Congratulations, Bailey, on winning 2024 Season 2 of 3MBS's The Talent! How does it feel to have won?
Of course, I'm so thrilled to have won, it was a fabulous opportunity to perform live on air and receive feedback from the guest mentors. I really enjoyed the performance and chatting in such depth with the mentors.
As a Herald Sun Aria finalist, what was the appeal of applying for The Talent?
In my view, any opportunity for a young singer to develop their craft and raise their public profile is so very needed. I listen to 3MBS fairly often and know how important this station is to the classical music community here in Victoria, so I felt drawn to this place as a medium to get practical feedback from the guest mentors and participate in a core part of our classical music ecosystem.
What drew you to the George Palmer song cycle you performed on the show?
I've known about this cycle for a number of years now. It’s always been an aspirational piece for me as I deeply love performing Australian music and have a sincere passion for platforming locally produced art and artists—especially when the music itself is as beautiful as this! The history behind the work is also incredibly captivating both in adopting Ned Kelly's perspective as told in his final letter from prison, and the commissioning of the work, which I understand was developed for the opening of a major Sidney Nolan exhibition. Nolan identified quite heavily with Kelly and painted a series of episodes in the Kelly saga. I think this pairing of art and music is so natural, and would have really added a new dimension to Nolan's identification with Kelly, and perhaps our view of the paintings and music.
As the recipient of the 20th/21st Century Prize presented by Forest Collective, what is it about working with the company that you are most looking forward to?
I'm equally thrilled about the prospect of working with Forest Collective next year. I think the work they do in platforming and developing new avant-garde works is so incredibly important and really underdone here in Australia. I love this type of music because the traditional boundaries that exist in classical music are by default a lot more blurred. I don't get to do much work in the avant-garde space, so I'm really excited to dive headfirst into this world and have so many ideas and questions for Evan [Lawson] and his team!
As someone who has actively put themselves out into Australia’s classical music scene, what do you make of the opportunities available to emerging musicians?
There are undoubtedly a lot of well-meaning and intelligent individuals seeking to develop emerging artists here in Melbourne, and across the country. Throughout my experiences with post-graduate young artist programs, I can see there is a genuine intention to help emerging singers build experience, develop their craft, and take their art to the next level. However, I also think there is a drastic shortage of funding to support these programs despite the best attempts of companies who want to deliver the best program they can. I think governments need to play a much bigger role in supporting these companies and artists directly, including established artists. With better support networks, arts organisations will be better placed to keep the best talent here in Australia, which is both a public good and an economic no-brainer. I'll always advocate for more support for the arts!
Where can we find you coming up and in 2025?
I'll be performing as the baritone soloist in Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit with Victoria Chorale for the Christmas season, and also at an event for supporters of Melbourne Opera at the end of this month. I'd also encourage readers to book out the weekend of February 7th to 9th for a spectacular weekend of new music at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne CBD for the launch of Queerstories, a major program by my own ensemble Divisi, supported by Creative Australia and the City of Melbourne. This project will feature over 10 new commissions with texts taken from queer writers as part of an edited collection of the same name by Maeve Marsden. We have also commissioned 5 emerging composers to write for our ensemble and workshop their pieces with ARIA award winning composer/pianist extraordinaire, Sally Whitwell. I've possibly never been more excited for a performance in my life, so I highly encourage everyone to come along for pride season next year.