After a 4 year absence from major singing engagements, Australian dramatic soprano Lisa Gasteen is slowly and cautiously returning to the concert platform and possibly even the operatic stage.

After setting the world on fire (almost literarily) as Brunhilde and other major Wagner heroines, her career came to an abrupt halt after a seemingly trivial neck injury while picking cumquats in her garden in 2008. Trivial as the initial injury may have been, it had dire consequences producing extreme pain and muscle spasms in the neck and shoulder, preventing Ms Gasteen from singing. Now following successful treatment with Botox injections to the offending nerves, the pain and spasms have been alleviated.

Never one to remain idle, Ms Gasteen has been a professor of opera at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and established the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School to assist young singers in their transition from the opera school to a professional career in the opera house. On July 5th at the Opera Australia Opera Centre in Strawberry Hills she will sing in a fund raising concert for the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.

Now, the time has come for a gradual return to singing on the concert platform and stage again, for the pleasure of singing, and the pleasure of her still devoted audience.

Upcoming exciting projects are:

Wagner – Wesendonck Lieder

August 11th 2012 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Johannes Fritzsch

Bartok – BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE

Concert performance on September 14th 2012 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Johannes Fritzsch (A 2012 Brisbane Festival performance)

Bluebeard – Daniel Sumegi

Judith – Lisa Gasteen

The concert performance of Bartok’s BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE with Daniel Sumegi, Lisa Gasteen, Johannes Fritzsch and the QSO is a major operatic event for Australia. I think there is little doubt tickets to these concerts will be the hottest in town ! Best wishes to Ms Gasteen and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.