Sydney mezzo-soprano Olivia Payne has been selected as the next Taryn Fiebig Scholar, Pinchgut Opera’s young artist professional development program named in honour of the late Australian soprano.

Established in 2021, the program provides emerging Australian opera singers of special potential with specific development opportunities, focusing on the dramatic, expressive and musical qualities that made Fiebig a leading exponent of 17th- and 18th-century opera.

Olivia Payne. Photo supplied

Payne, a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, made her debut with Pinchgut Opera in 2021 in the chorus of The Loves of Apollo & Dafne. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship. She made her film debut in Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black, forming part of the ‘Goodes Christmas Choir’.

Payne made her debut with Cantillation and Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the baton of Simone Young, then performed again with Cantillation in Charpentier’s Médée in December.

Pinchgut’s Artistic Director Erin Helyard said: “I’ve been watching Olivia’s career with interest and pleasure for a few years now. She is a young coloratura mezzo of style and substance with...