From school years in Ascot to performances across major opera and concert stages, Brisbane-born mezzo-soprano Xenia Puskarz Thomas is building an international career shaped by training, travel and a growing list of demanding roles.
Major Award Marks Latest Step In Opera Career
Xenia Puskarz Thomas has been named the 2026 Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award recipient, receiving AUD $25,000 to support the next stage of her artistic development.
The award comes as the Brisbane-born mezzo-soprano continues a career that now stretches across opera houses, festivals and concert platforms in Australia, Europe and North America.
Rather than standing as a single career highlight, the recognition sits within a wider story of current international work, New York-based freelance practice and years of training that began in Brisbane.
A Career Now Playing Across International Stages
Xenia is now based in New York and working as a freelance artist, with recent and upcoming engagements placing her in several major opera and concert settings.
Her recent work includes The Woman in Picture a Day Like This at Teatro di San Carlo, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Calgary Opera, and mezzo-soprano soloist appearances in Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor with the Munich Philharmonic and Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Berlin Philharmonic.
She has also performed in Rossi’s Orfeo at the Adelaide Festival with Ensemble Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon.
Her 2025/2026 season continues that international run, with appearances connected with Teatro San Carlo, Glyndebourne Festival, Adelaide Festival, Münchner Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker and Gewandhaus Orchester.
Upcoming performances include roles in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Glyndebourne Festival, Mozart’s Lucio Silla at the Salzburg Festival, Mozart’s Zaïde for Opéra Comique, and Die Walküre at the 2027 Salzburg Easter Festival.
Ascot School Ties Behind A Wider Opera Path
Before the international schedule, Xenia’s story included school years at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Ascot.
Her formal training continued at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University before she later studied at The Juilliard School. She was also a Melba Artist in 2019.
That training path was followed by time as a Young Artist at the Bayerische Staatsoper Opera Studio in Munich during the 2023–2024 seasons, adding another major step in her development as a performer.
The result is a career that now links Brisbane and Ascot school ties with professional work across several major opera centres.
A Legacy Linked To New Opera Careers
The Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award was established in 2013 and supports emerging opera singers from Australia or New Zealand as they continue their professional growth.
It honours Dame Heather Begg DNZM OBE, a New Zealand opera singer whose career extended across Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and North America.
Dame Heather made her professional debut in 1954, later performed with J. C. Williamson’s Italian Opera Company, studied in London, appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and became a principal mezzo-soprano with Sadler’s Wells Opera.
Her later career included performances with the Royal Opera, La Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Australian Opera and other companies and festivals.
The award has previously supported twelve artists, including Samuel Dundas, Janet Szepei Todd, Amina Edris, Jeremy Kleeman, Emily Edmonds, Lauren Fagan, Nicholas Jones, Fleuranne Brockway, Filipe Manu, Nathan Bryon, Anna-Louise Cole and Madison Nonoa.
Administered by Melba Opera Trust on behalf of the trustees of Dame Heather Begg’s estate, the award continues to support opera artists during important stages of their professional development.
For Xenia Puskarz Thomas, the recognition places her Ascot school ties and Brisbane training within a broader career now moving through international opera and concert programs.
Published 3-June-2026
