Graham Pushee Appointed National Adjudicator For 2020 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition

Australian counter-tenor Graham Pushee will be the National Adjudicator of the 2020 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition.

Unforgettable performances, including the title role in Julius Ceasar and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera Australia,  are highlights in this ARIA nominated counter-tenor’s career that has spanned over three decades. Following his debut in 1973 as Oberon for UNSW Opera, Graham Pushee performed widely throughout Australia before being awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1977, which enabled him to study in London and subsequently at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where he then lived for over 20 years. 

Highly acclaimed both for his vocal and dramatic portrayals, he was known for his characterisations of the heroic roles of Handel and of lyric roles in the early 17th Century repertoire. Guest appearances took him to the world’s leading opera houses including La Scala Milan, Staatsoper and Komische Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Opera Cologne, Frankfurt Opera, La Monnaie Brussels, Opera National de Paris, Lyon and Montpellier and Houston Grand Opera. He was a regular guest at festivals including Salzburg Easter Festival, Holland Festival, Innsbruck Festival, Vienna Festwochen, Heidelberg Castle Festival, Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, and the Handel Festivals in Maryland USA, Karlsruhe, Göttingen and Halle. For Opera Australia Graham also sang Ruggiero (Alcina), Rinaldo and Goffredo (Rinaldo) and Apollo (Death in Venice), and featured at both the 40^th and 50th Birthday and the New Years’ Eve Galas. 

Concert appearances in Europe and Australia include Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, the Mass in B minor, Handel oratorios, and major works of Telemann, Purcell, Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Schütz and Monteverdi.  

Graham’s recordings include Tamerlano (Handel), La Calisto (Cavalli), and Giulio Cesare on DVD, his Handel aria disc with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, his Vivaldi solo album with Aurora Musicale (both on ABC Classics) and many others.     

Since returning to Australia he has since taught and coached at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, given Masterclasses and workshops for Opera Queensland, the Melba Opera Trust and WAAPA and adjudicated and presented vocal competitions. Graham retired from singing in 2006 and is now managing director of Arts Management, representing many of Australia’s finest singers, conductors, instrumentalists, designers and directors. 

Important Dates:

Applications Open: 24th February 2020

Heats: Sydney: 18th-19th May 2020/ Melbourne: 20th May 2020 / Perth: 22nd May 2020/ Brisbane: 24th May 2020 /NZ: to be confirmed