Brian Chatterton OAM was Musical Director of Co-Opera since its inception in 1990.  He was formerly Head of Performing Arts at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, Director of the Elder Conservatorium and Dean of Performing Arts at the University of Adelaide.  From 1973 to 1978 he worked with State Opera of SA as repetiteur, chorus master and musical director for many productions.  He regularly adjudicates at music eisteddfods and from 1972 – 1986 was a member of the music review panels of The Advertiser, The Adelaide Review, Australian Newspapers, the international magazine Opera and the monthly publication Opera-Opera.  Brian has studied or taught in Essex, Basle, Prague, Milan, Edmonton and London.

In 2000 he was awarded an OAM for his services to music and music education and in 2003 he was the recipient of a Centenary Medal. From 1991 – 2017 Brian has been Musical Director of over 1,000 Co-Opera performances covering every State and Territory in Australia. Additionally, from 2005 – 2012, Brian conducted over 30 performances in SE Asia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland to generous critical acclaim.

Acclaimed lyric soprano, Joanna McWaters, has been performing for over 25 years both in Australia and overseas. She has been the recipient of scholarships to undertake post-graduate studies in both Taiwan and Luxembourg, was an inaugural James & Diana Ramsay Foundation Emerging Artist with the State Opera of South Australia and is an inaugural graduate of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Programme.

Consistently lauded for her singing and acting talents, her diverse roles include the title roles in Madama Butterfly and Tosca, Mimi (La Bohème), Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Nedda (I Pagliacci), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Maria (West Side Story), Cupid (Orpheus in the Underworld), and most recently, The Beggar Woman (Sweeney Todd) for the State Opera of South Australia.

World premieres include creating the roles of Dolly Pickles in George Palmer’s operatic adaption of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, and Lily Brayton (At the Dome Room at 2 o’clock) both to high critical acclaim. Joanna also performed the Australian Premiere of Jake Heggie’s solo opera At the Statue of Venus for the State Opera of South Australia.

Joanna is thrilled to be performing the title role in Puccini’s “Tosca” in 2024; 100 years since the composer died.

Jeremy  Tatchell, New Zealand born bass-baritone, graduated with a Bachelor of Music in both viola and voice performance from the Canberra School of Music. For George Limb Opera in Canberra his roles included Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Figaro (Marriage of Figaro) and Mr Gedge (Albert Herring). Jeremy has gained much experience on the concert stage including performances of Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Mass, Bach’s St Mathew Passion, St John Passion and Magnificat, Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah. He has also performed as a violist with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Jeremy has performed a diverse number of roles with various companies around Australia including Falke (Die Fledermaus), Tonio (Pagliacci) and Zuniga (Carmen) for Co-Opera, which has also involved many performances in SE Asia and Continental Europe.

Macintyre Howie Reeves is a singer and director who has performed in multiple Adelaide Festival productions, including Brett Dean’s Hamlet, Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton and Mozart’s Requiem directed by Romeo Castellucci. He has been a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion, Handel’s Messiah and guest soloist for Adelaide Carols by Candlelight 70th anniversary. Macintyre has worked with many SA companies, including the G & S Society, Emma Knights Prodns, Co-Opera and State Opera of SA. Stage credits include: Lieutenant Barri in Sondheim’s Passion, The Major General in The Pirates of Penzance, The Father in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, The Page in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Mr. Lindquist in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Pish-Tush in The Mikado and Publio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito for Co-Opera.

David Visentin graduated from the Elder Conservatorium, Uni of Adel and  immediately performed many roles for the G&S Society. Later that year he joined Co-Opera for their inaugural interstate tours of the Magic Flute (Mozart) singing 1st Armed Man. In 2000 he moved to Sydney and added Alexis Pointdextre, The Sorcerer to his repertoire plus various roles in The Mikado, The Gondoliers, Yeoman of the Guard, Ruddigore and Iolanthe. He has performed principle roles in Don Giov anni (Mozart), L’occasione fa il Ladro and La Scala di Seta (Rossini), Owen Wingrave (Britten) and Il Tabarro (Puccini). Barber of Seville (Rossini) and Alfredo in La Traviata as well as tenor soloist in many oratorios.

