Mezzo-soprano Anna Dowsley has won the 2019 Opera Awards, taking home a purse of over $30,000 dollars. She was awarded the YMFAustralia Award, worth $30,000, the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship, worth $4,500, and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme Scholarship. She will use the funds to advance her career overseas in the European opera and concert scene, as she engages in coaching, training, auditions and language courses that will propel her further into an international operatic career.

Anna Dowsley

“When I received the phone call on Monday night, I was incredibly excited and delighted to have been chosen for this award,” Dowsley told Limelight. “Now mixed in is this wonderful feeling of recognition that my pursuits, dreams and aspirations are endorsed and encouraged. I’m conscious of the absolute honour associated with this award and I take on this opportunity and responsibility with great sincerity.”

Dowsley, who won both the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship and the Marianne Mathy Scholarship in 2012, was accepted into Opera Australia’s Young Artist Program in 2014 and is now a Principal Artist with the company. Her recent appearances include as Madelon, alongside German tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the concert performance of...