The Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation awards prizes to mezzo Bronwyn Douglass and soprano Katie Lowe.

Australian mezzo-soprano Bronwyn Douglass has won the 2017 Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award, presented at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Saturday, while the Elizabeth Connell Prize went to English soprano Katie Lowe.

^{Bronwyn Douglass. Photograph courtesy of The Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation}

It was a big night for 28-year old Douglass, who was placed third in the competiton in 2016. As well as taking home a cash prize of $30,000 as the winner of this year’s Bel Canto Award, she won the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto Summer School prize valued at $10,000, the Tait Memorial Trust Prize, which gives the recipient the chance to perform in a TMT concert in London, and the Audience Choice Award worth $1,000. She also won the Best Mozart and Handel Aria award for her performance of Deh, per questo istante solo from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Preliminary Finals.

At the Finals, Douglass sang Per questa fiamma indomita from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and Werther!…Qui m’aurait dit… Ces lettres!...