Taryn Fiebig
Soprano (1972– 2021)
Helpmann Award-winning soprano Taryn Fiebig was one of Australia most popular and versatile artists. In 2017, she sang Musetta (La bohème) for Opera Australia; Michal (Saul) for the Adelaide Festival; major roles in Pinchgut Opera’s Triple Bill and the title role in The Merry Widow for West Australian Opera; in concert, she was soloist with Sydney Philharmonia, Auckland Philharmonia and the Opera Australia Orchestra.
She returned to OA in 2018 in Metamorphosis and made major concert appearances at the Adelaide Festival, the Huntington Festival, for Sydney Philharmonia and the West Australian Youth Orchestra. 2019 engagements included Despina (Cosi fan tutte) for OA and Selinda (Farnace) for Pinchgut Opera; in early 2020, she sang Gerhilde (Die Walküre) at The Esplanade, Singapore.
Taryn performed with all the major Australian opera companies, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Brandenburg Ensemble and the Sydney, West Australian, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras.
Internationally, she sang for the Edinburgh Festival (as Lucy Joy in Opera Australia’s production of Bliss), in America for the LA Ear Unit and in the UK with the English Chamber Orchestra and for BBC Radio 4.
In 2004, Taryn joined the Young Artists Program at Opera Australia; she remained with OA as an ensemble member until 2010 before becoming a freelance artist.
Roles for Opera Australia included: Susanna, Zerlina and Despina in Sir David McVicar’s trio of Mozart productions (The Marrigge of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte), Pamina and Papagena in The Magic Flute, Musetta in La bohème, Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Clorinda in Cenerentola, Lisa in La sonnambula, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Aphrodite in The Love of the Nightingale, Karolka in Jenufa and The Woodbird and Gutrune in Der Ring des Nibelungen. Her performance as Lucy Joy in Bliss earned her a Helpmann Award. For New Zealand Opera, she sang Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride.
A musical theatre highlight for Taryn was over 200 performances as Eliza Dolittle in Opera Australia’s National Tour of My Fair Lady.
Gilbert and Sullivan roles included The Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, both Tessa and Gianetta in The Gondoliers and Yum-Yum in The Mikado.
Taryn passed away in Sydney on March 20th, 2021 after a long illness. Her death caused deep grief amongst the Australian music community. She was 49 years old.
Taryn Fiebig is supported by Maureen Wheeler AO