By Linda Morris
It's been a season of firsts for Boyd Owen. In May he sang the tenor solo in Orff's Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall, marking his classical debut in New York.
Before then he made his debut with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Florence, singing Lindoro in Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri, with conductor Bruno Campanella and director Joan Fonta.
Sydney Eisteddfod Opera finalists (from left) tenor Boyd Owen and sopranos Amanda Windred, Imogen-Faith Malfitano, Jessica Harper and Joelene Griffith.Credit: Brook Mitchell
For many years Owen, who lives and studies opera in Shanghai, performed with The Ten Tenors and was the singing voice behind a 2011 television Carlton Draught beer advertisement. "There are millions and millions of Australians who know my voice but no one knows who I am," he quips.
Owen hopes to start shifting that perception when on Sunday the Melbourne vocalist joins seven other finalists on stage of the Concourse Concert Hall, Chatswood to compete for the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship.
Winners and place-getters traditionally use the prize money and professional development support worth $58,500 to springboard into overseas study.
Dame Joan Sutherland, June Bronhill, Angelina Arena, Marjorie Conley, Dame Heather Begg, Dame Malvina Major, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Margaret Haggart, Deborah Riedel, Amelia Farrugia, Anna Leese and Emma Moore all went on to find world fame.
"I have been doing competition 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times I've won," says Owen. "I came second in the finals last year and in the New Zealand Aria and I'm really hoping I can go one better this year but the standard is very high."
More women than men are drawn to the scholarship, and Owen is the lone male finalist.
Bronwyn Douglass, a mezzo-soprano, was a child living in Milton, on the NSW south coast, when she declared she wanted to sing like Dame Joan Sutherland.
Now 28-years-old, she is hoping, like Owen, to win and use the scholarship to fund two years of overseas study in Britain and the United States.
Adjudicator Anson Austin says he is looking for more than a beautiful voice. To make it to finals the 57 entrants had to demonstrate a high standard of technique.
"In addition to this I'm looking for musicality and artistry and what they bring to the music in terms of interpretation. Performing with the orchestra is a really important aspect of the final.
"It's another level of development. A singer must be able to sing through thick orchestration as well as follow the conductor's instructions and work as a team with the orchestra."
Owen says people are unaware of how incredibly expensive an opera career can be, especially when starting out. "You need hours and hours of instruction in technique and in the languages because they are important in opera.
"When you are spending hours in the practice room you don't have the hours to work."
Post-script: Boyd Owen won the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship and Jessica Harper was placed second.