Ballarat is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. Ballarat has a population of 115,951 as of 2022. But more recent data from 2024 states its population has grown to 119,086, making it the forth-largest city in Victoria and inland city in Australia.
In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.
William Pitt was an Australian architect and politician. Pitt is best known as one of the outstanding architects of the "boom" era of the 1880s in Melbourne, designing some of the city's most elaborate High Victorian commercial buildings. He worked in a range of styles including Gothic Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, and his own inventive eclectic compositions. He had a notable second career after the crash of the 1890s, becoming a specialist in theatres and industrial buildings.
The Melbourne Royal Show is an agricultural show held at Melbourne Showgrounds every September. It is organised by Melbourne Royal and has been running since 1848. Each year Melbourne Royal Show attracts attendances of up to half a million people.
The Herald Sun Aria, formerly known as The Sun Aria is a vocal competition for emerging opera singers held in Victoria, Australia, each year. The competition offers nearly $60,000 in cash prizes.
The culture of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, encompasses the city's artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements. Since its founding as a British settlement in 1835, Melbourne has been culturally influenced by European culture, particularly that of the British Isles. During the 1850s Victorian gold rush and in the decades that immediately followed, immigrants from many other parts of the world, notably China and the Americas, helped shape Melbourne's culture. Over time, Melbourne has become the birthplace of a number of unique cultural traits and institutions, and today it is one of the world's most multicultural cities.
Jacqueline Lisa Dark was an Australian operatic mezzo-soprano who appeared mainly with Australian companies, for a while as a member of Opera Australia. She was known for her voice in leading roles, including world premieres, but also for her stage presence and "a unique sense of comic timing".
Margaret Josephine Nisbett MBE was an Australian coloratura soprano.
George Vern Barnett was an Australian organist, choir master and accompanist. He was an important figure in the musical and cultural life of Sydney for many years in the early twentieth century.
The Sydney Eisteddfod is an independent, community-based, not-for-profit organisation in Sydney, Australia.
Benjamin Northey is an Australian conductor, musician and arranger. He has been Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand since 2015. He is also the Principal Conductor in Residence of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2020. He was previously the Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2019.
Jayson Lloyd Gillham is a British-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.
Tui Uru was a New Zealand opera singer and broadcaster. She was the first Māori television announcer.
Edward Percival "Percy" Code was an Australian classical composer and musician, specialising in cornet and trumpet. He is best known for his compositions for brass band, including many solo works.
Rosalind Phillippa Phillips, OBE, known as Linda Phillips, was an Australian composer, pianist and music critic.
David John Fullard was a Welsh tenor singer with the Covent Garden Opera company, who appeared in BBC concerts and on several recordings. He had a considerable career playing Gilbert and Sullivan roles in Australia between 1940 and 1955.
The South Street Society was an organisation based in Ballarat, Victoria, which conducted a series of performing arts contests and concerts originally styled the "South Street Competitions", which developed into the "Grand National Eisteddfod", later the Royal South Street Eisteddfod, not to be confused with the Ballarat Welsh Eisteddfods.
The Welsh Eisteddfods of Ballarat was a series of traditional eisteddfodau founded by Welsh miners at Ballarat in the gold rush days and revived in the early 20th century by some of their descendants.
Frederic William Beard was an English organist and choirmaster, remembered in Australia for his influence on choral and symphonic musicianship.
