Hobart Eisteddfod Alumni
Where are they now?
Jassy Husk
City of Hobart Eisteddfod Awards:
Open Operatic Aria Award - 2002, 2003, 2010
Joshua Cooper Memorial Classical Voice Award - 2000
Jassy Husk is renowned for her classical and crossover music. She is an award-winning opera singer; has performed at the Sydney Opera House and London Coliseum; achieved a UK top-10 hit and featured on a chart-topping album with DJ Pete Tong; and written and produced ground-breaking original oceanic music as part of her Jadi album to support coral reef conservation.
Jassy seeks to amplify the voice of conservation and give to grassroots charities that make a difference in their communities.
Jassy Husk is co-founder and CEO of Reef Chorus (www.reefchorus.com) a non-profit, a Community Interest Company that creates music with impact.
Through dedication and discipline. Since the age of six, Jassy knew she wanted to sing, “I’ve never stopped training and learning”. She has greatly benefitted from mentorship, including coaching by some of the world’s leading singers, coaches, conductors and directors. “I’ve been lucky enough to work with greats such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; Dennis O’Neil CBE, Gerald Martin Moore and Sir Richard Bonynge”.
Jassy performs internationally from her base in Singapore. For several years, she held the role of principal Soprano for an extensive gala tour across 10 cities in China, in which she sung popular operatic arias. She has performed professionally worldwide from the Sydney Opera House to the London Coliseum.
“Perhaps the most magical place I’ve performed is at Sark Opera Festival in the Channel Islands. With just a population of 400 people, no paved roads and no street lights, it is a magical island tucked between the English South Coast and France. A truly memorable location”.
Website: https://www.jassyhusk.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jassyhuskartist
Instagram: https://instagram.com/jassyhusk
Music: https://www.jassyhusk.hearnow.com
Ben Van Tienan
City of Hobart Eisteddfod Awards:
Open Pianoforte Concerto - 2001, 2002 & 2003
Lady Cross Trophy - 2001, 2002 & 2003
Open Pianoforte Recital Award - 2003
Joshua Cooper Memorial Classical Voice Award - 2002
Adjudicator’s Choice Trophy - 2003
Ben Van Tienan grew up playing the piano, singing in community choirs and loving community theatre in Hobart. He studied as a pianist/accompanist at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and while he was there, he fell into the Sydney Childrens Choir/Gondwana scene. This shaped his musical life so uniquely and with so much love that he spent 3-4 years there, accompanying, conducting, and ultimately being Composer in Residence in 2010. Ben also fell into musical theatre, and now his life in London is pretty much divided between theatre, choirs, and composition!
Ben is currently the Musical Director for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical “Cinderella” on the West End!
In 2020 the TSO Chorus commissioned a work from Ben.
The premiere performance of “Songs in Isolation” was given by the TSO Chorus, in the Goods Shed, under pandemic conditions.
BIO:
As Music Director: Rothschild & Sons in NYC (Lincoln Center/NYPL) and London (Park Theatre); the UK tours of Funny Girl (and worldwide cinema broadcast), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, West Side Story, and The Rocky Horror Show; Les Miserables in Concert (Guernsey); Chicago (Hong Kong), and Ordinary Days (Australia).
As Assistant Music Director: School of Rock (Gillian Lynne Theatre), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (London Palladium), Wicked (Singapore), Doctor Zhivago (Australia, Seoul), West Side Story (Australia, Europe) and Chicago (Australia, Singapore).
On Music Staff: Phantom of the Opera, The Light in the Piazza, Topol in Fiddler on the Roof, Titanic (Australia); Orpheus in the Underworld, The Gondoliers, Richard Mills’ Love of the Nightingale (Opera Australia); Puccini’s La Rondine (Sydney Symphony); John Adams’ El Nino, Britten’s War Requiem and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (Sydney Philharmonia).
As Cover Conductor: Young Frankenstein (Garrick Theatre), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, (Savoy Theatre).
Credits: Information & Photo: https://andrewlloydwebberscinderella.com
Information: https://singscore.com.au/ben-van-tienen-composer-page/
Thomas Rimes
City of Hobart Eisteddfod Awards:
Lady Cross Trophy (Junior) - 1991
Open Pianoforte Recital Award - 2000
Thomas Rimes has emerged as one of the most outstanding Australian conductors working throughout the world during the past two decades. Born in the Fiji Islands, he grew up in Hobart, Tasmania, where he received his early musical training in pianoforte, organ, choral singing and conducting.
