Amanda Cole is a compelling and passionate performer specialising in art song, oratorio, chamber music, early music and the avant garde. As a soloist she has performed with some of the premier choirs, orchestras and ensembles in New Zealand, a highlight being the 100th anniversary celebrations of City Choir Dunedin, where she appeared with David Burchell, David Hamilton and Jonathan Lemalu in Handel’s Messiah. In Australia she has appeared with some of the country’s finest orchestras, including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as a member of small professional and semi-professional ensembles. Her more intimate performances have included Australian, New Zealand and world premieres, and she is active in promoting new music, receiving in 2011 a Creative New Zealand grant for a commission by Dame Gillian Whitehead.
As Artist in Residence at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle, USA, she recorded her debut CD of rarely heard Portuguese art songs, Saudade. In the US Journal of Singing, Gregory Berg described the recording as “uncommonly satisfying” due to its comprehensive attention to detail, its fascinating collection of songs, and its exemplary performances.
Amanda Cole holds music performance and foreign language degrees from the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts. She has won many awards and scholarships for singing and languages, including a Churchill Fellowship for study in Europe and a doctorate from Griffith University in performing arts education. She has presented academic papers at international conferences on music education, psychology, singing and the Alexander Technique and published in the Australian Journal of Music Education. She has taught at the University of Melbourne, the VCA and the University of Otago, and at the Clara-Schumann Gymnasium in Bonn, Germany. She is a member of ANATS (Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing), Dalcroze Australia (Association for Dalcroze Eurhythmics music education), ATI (Alexander Technique International) and ANZARME (Australia and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education).
Amanda Cole is based in South East Queensland. In 2019 she was invited by the Hildegard Society in Germany to perform a show in Bingen in 2020, which has been supported by Arts Queensland, Flying Arts Alliance and the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund. This had to be postponed due to Covid, and the show is now to be work-shopped in Bonn with Catherine Madden and Christoph Bube in December 2022, with a view to publication in 2023. Her book, Marjorie Barstow and the Alexander Technique: Critical Thinking in Performing Arts Pedagogy, was published in 2022 by Palgrave Macmillan. A book chapter on a related theme, Constellation Membership, was also published in 2022, by Classiques Garnier.
