Reader Submission: Aussie Barihunk Nathan Lay

Baritone Nathan Lay (Photo on right by Leesa Needham)

Australian barihunk Nathan Lay is currently singing Mr Mayor in Richard Mills' opera The Pied Piper at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne. The children's opera is based on Robert Browning’s classic poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. There are performances on July 28, 29 and 30 and tickets and additional cast information is available online.

He has been a regular at the Victorian Opera where he recently completed his second year in their young artist program. During his time with the company, he has performed Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata, the Father in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Sir Riccardo Forth in Bellini's I Puritani and the quartet in Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins.

Lay recently won the 2016 Australian International Opera Award Scholarship, which is valued at $54,000. The prize includes all of the expenses for one year of full time academic study at the Wales International Academy of Voice under the guidance of its internationally tenor and director Dennis O’Neil CBE. He will commence his studies in September 2016.

Nathan Lay sings Britten's "Look! Through the port..." from Billy Budd:

Nathan completed his Bachelor of Music at the Melba Conservatorium of Music in 2008. He has since established his career in the Melbourne opera and oratorio scene. In 2010, Nathan won the National Liederfest, and Australian Music Events’ “Opera Scholar of the Year”. In 2013, he won the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria competition, and also received 3rd Place in the prestigious Herald Sun Aria competition at Hamer Hall.
In 2013, he made his first appearances with Opera Australia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Aida. He also played Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte for Melbourne Opera.