He completed his formal musical training in the United States, where he was the recipient of the Sir Georg Solti U.S. Foundation Awardfor an operatic conductor/pianist. In 2003 Thomas was awarded a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Memphis.
Having completed his Masters Studies, Thomas pursued further studies in New York City with such renowned teachers as Paul Nadler from the Metropolitan Opera and David Gilbert from the Manhattan School of Music and worked for two years under the artistic mentorship of Placido Domingo as part of the Domingo/Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera. During his time in Washington D.C., Thomas appeared as a symphonic and operatic conductor at the New Opera Festival of Rome and was assistant conductor for numerous operatic productions
at Washington National Opera, Opera de Monte-Carlo and Baltimore Opera. At this time he also appeared regularly as a pianoforte accompanist in numerous concerts throughout Europe, the United States, China and Australia.
From 2009 to 2014, Thomas was engaged at the Staatstheater Kassel in Kassel, Germany, where he worked as a Kapellmeister. After making his German operatic conducting debut with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor he conducted a wide-ranging repertoire consisting of romantic German and Italian opera, Baroque opera, operetta, ballet and musicals.
From 2009 to 2014, Thomas was engaged at the Staatstheater Kassel in Kassel, Germany, where he worked as a Kapellmeister. After making his German operatic conducting debut with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor he conducted a wide-ranging repertoire consisting of romantic German and Italian opera, Baroque opera, operetta, ballet and musicals.
From 2014 to 2019, Thomas was the second Kapellmeister at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. In this position he has conducted a wide range of opera and musical repertoire. He has also been active at the theatre composing and arranging music for productions at the theatre, most notably for the world premiere of the innovative “Steampunk Opera” Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober.
In addition to his conducting activities, Thomas is an active composer of opera, musicals and vocal music. He presented the American premiere of his first opera The Long Ride Home, for which he also wrote the story and libretto, in New York City in 2006 and the Australian premiere in Sydney in 2008. Thomas completed a second work, the comic opera “Annus Horribilis” in 2019. He is currently in the process of writing a musical titled O.T.O., based on Shakespeare’s Othello. Since he began his work as the Director of Music at St. David’s Cathedral Thomas has premiered several new choral compositions with the Cathedral Choir, including a new Communion Setting for Soprano and Alto voices.
For more information visit: http://www.tomrimes.com
Elizabeth Whitehouse
City of Hobart Eisteddfod Awards:
Enid Spencer McDougall Award - 1965
Elizabeth Whitehouse was born in Hobart (Australia), studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and furthered her studies in Vienna, at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.
She began her professional career in Darmstadt in 1988, and continued in Nürnberg (1991-1996), where she interpreted such roles as Donna Elvira, Madame Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Figaro Countess, Agathe, Lulu, Marie (Wozzeck), Senta, Amelia and Tosca. She has sung at many prestigious festivals, such as Edinburgh, Salzburg, Bregenz, Zürich and Berlin to mention a few; has performed regularly at La Scala Milan, Maggio Musicale Florenz, Teatro Communale Bologna, Teatro Reggio Turin, La Fenice Venice, Teatro Real Madrid, Berlin, Frankfurt, etc. She sang at Placido Domingo‘s 30th Aniversary at the San Francisco Opera and returned there to sing Tosca, a role which she also sang at the new National Opera Theater in Tokyo, with great success. In 1996, Elizabeth Whitehouse made a triumphant debut with Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House as Senta, and has been returning to sing there ever since. For her interpretations of Senta and Lady Macbeth of Msensk, she has won two „Mo“ Awards, and the Robert Helpmann Award for the latter. Elizabeth Whitehouse is much in demand as a concert singer. A very special highlight, was her participation as Tove (Gurrelieder) with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by of Sir Simon Rattle, at his inauguration concert as new Chief Conductor.
Elizabeth Whitehouse has recently had her first solo CD “Believe in Love” released under the “Melba label”.
Contact: www.elizabethwhitehouse.info
e.whitehouse@web.de
