Art Song is tough.

Alongside the works of Mozart, most singers will cite the genre as vital to their vocal health.  Its technical and interpretative demands are considerable, and delivered at point-blank range, it leaves the performer entirely exposed.

Add to that the inherent challenges of the Russian language and the degree of difficulty is extreme.

Nevertheless, this is the task Opera Australia’s Young Artist Program set its inaugural cohort for their final recital before they make their mainstage debuts with the national company.

Clockwise: Elias Wilson, Shikara Ringdahl, Leon Vitogiannis and Chelsea Burns. Photo © Madeline Adams

The Head of Young Artists Dr Francis Greep says the choice of program was motivated by the four young singers’ preparations for OA’s Eugene Onegin next year, and it is Tatyana and Olga’s Duet from Tchaikovsky’s opera that opens the recital.

We hear soprano Chelsea Burns and mezzo-soprano Shikara Ringdahl before we see them, their beautifully blended voices filling the converted church hall as they make their way around the audience and join Greep at the grand piano.

Burns then performs the first of two songs by Rachmaninov –  In my Garden at Night (text by Blok) and To her...