{{short description|Australian soprano opera singer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}} {{infobox person | name = Emma Matthews | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM|size=100%}} | image = | image_upright = | birth_name = Emma Lysons | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}} | birth_place = Manchester, England | occupation = Soprano singer | organisation = Opera Australia | years_active = 1991–present }} '''Emma Matthews''' {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (née Lysons; born 1970) is an English-born Australian lyric coloratura soprano, noted for operatic roles, but also popular on the concert stage. A Principal Artist with Opera Australia, Matthews has received more Helpmann Awards than any other individual artist, nine Green Room Awards, the Mo Award and the Remy Martin Australian Opera Award.
==Life and career== Born Emma Lysons in Manchester, England, she grew up with three younger sisters in Fiji, where her father worked as a maritime pilot,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.emma.com.au/emma-articles/2008/7/27/top-five-emma-matthews/|url-status=dead|title=Top Five – Emma Matthews|newspaper=The Sun-Herald|location=Sydney|date=27 July 2008|via=emma.com.au|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706103717/http://www.emma.com.au/emma-articles/2008/7/27/top-five-emma-matthews/|archive-date=6 July 2011}}</ref> and Vanuatu before moving to Cairns, Queensland, Port Hedland, Western Australia, and finally Perth.<ref name=shmith>Michael Shmith, "Looking after Lulu", ''The Age'', 9 November 2002, Saturday Extra, p. 3</ref> There she attended Perth Modern School<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.perthnow.com.au/community-news/western-suburbs-weekly/perth-modern-school-celebrating-50-years-of-musical-excellence-at-perth-concert-hall-c-851634|title=Perth Modern School celebrating 50 years of musical excellence at Perth Concert Hall|author=Jessica Warriner|date=1 January 2018|access-date=20 August 2022|newspaper=Perth Now}}</ref> before studying musical theatre at the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music (part of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, WAAPA), but was persuaded by a teacher to switch to opera. She sang with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Western Australia in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/pdf/ephemera/pr122021990.pdf |title=Gilbert & Sullivan Society of W.A. Programmes |publisher=Slwa.wa.gov.au |access-date=2013-08-14}}</ref> Since her 1991 professional debut with the West Australian Opera and appointment to Opera Australia in 1993, she has appeared in every state of Australia, notably with the State Opera of South Australia, Victorian State Opera and Opera Queensland, in Adelaide, Melbourne as well as frequent appearances at the Huntington Estate Music Festival for Musica Viva from 1994. In 2017 Matthews was appointed Head of Classical Voice at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://limelightmagazine.com.au/news/emma-matthews-to-head-classical-voice-at-waapa/|title=Emma Matthews to head Classical Voice at WAAPA|author=Clive Paget|magazine=Limelight|date=24 July 2017|access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref>
She is married to Stephen Matthews, a former chorister and later a stage mechanic with Opera Australia.<ref name=shmith/>
Matthews was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to the performing arts, particularly opera".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-12 |title=Ms Emma Matthews |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2013474 |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}</ref>
==Roles== Her first roles took advantage of her sweet light coloratura voice (capable of a top F<sub>6</sub>), her good looks, and her acting ability.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/12/1063341763649.html?from=storyrhs|title=Dial Em for murder|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=13 September 2003|access-date=14 September 2009}}</ref> She has appeared for Opera Australia as: :Damigella in ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Monteverdi) in 1993 :Ilia in ''Idomeneo'' (Mozart) :Hero in ''Béatrice et Bénédict'' (Berlioz) :Papagena and Pamina in ''The Magic Flute'' (Mozart) :Oscar in ''Un ballo in maschera'' (Verdi) :Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' (Richard Strauss) :Marie in ''La fille du régiment'' (Donizetti) :Nannetta in ''Falstaff'' (Verdi) :Rosina in ''The Barber of Seville'' (Rossini) :Blonde and Konstanze in ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' (Mozart) :Morgana in ''Alcina'' (Handel) :Almirena in ''Rinaldo'' (Handel) :Servilia in ''La clemenza di Tito'' (Mozart) :Cherubino in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (Mozart) :Sophie in ''Werther'' (Massenet) :Adele in ''Die Fledermaus'' (Johann Strauss)
