wa opera lovers resident artists
WA Opera Lovers is thrilled to showcase our amazing resident artists for 2026! These gifted young individuals represent the future of classical music, enchanting audiences at events throughout the year. We are fortunate to have them-read more below!
2026
Soprano
Emily Davis
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Emily Davis is a 23-year-old soprano and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) 2023 graduate. Recent roles include Adelaide from Dove’s The Enchanted Pig, and Dorabella from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. She has been a soloist in choral works such as Bach's St Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah
Emily was the 2023 Recipient for the Dame Mary Gilmore Award for the most promising graduating female classical voice student at WAAPA and was runner up in the 2023 Richard Gill Award. She was a finalist in the 2022 Taryn Fiebig award, the 2022 and 2023 Opera Lover’s Aria competition, and placed first in the 2023 Fremantle Eisteddfod Open Lieder section, as well as first in the 2025 Open sacred and Open Musical Theatre sections. Emily was also named overall best senior vocalist and best overall performer at the 2025 Fremantle Eisteddfod.
She currently sings with WA Opera Lovers as a resident artist and enjoys working as a freelance musician while studying her Honours in Classical Voice at UWA.
She enjoys singing Lieder, and other music from the German repertoire such as Bach. Emily started her musical journey at West Leederville Primary School playing cello, then later, Churchlands Senior High School in the GATE music program on a vocal scholarship, most recently completing her bachelor’s degree in Classical Voice at WAAPA.
Mezzo
Aimee-Rose Keppler
Aimee-Rose is a mezzo-soprano studying under Emma Matthews at WAAPA, in Classical Voice. She was recently awarded the Hasselhurst Scholarship for Classical Performance. She was the Alto Soloist in Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb in the 2025 Oratorio, as well as playing Zita, in Gianni Schicchi, for the opera.
She started classical training at age nine and began performing with The Gilbert and Sullivan Society at age fourteen. She has performed in their productions of Patience and The Mikado, amongst others, and in 2022, she made her debut as Lisa, in The Grand Duke. Following this performance, she was nominated for the Finley’s breakthrough award.
Tenor
Noah Humich
Noah Humich is a Perth-based tenor and director, and a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), where he performed roles including Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel.
Since completing his studies, he has appeared with West Australian Opera (Enchanted Encounters, The Pirates of Penzance, Madame Butterfly, Biggest Baddest Wolf), Freeze Frame Opera (Adriana Lecouvreur, Don Giovanni), Western Sky Projects (She Loves Me), and Perth Symphonic Chorus (Trial by Jury). He is a core member of Perth Opera Voices who specialise in regional touring of WA.
Highlights as a soloist include performances of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Perth Symphonic Chorus. In 2023, he directed and produced his first independent production, Enchanted Encounters – Songs of the Supernatural, which was later presented by West Australian Opera in 2024. In 2025, Enchanted Encounters presented two runs of a new instalment – Songs of Van Gogh.
Noah serves on the boards of ArtRage (producers of Perth Fringe World Festival and Rooftop Movies) and Opera Lovers WA, where he is also a resident artist for 2024–2025. He is a 2025 Young Artist with Perth Symphonic Chorus and regularly serves as cantor at St Patrick’s Basilica and St Paul’s Catholic Church.
Tenor
Ciaran McChord
After completing university degrees in both Biomedicine and Music, Scottish-Australian Operatic Tenor Ciaran McChord is currently undertaking a Juris Doctor master's degree. Under the OpusWA artistic director, Mark Coughlan, Ciaran has performed as a tenor soloist in concert works such as Mozart Requiem, Messiah, and Matthew's Passion, and had his debut operatic role as ‘Nemorino’ in the production of L’elisir d’amore in February 2024. Also in 2024, Ciaran performed the role of ‘First Sailor’ in the West Australian Opera production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and starred as a soloist at the St George’s College annual Christmas in the Quad concert. Ciaran is a current resident artist for WA Opera Lovers
Baritone
Samuel Claxton
Samuel Claxton is a graduate of Classical Voice at the West Australian Academy of
Performing Arts and is currently under the tutelage of Michael Lewis. While studying
Classical Voice at WAAPA he has been given the opportunity to perform in the production of
Pirates of Penzance in 2021 and, in 2022, he performed as part of the ensemble in Freeze
Frame Opera’s La fanciulla del West. In 2023, he performed the role of the Pig in Jonathan
Dove’s opera The Enchanted Pig, and in 2024 performed as Figaro in WAAPA’s production
of the Marriage of Figaro.
He’s also performed the role of Masetto in Freeze Frame Opera’s production of Don
Giovanni in 2024, and participated in their school’s tour of Goldilocks, an adaptation of
Marriage of Figaro. Samuel was also privileged enough to understudy the role of Joseph De
Rocher in Freeze Frame Opera’s production of Dead Man Walking, as well as performing in
the chorus. With OpusWA, he has performed the role of Guglielmo in their production of
Cosi fan tutte. He was also a part of the chorus in West Australian Opera’s Il Trovatore in
2025.
Pianist
Nicholas Williams
Dr Nicholas Williams is a pianist and music researcher based in Perth. He studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), graduating with a Master of Arts (Performing Arts) in 2020 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2025. Nicholas was recipient of the Royal Overseas League Early Keyboard Prize in 2021 and the WAAPA Research Medal for 2025. Nicholas specialises in playing music of the nineteenth century on historic and modern pianos, combining his passion for performing with research into forgotten composers and historical performance styles. Active as both soloist and accompanist, Nicholas regularly performs in Perth and has presented lecture-recitals in Australia and Europe. He has worked as accompanist in a variety of contexts, including for WAAPA, Breaksea, Freeze Frame Opera, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of WA and Kalamunda Sing community choir. He is a founding member of Australian Keyboard Collective Inc., a non-profit launching in 2026 dedicated to promoting interest in piano-playing in Perth. He is excited to be involved with WA Opera Lovers in 2026.