I was born in Canberra, Australia. My mother is of Polish origin and my father is Australian. My parents are both lovers of classical music and musical theatre, and I could sing the entire score of the "Sound of Music" by the age of 8! Mimicking Julie Andrews turned out to be excellent training for me in later years.

As a child, I wanted to be one of the boys, and was happier playing football at lunchtime than suffering through my obligatory piano lessons. This changed when I was 10 as I moved with my family to China, and began singing in school musicals and various choirs. I also landed my first singing gig, singing nursery rhymes for Chinese “Learn English” CDs. At the time, I thought the studio getting me McDonalds for lunch every day was the best bit, but the recording experience turned out to be invaluable as well.

Upon my return to Australia my parents decided to get me singing lessons, more for their benefit than mine I think! This led to small roles in school musicals and amateur productions. My starring moment was during a production of Sondheim’s "Into the Woods", where I fell off the darkened stage just before the curtain call, so the house lights came up just as I was landing on the floor with my dress over my head. I twisted my ankle and had to be carried out of the theatre to my great embarrassment! I was also a member of my local church choir and the St Clare's College Choir, which gave me many performance opportunities and experience competing in singing competitions.

Despite such mishaps, I was determined that I was going to be a star, so after graduating high school I rejected all helpful advice to go to law school, preferring to study a Bachelor of Music at the School of Music at the ANU. I spent three years there studying with Stephen Bennett and Alan Hicks, two lovely men who dealt with three years of tears and tantrums and somehow managed to impart some kind of singing technique along the way!

There I learnt the tricks of the opera trade through recitals and various opera productions such as Suor Angelica and The Magic Flute. Studying opera involves not only learning to sing, but also learning to act, music theory, music history, aural studies, German, French, Italian, costuming, stage makeup and fencing. An ability to balance an enormous headpiece is an advantage as well, as you can see from the picture below!

Me backstage being an idiot during a performance of "The Magic Flute"

In my second year of university, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go to Vienna to work on my German. While I was there, I had some lessons at the Vienna conservatorium which was an incredible experience. Being able to make weekly visits to the Stadtoper was also pretty wonderful. Through persistant stalking I became friends with the ushers and could always manage to convince them to give me an empty seat, where I could sit and happily lose myself in the delights of Rossini or Verdi or whatever opera was on at the time.

In my last year of university, I auditioned for Opera Queensland for the role of Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel". This led to a contract for most of 2008 touring through regional Queensland and NSW as part of 'i]Opera Queensland’s Schools Touring Company[/i]. This was a fantastic experience as I got to see some amazing parts of the country and to perform to people who would normally never get to see an opera, such as children from remote aboriginal communities.

Me with members of the cast of Night and Day.From left: Annemaree McLeod, Chloe Angel, Anna Peterson and Jasmine

I will be doing this again in 2009, as well as working with Opera Queensland’s youth opera program “Moving Opera”. This is a workshop with high school age kids where we teach them about performing and music. We work with kids in school as well as young people in detention centres or remote communities such as the mining towns, which is a wonderful experience.

At the end of next year, I plan to move to Germany, where I plan to undertake my master’s degree at Hanns Eisler in Berlin (if I make it through the very extensive audition process!) From there I plan to stay working in Europe, become famous and make everyone I know buy my albums!

At the moment I am training hard to improve my voice – I practise for two hours every day (my family particularly enjoys it when I practice my high notes late at night) and I get up every morning at 6am for a run to improve my lung capacity. I am lucky to have such a wonderful family and friends, all of whom are very supportive and turn up to all my performances and clap very loudly, whether it is warranted or not!

Graduation Day

My Grandparents particularly was a major influence on me – my Grandmother adored the theatre and music and my grandparents took every opportunity they could to take me to performances and listen to the pieces I was working on. My Grandmother also taught me piano for four years (brave soul) despite the fact that I showed much less aptitude for that than singing. Sadly, she passed away earlier this year, but my Grandfather and I still go to performances together.

Grandpa has also taken on the role of my unofficial manager, organising performance opportunities for me within the Polish community. I sung Czerwone Maki Na Monte Cassino at the Remembrance Day celebrations in November, and am currently working towards an informal Christmas Carols concert at the Polish Embassy on the 18th of December. The Poles are great to perform for as they are such a warm people and such lovers of music. I hope to be able to perform for many of them in the future!

My grandparents, Andrew and Ina Kleeberg

Anna with Chris Malek. View more photos of Anna in PhotoGallery no 119