Grace Bawden was guest soloist at the 2006, Adelaide Carols by Candlelight, where, at 14 years of age, she impressed an audience of about 30,000. In July 2007, Grace was invited to perform live on The Today Show (Channel 9).  Soon after, Grace won South Australian Junior Entertainer of the Year 2007.  Grace's successes continued with a further invitation to sing live on Radio 5AA by invitation of Australian Idol Judge, Mark Holden. In 2008, Grace became Judge’s Choice Grand Finalist on Australia's Got Talent. Also in 2008, against a field of over 600 entries across the globe, Grace performed for "World Youth Day" as Soloist.  Her show sold out at the Sydney Opera House. Grace regularly performs at charitable and corporate events across Australia. Her seasons as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly for Co-Opera in 2014 marked her public operatic debut. This was followed by seasons as a principal singer with Co-Opera as Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Yum Yum in The Mikado, Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Leonora in Il Trovatore,  Mimi in La Boheme as well as Violetta in La Traviata for Adelaide Hills Chamber Players.

Australian-Maltese Bass Baritone, Eugene Raggio is a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium (Adelaide), the Adelaide Centre for the Arts and the International Film School Sydney.

In the EU, Eugene has appeared with Berliner Wagner Gruppe, Berlin Summer Festival, Berlin Dramatic Voices, York Trust and Dei Gratia (UK). He has toured the German speaking world in the title role of Das Phantom Der Oper (Arndt/Gerber - ASA Events) successive years.  In 2014 Eugene was a young artist with Australian Contemporary Opera Co. He has appeared in the Inaugural Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival Vic and toured Vic/NSW in Opera Australia’s Hänsel and Gretel.  Eugene has sung in Co-Opera’s productions of Tosca, Die Fledermaus, La Traviata, La Boheme and A Midsummer Night’s Dream returning to the company in 2017 to take roles the title role in Eugene Onegin. His repertoire includes: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Lohengrin, Gianni Schicchi, Armide, The Consul and Mozart y Salieri. Eugene is the founding conductor of the Australian Remembrance Foundation and is completing his debut feature film Trittico. He returned to Opera Australia this year for the National tour of La Boheme in the roles of Benoit/Alcindoro.

Robert Macfarlane, studied at the Elder Conservatorium/University of Adelaide and subsequently as recipient of the prestigious Thomas Elder Overseas Scholarship (2012- 2013) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater,  Leipzig ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy’ with Professor Dr. Jeanette Favaro-Reuter. He undertook extensive study of the Baroque repertoire with tenor Howard Crook and has also studied and performed with world-renowned accompanist Malcolm Martineau. He was also one of the final students of the great tenor Peter Schreier and was the winner of the Adelaide Critic’s Circle award for best individual performance in 2012 (J.S. Bach's St. John Passion), a finalist in the Lortzing Competition in Germany in 2013, and winner of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria competition in 2009.

Robert has been  a free-lance singer since 2004. He made his European Opera Debut in the virtuosic role of Ircano in Johann Adolf Hasse’s Semiramide in Graz and Leipzig in 2014. On the opera stage, he has sung Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic Flute for WA Opera; Orfeo in Peri’s Euridice for Woodend Winter Arts Festival; the title role in Rameau's Pygmalion for the Peninsula Festival; Notary in La Sonnambula, Parpignol in La Boheme, Beppe in Pagliacci and 3rd Jew in Salome for State Opera of South Australia; Acis in Acis and Galatea in Malaysia and Singapore; the roles of Echo and Pastore in L'Orfeo with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for Brisbane Festival and in Sydney and Melbourne; and he has also performed with Pinchgut Opera, Lyric Opera of Melbourne and Co-Opera.