She has later taken on more challenging roles, often being compared with Joan Sutherland who, with her husband Richard Bonynge, was something of a friend and mentor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emma Matthews in lead role of Opera Australia's new work|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=Sydney|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-act/emmas-operatic-mountain/story-e6freuzi-1111116911540|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121231004904/http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-act/emmas-operatic-mountain/story-e6freuzi-1111116911540|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 December 2012|access-date=21 November 2010}}</ref>
:Ismene in ''Mitridate, re di Ponto'' (Mozart) (produced by Graham Vick) for the 2001 Sydney Festival :Stasi in ''Die Csárdásfürstin'' (Kálmán) :Genovieffa in ''Suor Angelica'' (Puccini) :all four heroines (Stella, Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta) in ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (Offenbach) :Zwaantie in ''Batavia'' (Richard Mills) 2001 world premiere <!-- frequently misspelt eg. Zwanntie, Zwaante --> :Lulu in ''Lulu'' (Alban Berg) :Bystrouškain/Sharpears, the Vixen in ''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (Janáček) for Opera Australia :Philomele in ''The Love of the Nightingale'' (Richard Mills) – 2007 world premiere :Cleopatra in ''Giulio Cesare'' (Handel) :Juliette in ''Roméo et Juliette'' (Gounod) :Lakmé in ''Lakmé'' (Delibes) :Lucia in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (Donizetti) :Giulietta in ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' (Bellini) :Gilda in ''Rigoletto'' (Verdi) :Violetta in ''La traviata'' (Verdi)
Matthews has also been well received in concerts, with a repertoire from Mozart's Requiem, Haydn Masses, and Handel's ''Messiah'' to works by Brahms, Poulenc and Villa Lobos, and Mahler's Symphonies No. 2 and No. 4. She appeared with José Carreras in Sydney 2008, then on New Year's Eve in Mozart's ''Great Mass in C minor'' with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
==Screen appearances== She appeared, billed as Emma Lysons, in the 1995 Alan John opera ''The Eighth Wonder'' about the Sydney Opera House, broadcast on ABC TV the night following its world premiere.<ref>{{IMDb title|tt0471675|The Eighth Wonder|(1995) (TV)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21673559|title=''The Eighth Wonder'' [video recording] – performance details|publisher=Trove|access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref>
==Discography== ===Albums=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" |+ List of albums, with selected details ! Title ! Details |- ! scope="row" | ''Handel Arias'' <br> (with New Zealand Chamber Orchestra & Donald Armstrong) | * CD, released: 2001<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=15248|url-status=dead|title=Emma Matthews Sings Handel|author=Sandra Bowdler|magazine=Andante Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024060150/http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=15248|archive-date=24 October 2005}}</ref> * Label: Artworks (AW029) |- ! scope="row" | ''Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo'' | * CD, released: 2009<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buywell.com/booklets/4763555.pdf |title=Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo |publisher=Buywell.com |access-date=2013-08-14 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708105944/http://www.buywell.com/booklets/4763555.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Label: ABC Classics (476 3555) |- ! scope="row" | ''Lakmé'', Opera Australia | * DVD, Blu-ray, released: 2012<ref>[https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=OPOZ56021BD "''Lakmé''"], Opera Australia 2012, Naxos Records</ref> * Label: Sydney Opera House (OPOZ56020DVD, OPOZ56021BD) |- ! scope="row" | ''Stars of Opera Australia'' compilation<br>(Matthews in two selections from ''La Traviata''<br>concert on floating stage, Sydney Harbour, 24 March 2012.) | * DVD, Blu-ray, released: 2013 * Label: Sydney Opera House (OPOZ56041DVD) |- ! scope="row" | Giuseppe Verdi, ''La Traviata'' as Violetta<br>(on floating stage, 24 March 2012.) | * DVD, Blu-ray, released: 2013 * Label: Sydney Opera House |- ! scope="row" | ''Mozart Arias'' (with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra & Marko Letonja) | * CD, released: 2014 |}
==Awards and nominations== ===ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards=== The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards The ABC Young Performers Awards is a classical music competition for young people that ran annually from 1944 to 2015, and again from 2017. {{awards table}} ! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |- | 1993 | Emma Matthews | ABC Young Performers Award | {{won}} |- {{end}}
===ARIA Music Awards=== The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. {{awards table}} ! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |- | 2009 | ''Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo'' |rowspan="2" | Best Classical Album | {{nom}} |rowspan="2" | <ref name="ARIAClassical">ARIA Award previous winners. {{cite web|url=https://www.ariaawards.com.au/history/award/best-classical-album?view=list#|title=ARIA Awards – Winners by Award|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA)|access-date=9 July 2022}}</ref> |- | 2014 | ''Mozart Arias'' (with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra & Marko Letonja) | {{nom}} |- {{end}}
