Biography
captivating...Limelight Magazine
Annalisa Kerrigan...singer..producer...dog lover...
Annalisa is a singer and producer believing that music should be the forum for joy and wonderment, for national pride, for tears, for laughs, and for being together and connecting with others.
She has created national tours of her various shows, Annalisa Kerrigan's Ireland, Annalisa Kerrigan's The Mario Lanza Story, and upcoming Vienna, Waltz of my Dreams.
Her recordings have been best sellers for her national recording label, ABC Classics, and she is set to record more, as soon as she has time!
Annalisa believes that music should be accessible, and loved, and is often sad at the fact that so many Australians miss out on musical experiences because they are too expensive, or have an inacessible image, or, in the case of some modern music, has lost it's sense of melody and internal rhythm, and in turn, it's beauty.
She has worked tirelessly to bring beautiful, world class music to audiences throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, and will continue to do so through her national touring programmes and recordings.
She has sung as a solo concert artist with (to name a but afew)
Opera in the Market, Opera in the Otways, Opera in the Vinyards, Opera in the Roses, Opera in the Winery, Opera in the Park
Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Virtuosi Tasmanian Chamber Orchestra
Virtuosi Wineries tour, Virtuosi Coal Valley Festival, Angel Place City Recital Hall, Sydney Opera House with Aled Jones
Ballarat's Her Majesty's Theatre, Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Melbourne Town Hall, Orchestra Victoria, Wellington's Fowler Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Opera Company (Cosi Fan Tutte)
Melbourne International Festival (La Princess, Ravel, L'Enfant et les Sortileges), Vietnamese National Symphony
London City Orchestra, Singapore Lyric Opera, Tullynally Castle Ireland, Annesbrook House Ireland
Itstituto Europe Florence, Australian Embassy Paris (Victorian Expo), Australian Embassy London
Shepparton Civic Centre, Hamilton Arts Centre, St Arnaud Town Hall
Tamworth Country Music Festival, Geelong Performing Arts Centre
Glen Street Theatre Sydney, Wyndham Cultural Centre, Riverside Theatre Parramatta
Illawarra Merrigong Theatre Wollongong, Arden Crescent Concert Series
Portland Arts Centre, Melbourne Museum, National Gallery Melbourne, National Gallery Sydney
Oaks Day, Flemington with the Melbourne Racing Club, Olympic Park with the Australian Rugby League
British Institute Florence, Sapphire Stakes Day at Caulfield with Caulfield Racing Club, Victorian Parliament House
Federal Parliament House Canberra, Australian Export Awards, International Trade and Investment Outlook Conference
Formula 1 Grand Prix Melbourne (Australian anthem), Channel 10 Good Morning Australia
Channel 9 Carols by Candlelight, Sky News
And she's forgotten the rest but there's more, she says!!
She has received standing ovations throughout the world with various internationally acclaimed artists including Sir Richard Bonynge, Aled Jones, David Helfgott, SSO's Genevieve Lang, Bill Gleeson, and many more.
Annalisa has recieved radio play and interview with ABC Statewide, ABC Radio National (Album of the Week), 3MBS (Album of the week), ABC Swan Hill, ABC Radio West (Tamworth region), ABC Wollongong, ABC TV, 3AW, 2GB, 2UE, 2MBS, ABC Tasmania with Tim Cox, which, apparently, was so unintentionally funny that it got played and replayed for weeks to come...!
And for those that actually get to the bottom of this biog, here's some of Annalisa's comments on radio over the past year...
What's it like touring with a harp? "it was fine until Gen came up to me just before a concert in the middle of nowhere and announced that she'd snapped her g string..."
Her weirdest experience? "singing the national anthem with 30 formula 1 cars revving their enormous engines not 3 feet behind me, and then when I sang the top C at the end, 7 F11 jets whooshed over my head followed by an enormous 747 that was so close I could count the number of nuts and bolts on the undercarriage...it's the only time I've had to sing a top C while resisting the sudden urge to duck..."
Most unusual experience? "being given a spontaneous gift of a stunning opal, gold and diamond necklace by the man that runs Nuts'n'Treats in Tamworth, after giving a charity concert for AFAP in a corrugated iron betting shed with a dirt floor during a storm - he just gave it to me. i tried to hand it back, it was too beautiful to accept, but he insisted. And I wear it at every performance, I even wore it at my wedding."
Her best experience? "just doing what i do...and knowing it might make people happy.."
And quirks? "well I guess I'm a bit weird in that I tend not to wear shoes on stage...I left my high heels behind the timpanis in Wellington in 2008 and haven't had time to get any new ones..."
And something special? "I just found out someone who came to a concert named their baby after me...I mean...that's such an honour...