Roxane Hislop

Mezzo Soprano

Roxane Hislop is one of Australia’s most respected and accomplished mezzo sopranos. Miss Hislop is a graduate of Sydney University, the NSW Conservatorium of Music, and holds a Masters Degree in Arts Administration from RMIT University in Melbourne. Her awards include the prestigious Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, the inaugural AIMS Scholarship, the Dame Mabel Brooks Scholarship, and the Sydney Sun Aria Award. She also represented Australia at the National finals of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in New York. Miss Hislop was awarded the Victorian Green Room Award for best female artist in a supporting role for her performances as Maddalena in Rigoletto and Olga in Eugene Onegin.

Recent performances include guest soloist in Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s (Not) The Last Night of the Proms, guest soloist in Victorian Opera’s Proms Concert Games of Love and Chance, the role of Mrs Herring in Albert Herring for Opera Australia in Sydney, the role of Rossweisse in Die Walküre in Opera Australia's Melbourne Ring Cycle, as well as covering the roles of Azucena in Il trovatore, Erda and Flosshilde in The Ring Cycle for Opera Australia.

Other recent appearances have included the Stepmother in the Cinderella pantomime, Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress), Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro), Third Lady (The Magic Flute), multiple roles in the new opera Midnight Son and Morning Melodies concerts for Victorian Opera; Mistress Bentson (Lakmé) for Opera Australia; Gertrude (Hänsel and Gretel) for State Opera of South Australia; Marcellina (The Marriage of Figaro) for Opera Under the Stars at Brisbane Festival; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic; and Victorian Opera and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Opera Showcase at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Miss Hislop made her operatic debut with Opera Australia as Nancy in Albert Herring. Since then, she has performed over 50 different roles with the company, including the title roles in Carmen and La Pericole, as well as Dalila (Samson et Dalila),  Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Medoro (Orlando), Siegrune (Die Walküre), Magdalene (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Countess Stasi (The Gypsy Princess), Flora (La Traviata), Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Gertrude (Hansel and Gretel), Gertrude (Roméo and Juliette), Meg Page (Falstaff), Emilia (Otello) and Grace (Love in the Age of Therapy) for OzOpera at the 2002 Melbourne and 2003 Sydney Festivals.

Miss Hislop has appeared with all the major Australian opera companies. She has appeared in many concerts for Victorian Opera and her roles for the company include Geertje Dircx (Rembrandt’s Wife), Dryad (Ariadne auf Naxos), Amastre (Xerxes), Jocasta (Oedipus Rex) in concert, as well as the roles of June/Queen in The Love of the Nightingale by Richard Mills for Opera Queensland and Victorian Opera respectively. Further roles at Opera Queensland include Cornelia (Julius Caesar), Flora (La Traviata) and Maddalena (Rigoletto).  At West Australian Opera Miss Hislop performed the title role in Carmen, Flora (La Traviata) and Lady Angela (Patience). For the State Opera of South Australia she has sung the Voice from Above, Second Squire and a Flower maiden in Parsifal. She also sang Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) and Maddalena (Rigoletto) for Melbourne Opera.

Miss Hislop’s extensive concert engagements include Emilia in Otello and the roles of la tasse, la chatte, la bergère and l'écureuil in Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the West Australian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras; Elijah and Messiah with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic; Missa Solemnis, A Jewish Chronicle and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Melbourne Chorale; an aria concert and Messiah for Queensland Symphony; Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with Sydney Philharmonia; Opera Under The Stars in Broome; a recital in Musica Viva’s Coffee Concert series; extracts from Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Unseen at the Melbourne Festival; and St. Catherine in Honegger's Joan of Arc for the Melbourne Spoleto Festival.

Upcoming engagements include Rossweisse (Die Walküre) as well as covering the roles of Erda, Flosshilde, and First Norn in The Ring Cycle for Opera Australia.

Miss Hislop is in increasing demand as an adjudicator and judge both nationally and internationally having recently been on the panel for the Lexus Song Quest in New Zealand, The Melbourne Herald Sun Aria Competition, and the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship.