As part of the Penrith Joan Sutherland Series, AHE presents a program of Handel, Haydn and Mozart featuring acclaimed Canadian soprano Stefanie True and Australian baritone Simon Lobelson. 

The program features a mix of virtuosic and breathtakingly beautiful arias from Handel's Agrippina, Apollo e Dafne, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and the Magic Flute. The Ensemble will also present Haydn's Symphony No. 104 'London' in an 18th century chamber version by Haydn's good friend Johann Salomon. 

Stefanie True regularly performs throughout Europe and North America. Recent solo highlights include the role of Poppea at Händel's Agripinna at The Grange Festival,  Bach cantatas with the Luthers Bach Ensemble conducted by Ton Koopman, Purcell's King Arthur with Vox Luminis, Celia in Händel's Lucio Silla at the International Handel Festspiele Göttingen, Handel's Dixit Dominus with Il Gardellino, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in San Francisco with Voices of Music, the title role in Händel's Theodora with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Harry Bicket conducting, Second Woman at Dido and Aeneas at Carnegie Hall with Les Violons du Roy conducted by Richard Egarr, Amor Profano at Scarlatti's San Casimiro , Re di Polonia with the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Michal at Händel's Saul with the Freiburger Bachchor.

Simon Lobelson has performed more than 75 operatic roles from the lyric to the dramatic, with such companies as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Opera Australia, Young Vic, Pinchgut Opera, and Canberra International Music Festival. His roles have included Amfortas, Escamillo, Rigoletto, Alberich, Nick Shadow, Marcello, Ford, Germont, Figaro, Michele, and Don Alfonso. He has worked with such renowned directors as Jean-Claude Auvray, Patrick Nolan, Ian Judge, John Copley, Bruno Ravella, Melly Still, Cheryl Barker and Jude Kelly.

He has performed almost all the mainstream oratorio repertoire, and recent oratorio appearances have included Sydney Opera House, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Johns Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Sydney Town Hall and with the London Mozart Players, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, English Chamber Orchestra, Israel Camerata and the Lucerne Festival under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Daniel Reuss, Reinbert de Leeuw, Richard Bonynge, Simon Halsey and Paul McCreesh.

Simon Lobelson: "Wild, implacable and impressive." Sydney Morning Herald

Stefanie True: "True’s beautifully balanced voice has a silvery brightness and excellent, sparkling high notes. The picture of fluttering feminine agitation with her graceful movements and gestures... " Bachtrack