Thursday 5 May, 2011

Dear

SEEKING YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE 2011 AIOA AWARDS

Thank you very much for your past support of the AIOA. We are delighted that our Award
continues to attract some of Australia’s most exciting young singers. And, as you can see from
the attached updates, our winners are doing very well indeed:

 Mary-Jean O’Doherty – coloratura soprano: M-J was the first winner of our Award.
She has been a superb ambassador for us and for Australia. As you can see from her note
she recently performed with our assistance to acclaim as Lucia at the Prague Opera.
 Morgan Pearse – bass-baritone: Morgan is a talented young Australian whom we
believe has great potential. We have provided him with an Encouragement Award to
assist with his studies at The Royal College of Music starting in September.
 Lauren Easton – mezzo-soprano: We funded Lauren to go to Cardiff 18 months ago to
study with Dennis O’Neill. She is now performing at Glyndebourne. She will return to
Dennis with our help for additional study towards a Master’s degree in September.

Roberto Abate, tenor from Perth, won our award last year. This award takes him through to
June this year at Cardiff. If he progresses sufficiently well he will receive a Robert and Betty
Salzer Award for further study at Cardiff starting in September.

As you will see from the attached messages your continuing support, and the support of many
others, has made all this possible. We are proud that, because all our overheads are paid for
from the surpluses from our events, every dollar donated to the AIOA goes to our winners.

I hope you will want to continue to support our young singers and look forward to hearing
from you. We are very optimistic that our current approach, working with Dennis O’Neill at
the Wales International Academy of Voice, will develop many world-class performers.

This year we are seeking to raise $60,000 so anything you can do to assist our marvellous
winners will be welcome. Thank you very much for your generous assistance in the past!!

Yours sincerely,

William D T Cowan
Chairman