Divas join voices for cause in peninsula concert
One night only: Opera singers Liane Keegan, rear, and Lucy Nicolson, with Jack Nicolson, will sing at Tanglewood Estate winery. Picture: Yanni
ONE of Australia’s most distinguished opera singers will sing at a benefit concert in Merricks next weekend.Dramatic contralto Liane Keegan, who is staying in Mornington with her mother Yvonne Morrison while on a sabbatical from the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, will perform with her long-time friend, Frankston soprano Lucy Nicolson in a once-only concert, Nightsong at Tanglewood.
All proceeds from the concert will go to Connor House disability respite care centre in Mornington, where Ms Nicolson’s son Jack is a regular attendee.
The singers studied together as teenagers under Joan Arnold at the Melba Conservatorium and were finalists in the Herald Sun Aria competition before heading in different directions – Ms Keegan to Europe where her rare voice was in demand for dark, dramatic roles, and Ms Nicolson to the Victorian State Opera and then motherhood of the profoundly disabled Jack, now 19.
“Jacks disabilities became apparent by the time he was eight months old and suddenly opera seemed rather insignificant,” Ms Nicolson said. While the gruelling world of international opera was ruled out, music was still her first love.
She has taught singing at several schools and for private clients and has a long list of directing and performance credits in choirs, ensembles, operettas and music theatre.
Ms Keegan too is nurturing the next generation of performers, teaching at the Melbourne Opera Studio, which she described as a “finishing school for aspiring opera singers”.
Both remember receiving the gift of music at an early age.
“Apparently I would stand up in my cot and sing instead of crying,” recalled Ms Keegan, who grew up in Sorrento.
“Mum and dad encouraged us to sing and we had the freedom to wander around outside and sing at the top of our voice.”
For Ms Nicolson, childhood in a Ukranian family was immersed in music. “There was lots of singing around the table and my grandmother was the soprano. I used to sit under the table and listen.”She will sing solo and perform duets with Ms Nicolson; they will be accompanied by pianist Craig Minty.Nightsong at Tanglewood is from 6pm on Saturday, November 19, at Tanglewood Downs Estate winery in Bulldog Road, Merricks. Tickets are $55 and include dinner box and glass of wine and are available at Farrell’s Bookshop in Main Street, Mornington, call 59755034.
