025, she performed in George Benjamin’s Picture a Day Like This at Italy’s Teatro San Carlo and served as a soloist for the Berlin Philharmonic’s performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

Xenia Puskarz Thomas performing in L’enfant et les sortilèges at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2017. Photo © Nick Morrissey

Puskarz Thomas was a member of the...