Yvonne Laki
Opera Singer - Lyric Coloratura Soprano (Neutral Bay, NSW)

Yvonne Laki (maiden name Emoke Dubrovay) was born in Budapest Hungary. She is from a musical family, hence music was very much a part of her upbringing.

Her father was a music teacher who first discovered her operatic quality voice. To continue her formal studies she applied and gained entry to the Budapest "Capital City Music School“ which she attended from 1956 to 1962. There she studied and performed early music, leaders oratorios and opera. Her teacher and singing coach was Kato Godri, a well known opera singer from Germany who also trained Eva Marton. Yvonne attained a diploma in performing arts specialising in singing.

For her high school education she also studied economics at the “Rudas laszlo Kozgazdasagi Teknikum, a specialised Technical collage for economic studies where she gained her diploma.

For a short period she engaged with a travelling theatre company singing operetta and musical rolls.

In 1962 she married and in 1964 together with her husband Steven Laki decided to leave their country to travel overseas. Germany was the original destination where her teacher had some contacts in the opera world. This was unfortunately not possible at the time. Sydney was one of the other options, so that was chosen as their destination. After a short stay in Vienna they arrived in Sydney in 1965. She was naturalised in 1968 and changed her name to Yvonne Laki.

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music

In 1970 she was ready to restart her singing studies in Australia. She auditioned at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney and succeeded in obtaining a scholarship to the Conservatorium’s Opera school under Ronald Jackson and Joseph Post. Her voice production teacher was Madame Marianne Mathy.

During her time at the Conservatorium of Music, she performed the following operatic roles - The roll of Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart; the maid in The Devil takes her by Benjamin; covering the title role in Madam Butterfly by Puccini.

Sydney Opera Company

In 1971 Yvonne  auditioned and was given the title role Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata with The Sydney Opera Company, produced by Evelyn Klopfer with conductor John Cassim. In the same year she sang Antonia in Tales of Hoffmann By Offenbach. In 1973 she was a semi-finalist in the Sun Aria Competition in Canberra, and won 3rd place in the Shell Aria competition, also held in Canberra.

1973-74 Australian Opera

During this period, Yvonne auditions for the Australian Opera, and was engaged in the chorus. There came a vacancy to sing the roll of The Queen of the night in Mozart’s magic Flute. After auditioning to the then musical director Sir Edward Downs, she was given the roll. She went on to sing several performances in Melbourne and Sydney, covering Olympia in Tales of Hoffmann Zerbinetta in Ariadne of Naxos by Richard Strauss. In 1975 she sang the roll of Zaida in The Turk in Italy by Rossini, conducted by Roger Covell at The University of NSW.

Concerts

1975-1977
Queen Victoria Club
Sutherland Civic Centre conductor Cedric Ashton
Campbelltown and Camden Music Clubs
Sydney Opera Concert Hall arranged by the Gilbert And Sullivan Society with The Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic  Orchestra singing various operatic arias conducted by James McCarthy.

Rockdale Opera Company

1977 Engagement to the Rockdale Municipal Opera singing the title role of Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata
1978 Sang the title roll in Massenet’s Manon in Rockdale Opera Company
1980 Sang Margarita in Faust by Gounod

Overseas travel
1981 Travelled overseas singing various concerts in Germany and Switzerland
1983 Returned to Sydney

On returning to Australia, she performed various concerts in Sydney organised by the Hungarian community with international artist from Hungary, mainly singing operettas and Opera highlights. Unfortunately in 1984 she contracted chronic bronchitis which affected her vocal cords  to the extent that she had to give up her singing career.

Contact Yvonne Laki