Merlyn Quaife
Merlyn Quaife
A performer of great versatility, Merlyn Quaife’s regular performances include opera, oratorio, chamber music, lieder and contemporary music. She began her singing studies at the University of Melbourne with Brian Hansford. In 1979, she was awarded a DAAD Scholarship by the German Government to study with Prof Hanno Blaschke at the Munich Hochschule. This was followed by further study in London with Mme Celia Bizony, a Baroque Music specialist.
Since her return to Australia, Merlyn has appeared with each of the State Opera Companies. Her roles have included Marzelline (Fidelio), Leila (Pearl Fishers), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Pamina (Magic Flute), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Denise in the Australian premiere of Tippet’s opera The Knot Graden for Spoleto Festival, Melbourne. Other premiers have included Mrs Samsa in Brian Howard’s Metamorphosis (VSO), the title role in Gillian Whitehead’s A Bride of Fortune (WAOC) and Chiang Ch’ing in John Adam’s Nixon in China (SOSA) for the 1992 Adelaide Festival.
In 1993 she premiered the title role in Gordon Kerry’s Medea with Chamber Made Opera (Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra). It was with this role that she made her American debut at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC in 1994 and 1995. In 1998 she repeated the role in a new production for the Berliner Kammeroper to critical acclaim. There was a further performance in Düsseldorf for the Festival ‘8 Tage Oper’.
In 1997, she performed Mrs Nordstrom in a highly acclaimed MTC production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. Merlyn has performed with all the ABC orchestras: works including Penderecki’s Te Deum conducted by the composer, Handel’s Messiah, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, Tippet’s Symphony No.3, Orff ’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem and many new Australian works.
She has also performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Voronesz Philarmonic (Russia) and the Berliner Capella. Merlyn has performed and recorded extensively in Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium and Spain. She is also a regular soloist at St. Francis, Melbourne’s oldest Catholic Church, where orchestral Masses are used as an integral part of the service on Feast Days. Along with her busy performance career, Merlyn is Co-ordinator of Voice at the Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne.