"Sophisticated and entertaining...very positive feedback!"
Australian Leadership Retreat.
The show blends virtuosic playing and singing of some of the greatest music of all time with theatricality, humour, brilliant parodies, improvisation, interaction and ultimate classical brilliance. It is a show designed for dinner, cabaret or theatre settings, and the characters continually try to outdo one another and humorously argue about which of their roles is the more significant.
The repertoire ranges from Handel, Bach, Lehar, Strauss, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Bizet and Mozart to Puccini, Piaf, Gershwin and Dvorak. This is a new show created by Music Theatre Australia. Recent performances include Rochford and De Bortoli wineries, Macedon Music and range of other performances for venues, festivals and special corporate and private events.
"Your stellar contribution was fantastic. Your performance made the night and inspired everyone!" Save the Children
Stefan Cassomenos - The Pianist
Melbourne pianist, conductor and composer Stefan Cassomenos is considered one of Australia's most talented young artists. He studies at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and is generously supported by Kawai Australia, Music Theatre Australia, and the Youth Music Foundation of Australia. He completed his Bachelor of Music (Honours) in 2009 at Melbourne University, where he was awarded five prizes for performance. He was a semi-finalist and prize-winner in the 2005 Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, and more recently was a finalist and prize-winner in two International Chamber Music Competitions, as a member of The Yarra Trio. He has performed concertos with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Strings of Melbourne. Internationally, he has appeared as a soloist in St Petersburg, Tallinn, Warsaw, Krakow, Athens, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, London, Bangkok, and Tokyo.
Stefan has been composing since the age of seven, and performing his music internationally since the age of ten. His compositions have been performed by the Symphony Orchestras of Melbourne and Adelaide, and continue to be performed and commissioned by many other orchestras and chamber ensembles.
Stefan was the Artistic Director of the 2007 Melba Festival, and has been the Guest Artistic Director of Melbourne’s Piano Landmarks festival since 2009. Upcoming concerts include the Port Fairy Spring Festival, Perth International Arts Festival various solo recitals, concerti with Ballarat Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Youth Philharmonic, chamber engagements with violinist Jessica Ipkendanz and cellist Michael Dahlenburg, and performances with Tania de Jong in the new production, "The Pianist and The Diva". He has recently been appointed conductor of the Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra and Composer in Residence for Creative Innovation 2010.
"Stefan's playing is something else: alive, passionate, dramatic playing that was also as near technically perfect as dammit. We in the audience were soon bonded, stirred and shaken. This was a prodigious London debut by a formidable talent!"
John Amis, Musical Opinion
Tania de Jong AM - The Diva
Tania de Jong is the inspiration, co-founder and artistic director of Pot-Pourri and of Music Theatre Australia one stop entertainment and event production company. A graduate of the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Law with Honours and the Victorian College of the Arts, Tania is considered one of Australia's most talented sopranos. She has performed with the Victoria State Opera and as a soloist with a number of orchestras. In 2006 Tania received the Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her work in founding The Song Room. Tania's other awards include the "Outstanding Individual Contribution to Australian Culture", Churchill Fellowship and the Accessibility Award in The Melbourne Awards. She was a finalist in the Telstra Business Women's Awards and has recently been inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. She was named Brainlink Woman of Achievement 2009.
Tania is on the Board of Child Abuse Prevention and Research Australia. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for service to the arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities. She has recently founded Creativity Australia and Creative Universe to bring wellbeing and greater engagement into the workforce, and in partnership with disadvantaged communities, through creative thinking and leadership programs. She is the Founder and Executive Producer of Creative Innovation 2010.
(Trivia: She attended college in the USA on a tennis scholarship.)
