2019 Mentors
Normie Rowe
Normie Rowe was the first King Of Pop.
He was far and away, Australia’s most successful pop idol during the explosion of pop music and fashion in the mid-60s. He produced a string of hits that are an important contribution to the soundtrack of the Baby Boomer generation. “Que Sera Sera”, “Shakin’ All Over”, “It Ain’t Necessarily So”, “It’s Not Easy” and “Ooh La La”, among them, produced fan and media hysteria unseen before or since for an Australian artist.
At the peak of his popularity, Normie was called up for Army service. Following which he turned his hand to television acting (Sons and Daughters), theatre (Les Miserables) and honing his singing skills.
His repertoire is drawn from the breadth of an extraordinary performing career. He is an Australian treasure and the consummate entertainer who is constantly “on tour”. He is, quite simply, a legend.
Jonathon Welch AM
Jonathon Welch AM is a multi-award-winning singer, conductor, teacher, songwriter and recording artist with a career spanning over thirty years.
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Making his debut with Dame Joan Sutherland at the Sydney Opera House in the ‘Merry Widow’ 1988 Jonathon has over sixty stage roles to his credit and has performed extensively in Opera, musicals, G&S and in concert alongside many of the world’s greatest singers, directors and conductors including kd Lang, Baz Lurhmann, and Richard Bonynge to name a few.
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In 2007, Jonathon’s work creating choirs for the homeless and disadvantaged in Australia was the subject of the internationally acclaimed ARIA, Logie and Helpmann award winning TV documentary ‘Choir of Hard Knocks’, also creating the ‘Jailbirds’ documentary in the Victorian Women’s Prisons and was a Judge on the highly successful ‘Battle of the Choirs’ TV series for Channel 7.
Jonathon has been recognised for his outstanding thirty-year commitment to the music industry, youth music education and his work with marginalised and homeless communities with the Australian of the Year Local Hero 2008, ANZAC of the Year 2009, an Honourary Doctorate and an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2009 and an Honourary Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders
Jackie Love
Multi award winning and multi-talented, Jackie Love has successfully spanned the spectrum of entertainment. Singing, Dancing, Comedy, Recording, Television, Theatre, Cabaret, Acting, Producing, Directing and Hosting.
Jackie made overnight headlines, when as a young 19-year-old, she appeared with Hollywood Legend Sammy Davis Jr., who claimed "She's destined to be a very big star I feel" Such was her impact on Sammy Davis Jr and on Aussie audiences and critics, Mr Davis wanted to be the one to introduce her to 'his neck of the woods' and so he invited Jackie to tour with him in the USA as his 'Special Guest Star', to great acclaim.
Touring the world ever since, Jackie hasn't stopped!
Jackie has performed alongside John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Harry Secombe, Sergio Mendes, Peter Allen, Sir Tim Rice, Mike Batt, Tommy Emmanuel and James Morrison.
Angela Toohey
Angela is a Brisbane based singer songwriter with a renowned 20+ year career in musical theatre, including starring as Liza Minnelli in the “Boy from Oz” opposite Hugh Jackman and Chrissy Amphlett-(Divinyls) in 2006 and Todd McKenney and Chrissy Amphlett in 1998-99.
Following a serious illness and with profound wisdom, Angela has shifted from performing what she calls "other people's stories" in big theatre shows, to telling "real stories" of the everyday for her ever-growing audiences.
Her music ranges from exquisitely emotive ballads to soaring anthems, rich with imagery and stories of love, loss, growth, and occasional howling at the moon.
Angela’s world class vocals and powerful rhythm guitar, combined with instinctive bass and harmonies from Jodi Murtha, and Suzanne Hibbs’ deft percussion, deliver a lively, enthralling and mesmerising show.
Angela has been associated with the Lord Mayor’s Seniors Cabaret since its inception.
Jason Barry-Smith
Jason Barry-Smith is a familiar presence on the Australasian operatic and music theatre stage and as a singing teacher, educator and musical director.
Since graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1991, where he studied with Janet Delpratt and Joseph Ward, Jason Barry-Smith has established a reputation as one of Australia’s most sought after singers and voice teachers. He also studied at the Musikhockschule in Munich, with Professor Hanno Blaschke, in 1989-90, in London with Janice Chapman in 1999 and in Rome with Margaret Baker-Genovesi in 2002.
