Our resident mezzo Linda Hirst will be joined for GENERATION by the wonderful Shakira Tsindos. It may be stormy October where we are, but let her transport you to a clear spring evening with Brahms' beautiful Die Mainacht:
Keep meeting the team this week #generators, but for now, here's what Shakira's been up to lately:
Mezzo soprano Shakira Tsindos has been the recipient of several awards in Australia and Europe, such as; the Joseph Sambrook Opera Scholarship (Melba Opera Trust), the Italian Opera Fellowship (Acclaim Awards), and held a scholarship with Opera Scholars Australia (OSA) for three years. Shakira was also a Young Artist with the state opera company, Victorian Opera, in 2016.
Shakira has been an active performer in the national and state opera companies in Australia, performing the roles of Agatha the Cat in By the Light of the Moon for Opera Australia; Dorothée in Cendrillon, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Mrs Mayor in The Pied Piper, Possum in The Magic Pudding and Il Cucolo in La bella dormente nel bosco (The Sleeping Beauty) for Victorian Opera; and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for The Classics series.
HERA’s production of Generation marks Shakira’s UK opera debut, followed by the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Merry Opera in 2020. Her European credits include; Second Witch and Dido (cover) in Dido and Aeneas for the Festival Monastery Concert in Maulbronn, Germany, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte for the Mediterranean Opera Festival.
Shakira has performed as the alto soloist in Haydn’s The Creation with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, C. P. E. Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, Hitchcock and Herrmann (MSO), Ravel's Shéhérazade, Saint-Saens' Christmas Oratorio, Lenthall’s Calls of War, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in D minor KV65 in Stjørdal, Norway and most recently Vivaldi’s Gloria.
In 2018, Shakira was the winner of the third place prize in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria, a semi-finalist in the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, a finalist in the Bettine McCaughan Scholarship and a finalist for the Australian Music Foundation in London.
Shakira is currently completing the Guildhall Artist Masters in Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, United Kingdom under the tutelage of esteemed soprano Yvonne Kenny AM.