About Margaret Plummer
Australian mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer was engaged as a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera for eight seasons. During this time Margaret performed a vast range of repertoire for the company including Hänsel (Hänsel and Gretel), Mercedes (Carmen), Waltraute (Die Walküre), Flosshilde (Das Rheingold and Die Gőtterdämmerung), Second Norn (Die Gőtterdämmerung), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Siebel (Faust), Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Tebaldo (Don Carlos), Page (Salome), Fenena (Nabucco), Meg Page (Falstaff, also for Hamburg State Opera), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Wood Sprite (Rusalka) and Fjodor (Boris Godunov).

On her return to Opera Australia this year Margaret will star in the New Year’s Eve Gala and as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel in the Sydney Summer Season. She will then travel to Adelaide to appear in John Adams’ El Nino: Nativity Reconsidered for Adelaide Festival, before returning to Vienna where she will be heard as Waltraute and 2nd Norn in Die Walküre and Die Götterdämmerung, and Clover in Animal Farm at the Vienna State Opera. Later in the year she returns to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to perform the roles of 1st Norn and Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung, Simone Young conducting.

Margaret’s most recent engagements include Prince Charming in Opera Australia’s Cinderella (Cendrillon). Her continuing association with the Vienna State Opera has also seen her undertake the roles of Adelaide (Arabella), Martha (Iolanta), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Emilia (Otello), Annina (Der Rosenkavalier), Charlotte (Werther), Genevieve (Pelleas et Melisande) and Kitchen Boy (Rusalka).

Other significant engagements for Margaret have included her debuts at La Scala Milan as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and at the Bayreuth Festival as Blumenmädchen and 2nd Knappe (Esquire) in Parsifal. She has also been engaged as Carmen (title role) by Longborough Festival, Charlotte (Werther) and Marguerite (La damnation du Faust) for the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck, in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to winning the 2014 Vienna State Opera Award, Margaret performed extensively with Opera Australia including performances in Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour as well as in regional touring productions. She was also heard as Hexe (Hansel and Gretel) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as Phoebe (Castor et Pollux) and Diane (Iphigenie en Tauride) for Pinchgut Opera, as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Pacific Opera and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

Margaret holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

About Thomas Victor Johnson
Winner of the Richard Bonynge Accompanists Award at the 2018 Sydney International Song Prize, Thomas Victor Johnson is a vocal coach and pianist based in Sydney. He currently serves as répétiteur with Opera Australia and as a vocal coach at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Thomas was a member of the music staff at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from 2018 to 2023, serving additionally as the stellvertretender Chordirektor in 2021 and 2022. Since 2023, he has served as the principal répétiteur and vocal coach for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's four-year Ring Cycle under Simone Young AM. In 2025, he was guest répétiteur for Die Walküre with Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Prior to Berlin, he was solo répétiteur with Opera Australia, following a two-year appointment as Head of Music at West Australian Opera, where he managed the music and language staff, directed the Young Artist Program, prepared the chorus, coached principal artists, and developed community engagement initiatives. His operatic career began in 2012 as Assistant Chorus Master and Children's Chorus Master at Opera Australia.

Over his career, Thomas has collaborated with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Simone Young AM, Daniel Harding, Philippe Auguin, Pietari Inkinen, Thomas Guggeis, Speranza Scappucci, Massimo Zanetti, Renato Palumbo, Carlo Montanaro, Guillaume Tourniaire, Patrick Lange, Andrea Battistoni, Antony Walker, Kristiina Poska, Pietro Rizzo, Benjamin Northey and Christian Badea.

In recital, he has performed with singers including Nicole Car, Étienne Dupuis, Anna Kissjudit, Noa Beinart, Margaret Plummer and Bruno de Sá. His collaborations extend to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia, Australian Youth Orchestra, Gondwana Indigenous Children's Choir, Sydney Children's Choir, The Choir of Christ Church St Laurence, Bel A Cappella, Sydney Chamber Choir, and cabaret artist Meow Meow.

Thomas is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied piano performance and accompaniment with Natalia Sheludjakova and participated in masterclasses with Stephen Hough, Mikhail Voskresensky, Gerard Willems, Ruth Nye, Andrew Ball, Marco Rapetti, Cristina Ortiz and Iain Burnside.