Liane Keegan is gaining an international reputation as an outstanding singer, with numerous performances of both Erda and the first Norn in Wagner's Ring (including the first-ever Australian Ring cycle in 1998/9 and recently the acclaimed Stuttgart Ring). She made her US debut singing the role of Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff under Jeffrey Tate, and has also sung to considerable acclaim under the baton of Sir Neville Mariner. The 1999/2000 season saw Liane in her debut as Azucena in Il Trovatore for State Opera of South Australia. She will sing the role of Ulrica in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, her debut with Opera Australia, late in 2002. She has appeared at the BBC Proms (as Barbara in Korngold's Violanta) and at the Edinburgh Festival as Waltraute in Die Walküre, conducted by Antonio Pappano.
Contemporary music plays an important part in Liane's reportory; the versatility of her voice has attracted composers like Guo Wenjing, and she sang his Inscriptions on Bone in Amsterdam, at its UK premier in Edinburgh and in Vienna. in 1998 Liane appeared in the leading role of Martha in the world premier of Stichtag by Daniel Fueter, and she gave a solo recital at the Sydney Festival in January 1999. Liane has just returned from singing Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Melbourne, Australia, with Marcus Stenz conducting.
Liane was awarded the prestigious Shell Covent Garden Scholarship to the National Opera Studio, and has worked extensively on a concert repertoire as well as her stage career. In 1996 Liane took part in a film based on the life and works of Schubert for ZDF TV in Germany. She performed a series of masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender.
Future plans include Gaia in Strauss's Daphne in the Netherlands, Ulrica for Opera Australia, and Chausson's Poème de l'Amour et de la Mer in Haifa, Israel. She will sing Erda, the First Norn and Waltraute in Australia's next Ring cycle planned for 2004 in Adelaide, and returns to Adelaide and Melbourne in December 2001 to sing Handel's Messiah.
September 2001