Celeste Lazarenko

Don Giovanni, Opera Australia

“Celeste Lazarenko had a huge success as Donna Anna. She was touching as the Commendatore’s bereaved daughter, her soprano glowing from top to bottom and responsive to every moment of the drama’s needs. She rightly received a huge ovation….”

Opera Magazine, March 2023

Sacro Amor, Australian Haydn Ensemble (digital concert recorded February 2021 at St Stephen's Church, Newtown NSW)

“Vivaldi’s motet for soprano, strings and continuo RV 632 Sum in medio tempestatum,……..The song’s torment, lament and devotion are perfectly illustrated with florid ornamentation and decided articulation by Lazarenko who dazzles with her beauty of tone……….Lazarenko sings with graceful phrasing and her technical grounding enables a ravishing coloratura”.

Shamistha de Soysa, SoundsLikeSydney, August 2021

Spirit Realms –Sacred & Profane,  Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Opera House

´…Soprano Celeste Lazarenko projected the expressively smooth yet wide-ranging melody for the Gregorian text in the first movement with even tones in the lower register.  In Judith Wright’s powerful poem The Lost Man in the second movement, she sustained warmth amid melodic stillness.”
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, July 2018

Cunning Little Vixen, Victorian Opera
“…In the title role of the Vixen, Celeste Lazarenko delivered a beautifully nuanced performance…”
Peter Burch, The Australian June 2017

 “ …Celeste Lazarenko’s compelling, febrile and accurately sung Vixen…”.
Michael Shmith, The Age,  June 2017

The Marriage of Figaro, Regional Tour, Opera Australia
“…Celeste Lazarenko is entirely believable as dear Susanna, conveying the character’s infinite patience and crafty intelligence, and singing with particularly dulcet tones”.
Simon Parris, Man in Chair, July 16, 2016

 “…Celeste Lazarenko who brought a crystal-clear and beautiful limpid tone to the role, effortlessly negotiating the high-lying vocal line; this was some of the finest singing on the opera stage in Australia this year”.
Michael Halliwell, ABR, December 2015

 “It is always a joy to hear Celeste Lazarenko, and the role of Léonore gave her ample opportunity to display her awesome purity of tone, combined with a vocal control that can deliver a true pianissimo that can tingle the spines of those in the back row”
Nicholas Routley Australian Stage December 2015 

“...the thrilling colouratura of Celeste Lazarenko”
Harriet Cunningham Sydney Morning Herald December 2015

Giasone, Pinchgut Opera, City Recital Hall
“I first saw Celeste Lazarenko in Castor and Pollux, last year’s Pinchgut production, and so already had high expectations. But her performance of Telaire in that opera, though gorgeous, didn’t give much of a hint as to her impressive range of expression. As the vengeful Medea she modulates through lust to terrible artificial sweetness to blazing hate in a way which, supported always by the music, held the audience spellbound. Her vocal technique is truly remarkable, and I would go to anything she was in."
Nicholas Routley, Australian Stage, December 2013

“...by contract, the sinuous line and pure-toned clarity of soprano Celeste Lazarenko made for a warmly sympatheric Telaire.” 

Murray Black, The Australian, December 2012 

Celeste Lazarenko is a graduate of the Guildhall Opera Course, London, under the vocal tuition of Rudolf Piernay and from the Sydney Conservatorium Opera School.  She has a Masters Degree in Performance from both colleges, and a Bachelor of Visual Arts majoring in Painting from University of Sydney. Celeste has been the recipient of many prizes and awards including the Countess of Munster Award, The Australian Music Foundation Award, The Marten Bequest and was a finalist in the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Competition at the Wigmore Hall, London, where she was described in the Daily Telegraph (UK) as ‘...the most darkly intense of the lot...Electrifying.’

Celeste Lazarenko’s portrayal of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) for Opera Australia has been lauded by critics and audiences alike. 2023 promises to be a milestone year for Celeste as she returns to Victorian Opera as Ilia (Idomeneo), Sydney Chamber Opera for Poulenc’s La voix humaine, Opera Australia for Woodbird (Wagner’s Siegfried) and to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for Samson (Handel) and Mahler’s 8^th Symphony.   

Over the past two seasons Celeste had been engaged to perform with the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for Bach’s B minor Mass and St. John Passion and Messiah, Haydn’s Creation at the Canberra International Music Festival and with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra.

Celeste has also been heard as Sylviane in Opera Australia’s The Merry Widow, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Pamina and Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, all for Opera Australia’s touring productions, and as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour). She has appeared as “Female Chorus” in The Rape of Lucretia for Victorian Opera at Dark MOFO in Tasmania and also for Sydney Chamber Opera, in Ross Edwards’ Symphony No. 2 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, in the title role of The Cunning Little Vixen for Victorian Opera, Mozart Requiem for Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Society, with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in St Matthew Passion, Israel in Egypt  and Messiah, and with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Messiah.  

Other notable engagements include the roles of Télaïre in Castor et Pollux (Rameau), Medea in Giasone (Cavalli), and Leonore in L’amant jaloux (André Grétry), for Pinchgut Opera. Messiah with Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Brahms’ German Requiem and ChorusOz for Sydney Philharmonia Choir, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte for Pacific Opera, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul Cantata, Verdi Requiem and An Australian War Requiem (Bowen) with Sydney University Graduate Choir, recitals with ArtSong NSW, as well as excerpts from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater for the Australian Ballet’s Sydney season of Vanguard, and covering the title role of Semele for Sydney Festival’s production of Semele Walk.

During the course of her studies at the Guildhall, Celeste appeared in numerous productions in roles such as the Governess from Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Barbarina in the English premiere of The Little Green Swallow by Jonathan Dove, Denis in the premiere of Violet by Roger Scruton, Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Rosina (La Finta Semplice) and Nanetta (Falstaff).

While living in London, Celeste worked with Glyndebourne Chorus and Opera North where she sang the role of Ninfa as well as covering La Musica in L’Orfeo, and the lead role of Elmira in Keiser’s Croesus. She also worked extensively at English National Opera where she covered the title role in Partenope, Nora (Riders to the Sea), the soprano solo (Luonnotar), Clemence (L’Amour de Loin) and Polissena (Radamisto). For English Touring Opera she sang the role of Morgana (Alcina) and for East Sussex Opera Company, Mary in Vaughan Williams’ Hugh the Drover.

Her engagements on the continent included principal soprano in Hydrogen Jukebox by Phillip Glass for Angers Nantes Opera, Celia in Lucio Silla with both Angers Nantes and Opera de Rennes, excerpts from Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in concert forOpera deRennes, The Seasons for Dijon Opera and Sandrina inLa finta giardiniera for Opera de Bauge.

Celeste Lazarenko is managed by Graham Pushee: graham@artsmanagement.com.au
  February 2023
   This biography is for general information purposes only and not for publication.
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