Milijana Nikolic and Rosario la Spina will bring Italian opera to life, right here in the Nickson Room, St Lucia, with highlights from Aida and Il Trovatore. Come and hear two of Australia's finest operatic singers, who have sung at the major opera houses of the world: La Scala, The Metropolitan Opera House, Toronto, Seattle, Detroit, and the Sydney Opera House. The intimate space of the Nickson room will enable you to hear up close the nuances and timbre of these great voices as they soar through the works of Maestro Verdi.
Can't attend? Livestream!
bit.ly/UQVirtualConcert22Apr
Rosario La Spina trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music continuing his studies at RNCM, Manchester under the tutelage of Joseph Ward OBE.
In 2002, Rosario won first prize in the Mario Del Monaco International Opera Competition and made his principal role debut at La Scala as Riccardo (Oberto) reprising the role in Genoa.
He made his Opera Australia debut as Cavaradossi (Tosca) in 2005 and has subsequently appeared for the national company as Radames (Aida) The Prince (Love for Three Oranges), Alfredo (La traviata), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), The Duke (Rigoletto), The Prince (Rusalka), Calaf (Turandot), Macduff (Macbeth), Rodolfo (La bohème), Don José (Carmen) and the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann. His American debut was as Rodolfo for Seattle Opera in 2007; he returned to Seattle as Radames and made his first Canadian appearances in this same role.
Rosario has also been a regular soloist with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras and appears on the CD/DVD Classical Spectacular with the Melbourne Symphony (ABC Classics). Other recordings include Puccini Romance with the Queensland Symphony (ABC Classics), The Prince in Rusalka under Richard Hickox (Chandos) and, in 2009, a major solo album released by Universal Music featuring Rosario with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. His 2010 Universal duo release Always You (with his sister, Anna-Maria La Spina) shot straight to the top of the classical charts in Australia.
The Verdi Bicentenary in 2013 saw him sing Alfredo and The Duke in Perth, Don Alvaro (La forza del destino) in Adelaide, Verdi’s Requiem in Taiwan and New Zealand, Radames in Detroit and Gaston (Jérusalem) in Fidenza; he also performed Don José throughout Japan.
Most recently, Rosario La Spina has sung The Duke for Opera Queensland, Manrico (Il trovatore) for West Australian Opera, Pollione (Norma) and Canio for Victorian Opera, Samson (Samson et Dahlia) in Tokyo, Cavaradossi, Turiddu and Canio for State Opera of South Australia, Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) for Melbourne Opera and The Prince (The Love for Three Oranges), Turiddu, Canio and Calaf for Opera Australia.
His celebrated portrayals of Turiddu and Canio were featured at the Luglio Musicale Trapanese in 2019 and for Festival Opera, New Zealand in 2020. Future engagements include his debut as Siegmund in Opera Australia’s new production of Die Walküre.
About 2021 Live from UQ
The School of Music is proud to present a series of virtual and in-person concerts involving our performance and academic staff together with current and past UQ students, ensembles in residence, and affiliate ensembles . If you would like to receive regular updates on School of Music events, consider signing up to our Friends of Music Newsletter.
We are excited to offer this - and all livestreamed concerts - to our entire community free of charge. However, we hope you will consider making a gift to the Friends of Music Scholarship Fund, which supports our student musicians.
In 2021 the Live from UQ series will seat a total of 60 live audience members and will be livestreamed through our YouTube and social media platforms. Audiences must register to attend concerts in-person.