I have always found music and theatre a very potent combination. At age 11, in the children’s chorus of an amateur season of Oliver in Brisbane, I was presented with the “Hamlet Award” for overacting. It was a small statue of a pig with my name engraved on it. I treasured that pig.

I have always loved to sing, even before I could speak. I started private singing lessons as a 13-year-old, with my charismatic high school music and drama teacher Ms Antonia Breen. At first, I didn’t really differentiate between Black is the Colour of my True Love’s Hair, a Schubert lied or a Marchesi vocal exercise. I guess I just liked the sound of my own voice.

At home, as always, I still only listened to pop music and singer-songwriters. I also began writing songs. Classical music wasn’t my passion – it seemed too foreign and old- fashioned. As a lifelong lover of classical music, my mother did her best to encourage me. She had subscribed to the ABC Red Concert Series from the age of ten, and started going on dates with boys there as a teenager. (My own teenage dates mostly took place below the carpark at...