A Canobolas Rural Technology High School graduate is cementing herself as part of the next generation of opera stars after being selected for the finals of an elite national elite singing competition.
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Mezzo soprano, Ellena Hicks is a finalist in the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition along side some of the best young singers from Australia and New Zealand.
"I did heats and from the heats they selected 10 semi finalists so I competed in the semi finals and from that they chose the five finalists," Ms Hicks said.
The 23-year-old is studying a Master of Music Studies in Opera Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium and is aiming to become a professional opera singer.
After finishing her HSC she was accepted into a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Science at Monash University in Victoria but it didn't take long to discover music was where her heart and talent lay.
After one year in Melbourne she transferred to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she's been learning the pronunciation and meaning of the words in each song she sings in addition to singing techniques.
She said while she admires many professional singers she plans to forge her own path.
"The thing about voices is everyone has their own unique voice and that means we can all take slightly different paths to get where we want to be," Ms Hicks said.
Move to Orange
Ms Hicks moved to Orange with her parents Peter and Kerry Hicks from Canberra when she was in year 7.
She attended Canobolas Rural Technology High School, the same school her father went to as a boy.
It was also the place where her love of singing began, and she was the school dux in 2017.
"I first started singing lessons part way through year 7 and also joined the choir at school back in year 7 as well.
"I kept doing choir all the way through to year 12 at school and had my singing lessons as well, which I did at the Orange Regional Conservatorium as well as a couple of choirs there.
"I really look up to a lot of my old music and singing teachers."
They include her former singing teacher Samantha Bartholomeusz from the Orange Regional Conservatorium, and her Canobolas High music teacher Lauren Aldrick who helped guide her through the HSC.
Ms Hicks said during the HSC she was the only music 2 and music extension, which was run concurrently with the music 1 class, but she got the help she needed to succeed.
"My music scores were definitely my best," she said.
"I really love Canobolas and how they helped me through my journey as a musician."
Music background
Growing up Ms Hicks said Classic FM music was played in her house but not often.
"When I first started playing music I started piano and did some AMEB grades and going through the classical [repertoire] for that, which was probably my biggest classical repertoire at the time," she said.
"When I started my singing lessons my voice just tended towards singing classically rather than pop or musical theatre and I just enjoyed singing the repertoire so I kept doing it.
Ms Hicks said her family is "stoked" to see her be selected for the finals having seen her singing progress from when she was 12 years old.
"I think they're really proud of my progression that I've made and how I've grown as a singer," she said.
Performances
This year she will debut as Ottone in L'incoronazione di Poppea and she has performed the roles of Secrecy, Mopsa and Summer in Purcell's The Fairy Queen.
She was an alto scholar at St Stephen's Uniting Church and she was excited to return home to Orange and Bathurst to perform as the alto soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasia with the Orange Symphony Orchestra and Handel's Messiah with Allegri Singers and Orange Regional Conservatorium.
"That was a really good time, that was my first Messiah performance actually," Ms Hicks said of her performance in Orange.
"It's just really nice to come home and perform because of all the support from people in Orange and the community there so coming back and seeing a lot of the same faces and they're still so supportive, it's just absolutely wonderful."
Miss Hicks has also performed as an alto soloist in Mozart's Requiem with the Sydney Conservatorium Big Choir and Handel's Messiah with Radio Community Chest in Sydney's Town Hall.
The finals concert of the Australian Singing Competition is set to take place on August 31 at the Concert Hall, The Concourse Chatswood. Tickets for that concert are available.
"We will all sing two arias, or two songs, and from that the adjudicators will decide the winner of the main prize," Ms Hicks said of the finals round.
Other finalists will include Michaela Cadwgan, a 25-year-old soprano from NZ; Cassandra Doyle, a 22-year-old, mezzo soprano from NSW; Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono, a 25-year-old tenor from NZ; and Yvette Keong, a 25-year-old soprano from NSW.
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
