Underlining her rising star status, Australian mezzo-soprano Ashlyn Tymms has been named the winner of the 2025 Opera Awards, securing the Youth Music Foundation Australia Prize valued at $30,000.

The annual awards, administered by the Music & Opera Singers Trust (MOST), were held this year in the Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre and attracted the largest field of entrants in nearly 20 years. A panel comprising Dr Di Bresciani, Rosamund Illing, Simon Meadows and Peter Tregear selected Tymms following a full day of auditions.

Ashlyn Tymms as Jezibaba and Nicole Car as Rusalka in Opera Australia’s Rusalka 2025. Photo by Carlita Sari

Tymms, who made her Opera Australia debut earlier this year in Cendrillon and later performed the role of Ježibaba in Rusalka, has recently appeared with companies including State Opera South Australia and West Australian Opera. She said she was “absolutely thrilled and deeply grateful” to receive the prize, adding that “Australia has given me so many opportunities to grow as an artist, and this award now opens the door for me to take the next exciting step in Europe.”

Baritone Lachlann Lawton also received two awards: the $5,000 Armstrong-Martin Scholarship, sponsored by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, and the Glyndebourne Festival Prize, offering rehearsal access and audition opportunities at the UK festival.

MOST CEO Roland Gridiger said Tymms exemplified the calibre of artists the organisation seeks to support. “With her world-class voice and remarkable stage presence, she is a performer of international standing,” he said.

The Opera Awards are among Australia’s most significant opportunities for emerging operatic talent and support singers seeking to advance their careers and studies overseas.