Australian soprano Louise Keast has been awarded the 2026 Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship at a ceremony hosted at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 29 August.

Keast has won the $43,000 John Lamble Foundation Scholarship, which will support overseas study and the next stage of her operatic career. Mezzo-soprano Ella Orehek-Coddington has been awarded the Second Place Award, valued at $4,000.

Louise Keast, 2026 Opera Scholarship winner. Photo © Winkipop Media

“It feels absolutely surreal to win this scholarship,” Keast told Limelight. “Winning feels like recognition has finally arrived for the years of hard work that has gone into this: the auditions that rarely lead anywhere, competitions where I failed to progress, cover roles that I undertook but never got to jump in on stage and show what I can do … to have the adjudicators, highly esteemed professionals in our industry, award me first prize feels like they feel and know that I am built for this job,  just as I in my heart and soul know that I am.”