DOMINIC NATOLI

As an internationally acclaimed tenor, Dominic Natoli is accustomed to life in the limelight, entertaining audiences throughout Europe, the USA, Australasia, Japan and South East Asia for over 30 years.

But Dominic’s first taste of musical ‘stardom’ came on the Australian Boys Choir’s inaugural international tour of Japan in 1971. “I sang the Balulalow solo from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols,” Dominic explains. “It was the pinnacle of my time in the Choir.”

The tour involved multiple television and radio interviews, as well as a string of concerts. “We were mobbed by teenage girls after concerts,” he laughs. “We certainly hadn’t had that coming out of the Melbourne Town Hall or after Christmas concerts at David Jones!”

Dominic joined the ABC as a Probationer in 1966 and sang with the Choir until 1971. A shy young boy, he loved music but was taunted at school because of his singing. He believes the friendships made through the ABC were critical in his development as a singer. “Those friendships helped me to persevere against the adversity of ridicule.”

Summer camps became an annual highlight and Dominic fondly remembers time spent at Choir House. “It was like a big family in the end. The longer I was there, the more it felt like home away from home. We would have Friday night and Saturday morning rehearsals and a group of us would often sleep at Choir House.”

Dominic admits suffering “immense withdrawal symptoms” when his voice changed and did not sing for five years. Fortunately, he returned to his true love and in 1981 won the Heinz Australian Youth Aria competition.

The ‘kid from Mentone’ now boasts an impressive curriculum vitae. He studied opera at the Vienna Conservatorium, was twice awarded the Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship, received an Arts Fellowship from the Queensland Government and won first prize in the prestigious Alfredo Kraus International Singing Competition. He continues to sing major roles in opera productions in both Australia and Europe, where critics noted his “beautiful tenorial sweetness and flexibly guided voice”, and specialises in Italian opera.

Dominic describes returning to sing with the Choir for the 70th Anniversary Concert as “an uplifting emotional experience.”

“It was wonderful to be there, singing with a group of young Australian boys interested in the same sort of repertoire and activity.”

Thankfully, some things don’t change!