New Zealand soprano Felicity Tomkins has won the 2024 Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship.

Tomkins is an alum of the New Zealand Opera School, and has recently completed an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She made her Wigmore Hall debut last year in the Elizabeth Connell Prize final.

Along with the $43,000 scholarship, Tomkins also receives a $3,000 cash prize, and an overseas career advancement opportunities including language coaching and stagecraft. Tomkins expressed her gratitude in a press release by saying, “I loved performing with the other finalists, and I am thrilled to have won this prestigious award.”

The second place prize of $18,000 went to soprano Molly Ryan, an emerging artist from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The other finalists competing were Bronwyn Douglass, Ellena Hicks, and Ariana Ricci. Each singer memorized and performed three contrasting arias from three operas, in at least two different languages.

Since 1933, the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Scholarship competition has worked to discover the finest voices in Australia and New Zealand. Today, it is the longest-standing event in the festival. It was originally known as the “Sun Aria.”