Petite Messe Solonnelle
Mario Dobernig - Conductor
Mario is the Artistic Director and Conductor for Victoria Chorale and the Art of Sound Orchestra. His dynamic conducting has delighted audiences and attracted many singers to the choir. Recent performances include Mozart vs Salieri at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Requiems by Gounod and Duruflé, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Brahms’s Requiem and Alto Rhapsody; Beethoven’s Mass in C, Symphony No. 1, Eroica and Pastoral Symphony.
Australian performances with other musical groups include conducting at Hobart’s MONA FOMA and festival appearances with Electronic Dance Music Producers. Mario’s international work includes conducting annually in Europe and leading the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in Doha.
Art of Sound Ensemble
William Schmidt - Principle Pianist
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Our wonderful rehearsal accompanist, William Schmidt, is headlining the Art of Sound ensemble as principal pianist. William holds two Masters Degrees from the University of Melbourne and the Music and Arts University of Vienna, Austria and has performed widely as soloist, and collaboratively, throughout Australia. He is a teaching associate at the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music at Monash University and is a much sought after accompanist for recitals, eisteddfods, music festivals, auditions and music exams.
As a composer and arranger William has had his commissioned works widely performed, recorded and aired on 3MBS radio.
William is the winner of numerous National and State music awards and scholarships and we are thrilled that he brings his brilliant musical virtuosity to our performance of Petite Messe Solennelle.
Konrad Olszewski - Pianist
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Konrad is in great demand as a performer,
accompanist, and teacher. He completed his Master of Music degree with a postgraduate scholarship at the University of Melbourne in 2012, studying with Glenn Riddle. While at Melbourne University, Konrad received many awards including the J.S Bach Prize, the Lady
Turner Exhibition Prize and the Searle Piano Faculty Merit Scholarship.
Konrad was selected as one of 20 finalists to participate in the Sydney International Piano Competition (2012). He is regularly invited to perform recitals around Australia, including performances at the BMW (now Deakin) Edge in Melbourne, and the Sydney Town Hall where he recently performed the Paderewski Piano Concerto. As accompanist, he has won numerous awards, notably at the Liederfest and Mietta Song competitions. Konrad also enjoys composing and performing jazz and popular works.
Steve Grant - Accordionist
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Steve has a diverse and varied range of musical experience, encompassing a variety of different musical instruments and styles - traditional and contemporary, acoustic and electric, local and global. He took up accordion in his late teens, and has been in great demand ever since, applying his skills to country music, blues, jazz, Brazilian, European and Irish music.
He has performed with Robyn Archer, A. R. Rahman, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Black Arm Band, Andy Baylor, The Temptations. Appearances include festIvals in South Korea, Copenhagen, Berlin, Jakarta, Bogota, Mumbai, Tamworth and Apollo Bay.
Victoria Chorale is looking forward to performing Rossini’s delightful Petite Messe Solennelle, at the James Tatoulis Auditorium, MLC, 207 Barkers Road, Kew.
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Written in the composer’s last years, the work was first performed in March 1864 in France. Whilst adhering to the traditional mass structure, Rossini’s operatic genius shines through the work, with four soloists sharing beautiful melodies with the choristers. The Victoria Chorale’s Music Director, Mario Dobernig, will conduct the Victoria Chorale in this performance, along with two pianists and an accordion.
Jacqueline Porter - Soprano
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Jacqueline holds an honours degree in Music Performance and a Bachelor of Arts (Italian) from the University of Melbourne. Equally at home on the operatic stage and the concert platform, Jacqueline appears regularly with Australia’s major symphony orchestras and choral societies.​​
Performance highlights include Peer Gynt (Grieg), The Ugly Duckling (Prokofiev) and Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5 (Villa Lobos) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra; Faure’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Mozart’s Requiem and Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Tavener’s Song of the Angel (Dark MOFO Festival) and Last Night of the Proms with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
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Operatic roles include Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro); Despina (Così fan tutte); Princess (Sleeping Beauty); Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for Victorian Opera and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) for State Opera of South Australia.
Sally-Anne Russell - Mezzo-Soprano
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Sally-Anne Russell has appeared in twenty-five countries and has recorded over 40 CDs and DVDs including her solo aria disc Enchanting with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Sally-Anne’s awards include an ARIA for Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Sara Macliver, and nominations for Young Australian of the Year, Young Achiever of the Year, Green Room and Helpmann Awards.​
Sally-Anne has over 80 operatic roles in her repertoire and regularly works with all the major opera companies and symphony orchestras in Australia. International highlights include the Spoleto Festival Italy, Washington National Opera (DC) and Carmel Bach Festival.
This year Sally-Anne will return to the Melbourne Bach Choir, Victorian Opera, Adelaide Symphony, Melbourne Opera and debut with National Opera, Canberra as Bradamante in Alcina.
Sally-Anne is co-artistic director of Albury Chamber Music Festival, a member of the Kathaumixw Festival International Artistic Council, Canada and the Belvedere International Singing Competition, Vienna. Sally-Anne is proudly sponsored by the Bee Family Foundation.
Jiacheng Ding - Tenor
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Jiacheng moved to Australia to commence post-graduate study at the Elder Conservatorium and in 2018 he graduated with High Distinction from The University of Adelaide with a Masters of Music.
For the 2021/22 seasons Jiacheng has been a member of the prestigious Opera Academy for the State Opera of South Australia as a Young Artist and has worked with Nicholas Braithwaite, Graham Abbott, Sharolyn Kimmorly, Anthony Hunt, Rosalind Martin, Sally-Anne Russell and Glenn Winslade.
For the 2022-23 seasons, his performances include The Golden Cockerel, Verdi’s Messa da requiem and Trial by Jury for Adelaide Festival, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore for Co-Opera, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria for Victoria Chorale, Purcell’s Dido And Aeneas at Albury Chamber Music Festival, Handel’s Messiah at Coriole Wineyards and for Adelaide Harmony Choir at Tanunda, Parpignol in Puccini’s La Boheme, Topp in Meale’s Voss, Giuseppe in La Traviata, Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro and SeaLink’s Carols by Candle Lights at Elder Park for State Opera of South Australia. Haydn’s Missa Cellensis for Allegri ensemble Hobart.
For the 2024 season, his performance include The Nightingale for Adelaide Festival, Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem for Adelaide Harmony Choir, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle for Victoria Chorale, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, Mozart’s Cossi Fan Tutte and Normanno in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor for State Opera South Australia.
Pelham Andrews - Bass
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Pelham trained in the UK, Germany and Australia and has been a principal artist for Opera Australia, State Opera South Australia, Victorian Opera, English National Opera, Auckland Philharmonia, the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, and numerous other ensembles.
Recent performing highlights include Bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Zurich Ballet for Adelaide Festival, Banquo (Macbeth), Bartolo (Marriage of Figaro) and Judd/Bonner (Voss) for State Opera South Australia, Don Fernando (Fidelio) for Sydney Symphony, Faure’s Requiem for Adelaide Symphony, new chamber-work As the Universe Unfolds by Glyn Lehmann, and his roles in Watershed – The Death of Dr Duncan for its acclaimed 2022 Adelaide Festival premiere and its 2024 staging by Opera Australia.