The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the Australian state of Queensland, approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of state capital Brisbane and immediately north of the border with New South Wales. The demonym for the Gold Coast is Gold Coaster. With an estimated population of 679,127, at June 2019, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, making it the largest non-capital city, and Queensland's second-largest city.
Elena Kats-Chernin is a Soviet-born Australian pianist and composer, best known for her ballet Wild Swans.
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s.
Katie Anne Noonan is an Australian singer-songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the band George and remains the singer in the band Elixir; performs with her mother Maggie Noonan; and plays with her band The Captains. Noonan was the musical director of and performed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games' opening and closing ceremonies.
Archibald William Roach is an Aboriginal Australian musician. He is a singer, songwriter and guitarist, as well as a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
"Heavy Action" is a piece of music composed by Johnny Pearson. Composed in 1970, and featuring a strong brass fanfare opening, "Heavy Action" soon became a well established sporting theme tune, most associated in the United Kingdom as the theme for Superstars and in the United States of America as the theme music for ABC and ESPN's Monday Night Football.
"Forever Young" is a song from German synthpop recording act Alphaville's 1984 debut album of the same name. The single was a strong hit in Scandinavia and in the European German-speaking countries in the same year.
Damien Leo Leith is an Irish-Australian singer–songwriter. He was the winner of the Network Ten music contest Australian Idol 2006. Since winning the title, Leith has released nine studio albums, four of which peaked in the top two of the ARIA Charts, including two number ones. He has been awarded seven platinum and one gold certification for albums and singles by ARIA, which equates to sales of just over half a million.
"Amigos Para Siempre " or "Amics per sempre" is a song written for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The lyrics, written by Don Black, are in English, except for the title phrase which is repeated in English, Spanish and Catalan.
Kate Miller-Heidke is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress. Although classically trained, she has followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in the UK, but is now an independent artist. She represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is the only person to have sung at Coachella, the New York Metropolitan Opera, and Eurovision.
William Barton is an Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo player. He was born in Mount Isa, Queensland on 4 June 1981 and learned to play from his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland. He is widely recognised as one of Australia's finest traditional didgeridoo players and a leading didgeridoo player in the classical world.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018. It was the fifth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games and the first time a major multi-sport event achieved gender equality by having an equal number of events for male and female athletes.
Wild Swans is a ballet by Meryl Tankard with score by Soviet-born Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.
"Saturday Night" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring American rapper Ludacris. It was released as the second single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls, on 27 October 2010. The song was written by Angie Iron, Mauboy, Ludacris and Brian Kennedy, and was produced by Kennedy.
Greta Bradman is an Australian operatic soprano.
Jayson Lloyd Gillham is an Australian classical pianist, based in London. In 2014, Gillham was the winner of the 2014 Montreal International Musical Competition, which brought him to international attention. His outstanding performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 was described in the Huffington Post as being played 'with such streamlined patrician elegance that he took home First Prize and a string of engagements...' The renowned British conductor Sir Mark Elder said Gillham 'plays Beethoven with a sort of ‘glow’'. In May 2015, Gillham signed a three-album deal with ABC Classics.
Jacob Lee Christian Blowes, who performs as Jacob Lee, is an Australian pop, singer-songwriter from the Gold Coast, Queensland. In May–June 2014 he was a contestant on the third Australian series of The Voice, and was coached by will.i.am. Previously he had been a member of radio station, Sea FM's boy band, Oracle East, in 2012. In January 2016, Lee supported Justice Crew on their Live & Local Tour in New South Wales. Lee is the founder and owner of Philosophical Records & Lowly Lyricist.
Amy Louise Billings, professionally known as Amy Shark, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer from Gold Coast, Queensland. During 2008 to 2012, her early solo material was released and performed under the name Amy Cushway. Her 2016 single "Adore" peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was also listed at number 2 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2016. Her album Love Monster debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Shark has won 8 ARIA Music Awards from 22 nominations, including winning Best Pop Release three times: in 2017 for her extended play, Night Thinker, 2018 for Love Monster and 2020 for "Everybody Rise". She married Shane Billings, a financial manager, in 2013.
The opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games took place on the evening of Wednesday 4 April in the Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast. As mandated by the Commonwealth Games Charter, the proceedings of the ceremony combined the formal opening of the sporting event with an artistic performance to showcase the host nation's culture. The 2018 Games were formally opened by Charles, Prince of Wales. Jack Morton Worldwide was given the contract to produce the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The theme of the opening ceremony was Hello Earth and directed by David Zolkwer.
Jane Sheldon is a Sydney-born Australian soprano, largely based in New York City. She was nominated for the 2013 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album for the album North + South which was recorded with Genevieve Lang (harp) and the Acacia Quartet.
