Margaret Medlyn

Known as a singing actor, Margaret Medlyn ONZM is one of Australasia's finest singers, with consistently highly acclaimed performances in opera, oratorio and recitals. Margaret has sung in the U.K. and Europe, particularly for English National Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, and opera companies in Australia, including Opera Australia.

Roles include Salome in Salome, Marie in Wozzeck, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Giorgetta in Il tabarro, Leonore in Il trovatore, Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier, various Rheinmaidens, Sieglinde and Fricka in Die Walküre, Gutrune in Götterdämmerung, Kundry in Parsifal, Aida and Amneris in Aida, Tosca and Turandot, Judith in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, and Isolde in Tristan und Isolde.

Recent engagements are the solo in Gareth Farr’s Relict Furies, Kostelnicka in Jenufa and Kabanicka in Kat’ya Kabanova. Her position as Head of Voice at the New Zealand School of Music combines her teaching experience with the lessons learnt in her performance career, and as well as conveying these lessons through teaching, has prompted her to articulate her experience in her doctorate and recently published book, Embodying Voice, Singing Verdi, Singing Wagner.

As a National Recording Artist for Radio New Zealand, Margaret recorded an extensive list of recital programmes and has also released four CDs: Burning Bright featuring the work of four New Zealand women composers under the Kiwi Pacific label, In a Strange Land featuring the songs of Richard Fuchs for Rollover Productions, the vocal works of Jenny Macleod for Wai-te-ata Press and Stephan Prock’s song cycle Cages for the Wind. Recent performances were La zia principessa in Suor Angelica, Rod Biss’s Bird Songs, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells for Orchestra Wellington, and two recitals.