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He has also been Artistic Director of The Queensland Youth Choir; Director - Young and Developing Artist Program, Opera Queensland; Music Director of Carols in the City, Brisbane; a Sessional Voice Teacher at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.
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​He was most recently Creative Director - Open Stage, Opera Queensland, and was one of the major driving forces behind Project Puccini in 2014.
Ingrid James
Award-winning jazz vocalist and educator in Queensland, Australia with an extensive history of performance throughout Australia and internationally.
Highlights of her career include national television appearances & performances with the Queensland Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras at the Queensland & Gold Coast Performing Arts Centres to intimate duos, trios, quartets or quintets at Festivals, Jazz Clubs and corporate events around Australia, together with appearances in London at Ronnie Scotts, 606 Club, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Spice of Life along with performances in Paris, Monte Carlo, Nice, Marseilles, Toulon and Prague and other venues throughout Europe.
Ingrid also is currently performing in the Brisbane Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (19 piece) big band and has a joint project with long time musical collaborator Louise Denson titled Colours Of Your Love by “Wild Silk Strings Project” distributed by MGM's The Planet Company on 7 September 2019. Official Brisbane Launch Saturday 29 September
David Rogers-Smith
David Rogers-Smith is highly regarded as a performer of both classical and operatic repertoire and music theatre.
He has performed in the Australasian touring production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, in the role of Piangi, a role he sang some one thousand times in Brisbane, Adelaide, Auckland, Melbourne and Perth. He toured in the Asian/African production of LES MISERABLES and the touring production of THE MERRY WIDOW opposite Marina Prior and the Ziegfeld Tenor opposite Caroline O’Connor in FUNNY GIRL for THE PRODUCTION COMPANY.
David Rogers-Smith made his operatic debut in the role of The Slave in the MELBOURNE FESTIVAL’s 2001 season of SALOME featuring the KIROV OPERA.
From 2006 to 2009 David reprised the role of Piangi in the international touring production (Taipei, Hong Kong, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland) of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, bringing the count to over two thousand, five hundred performances.
Gregory Moore
Gregory is a graduate of the QLD Conservatorium of Music. His performing credits include: an original member of The Ten Tenors, The Pirates of Penzance - Australian Tour where he understudied Simon Gallaher in the role of Frederic, Tenor Soloist for the World Touring International hit Scotland the Brave, Guest Soloist with leading Orchestras and an original member of the Pop Opera Trio ‘La Forza’.
Off stage, Greg is a regular Producer for Brisbane City Council Events, a judge for the highly popular talent show ‘Senior’s Superstar’ and is currently the Musical Director for the Myer Christmas Parade & Pantomime in Brisbane.
Due to Gregory’s contribution to the arts, he was an Australia Day Ambassador for the Queensland Government (2009 – 2011)
His TV special An Intimate Evening with Gregory Moore & friends is available as a LIVE DVD & CD and has been playing on the STUDIO Channel on FOXTEL. Greg also features on a special tribute album ‘Requiem For A Soldier’.
Daniel Robinson
Daniel is a freelance artist and educator.
In 2011 Daniel completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. He has served as National Vice President (2009–11) and National Secretary for the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (2006–11) and is currently the National President of the Australian Voice Association.
Daniel is the principal Singing Voice Specialist for Djarts and presents workshops to singers across Australia and abroad.
Over the past two decades, while maintaining his performance career, Daniel has instructed thousands of voices. This vast experience enables Daniel to effortlessly work with voices of all skill and age levels: beginners to professionals.
Dale Pengelly
Dale has been a leading light in the Australian and international theatre scene spanning over three decades.
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His career started brilliantly with the young Dale being accepted into the prestigious Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. Having studied with such Australian greats - Steven Heathcote, Paul Mercurio and David MacAllister.
Dale then went on to The Queensland Ballet, where he became not only a featured soloist, but partnered with Rosetta Cook - one of the most celebrated and enduring partnerships Australian Ballet has ever seen.
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Dale's passion for theatre not just restricted to dance, he then stepped into musical theatre in the biggest way Australia had ever seen, in the phenomenon that was 'Hot Shoe Shuffle', a production that took him all the way to London's West End.
