Mary-Attracta Connolly

Mary-Attracta is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts - Conservatorium of Music having subsequently undertaken studies with Fernando Bandera in Milan, Molly McGurk in Perth and Janice Chapman in London. 

To facilitate her studies with Fernando Bandera in Milan Mary-Attracta was awarded an Italian Government Scholarship and the Bernard Manning Award presented by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of WA. 

Mary-Attracta made her professional debut with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in its Family Concert Series and her stage debut with West Australian Opera as a member of the Chorus in The Mikado.  Subsequent performances with West Australian Opera include the roles of Second Spirit (The Magic Flute); Cousin (Madama Butterfly), First Alms Sister (Suor Angelica) and Aunt (Madama Butterfly). 

Mary-Attracta performed Miss Pinkerton in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief for the Blackwood River Spring Chamber Festival, The Terrace Proms and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation CLASSIC FM ‘Sunday Live’ programme and has featured as a Guest Artist at Amberley on Swan gala concerts and the Broome Arts & Music Festival.   

As a member of the West Australian Opera Chorus Mary-Attracta has performed in stage productions of Elektra, Falstaff, The Tales of Hoffmann, Tosca, La Sonnambula, Carmen, Peter Grimes, The Marriage of Figaro, Aïda, The Magic Flute, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Norma, Batavia, Il Trovatore, The Pearl Fishers, Patience, Lucia di Lammermoor, Die Fledermaus, Alcina (Ensemble Chorus), Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love and Orpheus in the Underworld.  In addition, Mary-Attracta has performed in concert versions of Candide and Nostradamus, as well as Opera In The Park performances of Die Fledermaus, Madama Butterfly, Samson and Delilah, The Magic Flute, Wine, Women & Song, Viva Verdi!, Faust, Tosca, Operatic Highlights Gala, The Pearl Fishers and La traviata.   

Further Chorus performances include Verdi’s La traviata for Opera Australia; the Michael Edgley International Touring Production of Verdi’s Aïda – Amneris Attendants Chorus and High Priestess (cover); plus Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and the Australian Premier of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree for West Australian Opera and the UWA Perth International Arts Festival. 

Since its inception Mary-Attracta has been Co-Producer and Artistic Director of OPERA UNDER THE STARS®, the annual open air gala concert presented in the tropical paradise of Broome in the North West of Western Australia, with her role extending to Event Manager in 2006.  Mary-Attracta has performed as a Guest Artist at OPERA UNDER THE STARS® and regularly MCs the event.  Since 2004, OPERA UNDER THE STARS® has presented the annual ‘Oper-Arte’ Art Exhibition & Auction that has seen over $67,000 in music instruments and materials donated to the 6 schools of Broome, the 3 schools of the Dampier Peninsula, as well as La Grange Remote Community School at Bidyadanga, with the goal of increasing access to musical instruments and materials for the children of the West Kimberley, the musicians of the future.  

Mary-Attracta enjoys a strong connection with her Irish heritage through music and released her CD of much loved Irish Traditional Songs, D E E R P A R K, in 2006.  Mary-Attracta has performed as a Guest Soloist at the Bloomsday Celebration presented by the Australian-Irish Heritage Association and was Music Director of this event from 2001-2008.  Additional performance highlights includeA Song for Ireland and Ireland’s Gift of Music to the World for the Australian-Irish Heritage Association, and Around the Booree Log an Australian-Irish Heritage Association event for the UWA Perth International Arts Festival - Festival Fringe. 

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