Jacqueline Lisa Dark was an Australian operatic mezzo-soprano who appeared mainly with Australian companies, for a while as a member of Opera Australia.
17 Facts About Jacqueline Dark
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Jacqueline Dark was known for her voice in leading roles, including world premieres, but for her stage presence and "a unique sense of comic timing".
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Jacqueline Dark was born in Ballarat and attended the University of Ballarat from 1986 to 1988, receiving a Bachelor of Science and a Graduate Diploma of Education in 1989, and worked teaching in Ballarat.
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Jacqueline Dark trained at the Victorian College of the Arts where she received first class honours in the Graduate Diploma of Opera in 1995.
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Jacqueline Dark performed with Opera Australia, Victorian State Opera, and was a member of Opera Queensland's Young Artist Program in 2000.
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Jacqueline Dark was already hired by Opera Australia's music director, Richard Hickox.
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Jacqueline Dark performed there as Herodias in a new production of Salome by Richard Strauss in 2012.
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Jacqueline Dark added Filippyevna in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Emilia in Verdi's Otello, and Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni to her repertoire in 2014, Amneris in Verdi's Aida and Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 2015.
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Jacqueline Dark returned to Opera Australia as Fricka, Herodias, and as the Countess in Shostakovitch's The Nose in 2018.
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Jacqueline Dark performed the role of Sally Lowe in the world premiere of Moya Henderson's Lindy and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanthe for Opera Australia, and covered the role of Pearl in the world premiere of Richard Mills' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.
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Jacqueline Dark collaborated with directors including Neil Armfield, Lindy Hume, Barrie Kosky, Stuart Maunder and Graeme Murphy.
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Jacqueline Dark performed in music theatre, cabaret, theatre restaurant and on the concert podium.
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Jacqueline Dark performed the alto solo in Rossini's Stabat Mater for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
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Jacqueline Dark joined the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra along with Trisha Crowe, Michael Falzon, Amanda Harrison and others to record I Dreamed a Dream: Hit Songs from Broadway for ABC Classics in 2013.
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Jacqueline Dark died on 3 October 2023, at age 55, having been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer the year before.
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Jacqueline Dark achieved a Victorian Theatre Guild Award in 1989, a Royal Opera House studio scholarship in 1998, the Vienna State Opera Award of 2000, an overseas study grant by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 2001, and two Green Room Awards for her role of Tisbe in Opera Australia's La Cenerentola in 2004 and as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in 2011.
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Jacqueline Dark won the award for Best Female Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera at the 2013 Helpmann Awards for her role as Herodias in Opera Australia's Salome and was nominated in the 2014 Helpmann Award Best in the same category for The Melbourne Ring Cycle.