He is known internationally for his performances of Baroque repertoire, particular the Evangelist role in Bach’s St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion. Other acclaimed concert performances include soloist in Britten’s St Nicolas with the ASO; Mozart's Great Mass in C minor at St George's Cathedral, Perth; Handel's Messiah and Solomon; Monteverdi’s Vespers at the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Adelaide Festival; Britten’s Serenade and Les Illuminations; recitals of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang and Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis with pianist Leigh Harrold, Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Anthony Legge, and for ArtSong Canberra and The Firm in Adelaide. Robert has given the Australian premieres of works by Alec Roth, Wolfgang Fortner, Alexander Goehr and Paul Dessau and world premieres of works by David Kotlowy, Luke Altmann and Anne Cawrse. In 2023 he performed the role of Mime in Melbourne Opera’s celebrated production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Bendigo, Victoria. He currently lives in Melbourne.

Wei Han Tan, Malaysian tenor, studied at Chung Ling Butterworth High School in Malaysia (1993-2000). He studied Vocal & Performance at the Malaysian Institute of Arts (Music), obtaining his Diploma in Music (2000-2002). He was awarded First Prize at the Classical Singing National Competition organized by the Penang State Symphony Chorus in 2001. In following year, the Japan Music Council presented him with the Best Promising Singer Award at the Nissin International Competition held in Tokyo. He furthered his undergraduate studies at Xi’an Conservatory of Music Xi'an in Shaanxi, China, in 2004 under the tutelage of Asst. Prof. Chen Yong. He graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance. In June 2015, he graduated with a Master of Music degree from the Tunghai University Department of Music, under the guidance of renowned soprano Dr. Yi-Lin Hsu.

Wei Han Tan was a member of World Youth Choir in 2006 and 2007 organised by UNESCO. He toured Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and Belgium in 2006 and South Africa and Namibia in 2007 with the Choir. In 2006, he played the role of Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte at W.A. Mozart's 250th Anniversary concert. He took on another lead role in 2007, when he performed in Butterfly Lovers with the Dama Orchestra during their tour to Perth, WA. His first Co-Opera (from Adelaide, South Australia) experience came in 2008 where he performed in Verdi’s La Traviata as the lead role, Alfredo, in 40 performances, touring over a 6 month period. Following his work with Co-Opera, in April 2010, he performed W.A. Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro in the role of Basilio at Tunghai University, Taiwan. and performed as a tenor soloist in W.A. Mozart's Requiem with Taiwanese conductor Chun-Fung Lee and the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Taipei. Wei Han Tan is a notable performer in PSPA International Ensemble. He is widely recognised as one of the top tenors in Malaysia. In recent years he has won a number of awards including fourth-place in the Mondial Chinese Vocalist Concours 2011 in Taiwan, and the tenor first place award in the Collegiate Division of Taiwan's Year 100 National Music Competition, March 2012. He also won a Bronze award (male division) at the 6th Annual NTD Television International Vocal Competition in October of 2012, and he has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Since 2012, Wei Han Tan works as vocal coach in various institutes in Taiwan.

David has performed with a number of  opera companies and amateur choirs  extending back many years.

He has been a regular member of the State Opera of South Australia  chorus for over 40 years and has also performed a number of comprimario roles for the company including – Antonio – The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) :Naval Captain – Manon Lescaut (Puccini) : Gaoler  - Tosca  (Puccini) : The Imperial Commissioner – Butterfly (Puccini). He has also performed the roles of Benoît,  Alcindoro – La Bohème (Puccini) with Opera Australia (Oz Opera).  Performances with Bel Canto include Dr Malatesta – Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and Belcore – L’Elisir d’Amore (Donizetti).

Principal roles with Co Opera include Germont  - La Traviata (Puccini) : The Count – Marriage of Figaro (Mozart): Sharpless  - Madame Butterfly (Puccini) ; Silvio – I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) : Marcello – La Bohème (Puccini).

Concert performances with the Adelaide Harmony Choir include St Matthew and St John Passions (J S Bach) : Messiah (Handel): Requiem (Fauré) : 9th Symphony (Choral) (Beethoven): Paukenmesse – (Haydn) plus many others.