Australian mezzo-soprano Sidra Nissen is quickly establishing herself as one of Australia’s leading young performers. In 2025, she won the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, receiving its most prestigious award, the Marianne Mathy Scholarship.
This year, Sidra was selected as a Young Artist with Opera Australia and will make her company debut at the Sydney Opera House later in the year.
Her operatic highlights include Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Melbourne Opera (2025), Zerlina (cover) in Don Giovanni with Melbourne Opera (2026), and performances with Victorian Opera in Il Mago di Oz (2022), Cheremushki (2023), and The Pirates of Penzance (2026).
Concert appearances include an art song recital at the Music by the Springs Chamber Music Festival with members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Mozart Under the Stars with the Melbourne Opera Orchestra, and Opera Scholars Australia’s concert series Turning Points: Operatic Scenes, Lieder to Lehár, and All the World’s a Stage.
Sidra is the recipient of First Prize in the 2025 Opera Scholars Australia Aria Competition, the Robert Salzer Memorial Scholarship awarded at the 2023 National Liederfest Final, the Margaret Sutherland Bursary, and the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute Scholarship, both awarded at the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition Finals. Upon graduating with her Bachelor of Music (Performance) with First Class Honours, she was also awarded the Ormond Exhibition Scholarship.
Sidra holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) with First Class Honours from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
