Choral CATS on the Carols stage

THREE days out from Ballarat Carols by Candlelight, the concert’s bill of local performers are warming up their voices to bring classic Christmas songs to life on stage.

Having starred in professional shows internationally, vocalists Jason Wasley and Sarah Landy will headline the evening.

An opera performer, Wasley grew up in Ballarat, learning to sing guided by Robert Lemke.

“It was in CATS that Jason performed alongside his partner Sarah, who will be gracing the stage in her new hometown,” said Carols president Matt Hustwaite.

During the pandemic, Wasley and Landy moved to the city together and have launched Soldiers Hill singing school, the Ballarat Vocal Studio.

Landy has been a cast member in national productions of Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, and Mamma Mia, in a European staging of Starlight Express, and in a West End London run of Saturday Night Fever.

She played the lead of Donna Sheridan in BLOC Music Theatre’s production of Mamma Mia earlier this year.

Wasley was a young recipient of the Herald Sun Aria, before travelling Europe and Asia in shows such as The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, La Boheme, and Oedipus Rex.

In a production of CATS which toured the Australasian region, he performed with songstress Delta Goodrem.

Other performers on the line-up include Daisy Kate Kennington, Simon Carroll, Sarahlouise Younger, Matt Faravoni, John Smith, Brittany Harbour, Vanessa Belsar, and Twilight Gypsí, guided by long-time Ballarat Carols musical director Sarah Barlow.

Ballarat Carols by Candlelight will be staged at Mars Stadium this Sunday evening, 19 December. Register at ballaratcarolsbycandlelight.org.au.