The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University has announced that Australian soprano Emma Matthews will be its new Head of Classical Voice. In what is quite a coup for WA, the acclaimed singer will be moving to Perth to take up her post in January 2018.

“I am delighted to be coming back to WAAPA as Head of Classical Voice, and to share all that I’ve learnt in the industry since I left,” Matthews said in the university’s press statement. “I look forward to getting to know the singers at WAAPA, to sharing their artistic journeys, technically, musically, and dramatically, and to guiding them into the professional world that awaits them. I’m coming home with my husband and two sons to make Perth our home, and WAAPA our family.”

Perth is familiar territory for Matthews who graduated in 1992 from The West Australian Conservatorium of Music, now a part of WAAPA. Since then, the seven Helpmann Award-winner has made her name at home and abroad, performing with all the state opera companies and the major symphony orchestras as well as recording a string of best-selling operatic CDs. A regular with Opera Australia for over 20 years, she has also...