===Green Room Awards=== *For her parts in ''Lulu'', ''Clemenza di Tito'', ''Rinaldo'', ''The Marriage of Figaro'', ''Batavia'', ''Signor Bruschino'', ''Julius Caesar'' and ''Lakmé''. {{citation needed|date=October 2022}}
===Helpmann Awards=== The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group ''Live Performance Australia'' since 2001.<ref name=lpa>{{cite web | title=Events & Programs| website=Live Performance Australia | url=https://liveperformance.com.au/events-programs/ | access-date=4 October 2022}}</ref> Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. {{awards table}} ! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |- | 2004 | Emma Matthews - ''Lulu'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2004/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2004 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | rowspan="2"| 2005 | Emma Matthews - ''The Mikado'' | Best Female Actor in a Musical | {{nom}} | rowspan="2"|<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2005/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2005 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | Emma Matthews - ''Der Rosenkavalier'' | Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera | {{nom}} |- | rowspan="2"| 2006 | Emma Matthews - ''Lakmé'' | rowspan="2"| Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} | rowspan="2"|<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2006/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2006 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | Emma Matthews - ''Romeo & Juliet'' | {{nom}} |- | 2007 | Emma Matthews - ''The Love of the Nightingale'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2007/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2007 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | rowspan="2"| 2008 | Emma Matthews - ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{nom}} | rowspan="2"|<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2008/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2008 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | Emma Matthews - ''Arabella'' | Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera | {{won}} |- | 2010 | Emma Matthews - ''La sonnambula'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2010/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2010 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | 2011 | Emma Matthews - ''Partenope'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2011/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2011 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | 2012 | Emma Matthews - ''La Traviata'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{won}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2012/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2012 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | 2013 | Emma Matthews - ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{nom}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2013/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2013 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- | 2014 | Emma Matthews - ''The Turk in Italy'' | Best Female Performer in an Opera | {{nom}} |<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2014/past-nominees-and-winners/ | title= 2014 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners|publisher=Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)|website=Helpmann Awards|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> |- {{end}}
===Mo Awards=== The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Emma Matthews won one award in that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.moawards.com.au/awardwinners|title=MO Award Winners|website=Mo Awards|access-date=16 March 2022|archive-date=7 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307064432/https://www.moawards.com.au/awardwinners|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{awards table}} (wins only) |- | 2003 | Emma Matthews | Classical Performer of the Year | {{won}} |- {{end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|nm4778362}} *[https://www.waapa.ecu.edu.au/about/our-staff/profiles/music/classical-performance/ms-emma-matthews "Ms Emma Matthews, Senior Lecturer, Head of Classical Voice"], Edith Cowan University *{{cite web|title=Story Details|date=17 August 2008|work=Sunday Arts|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts/txt/s2335417.htm|access-date=9 September 2009|archive-date=10 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110025205/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts/txt/s2335417.htm|url-status=dead}}
{{HelpmannAward OperaLeadActress 2001-2020}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Emma}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:Australian operatic sopranos Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Helpmann Award winners Category:Singers from Manchester Category:People educated at Perth Modern School Category:Musicians from Perth, Western Australia Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:20th-century Australian women opera singers Category:21st-century Australian women opera singers