The five singers competing in the final of the 2023 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition have been announced; two singers from Aotearoa/New Zealand, three from New South Wales.

In the running for a prize made up of a range of scholarships, masterclasses, workshops, career opportunities and the prestigious $30,000 Marianne Mathy Scholarship are soprano Michaela Cadwgan (NZ), mezzo-soprano Cassandra Doyle, tenor Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono (NZ), mezzo-soprano Ellena Hicks and soprano Yvette Keong (NSW) .

The winner will be decided after performing in front of a live audience on 31 August at the Concert Hall, The Concourse, Chatswood, with the Opera Australia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fanshil.

Previous winners include Jeremy Boulton (baritone, 2022), Manase Latu (tenor, 2019), Zoe Drummond (soprano, 2018) and tenor Filipe Manu in 2017. The winner of the first IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, held in 1982, was soprano Nicola Waite.

L-R: Ellena Hicks, Yvette Keong, Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, Michaela Cadwgan and Cassandra Doyle with the National Adjudicator Patrick Togher (centre).

Michaela Cadwgan is an alumna of the New Zealand Opera School. In recent years, she has collaborated as soloist with New Zealand Symphony...