The third of the four preliminary concerts took place on Wednesday 15 June and featured singers from Australia, Wales, Moldova, Ukraine and Germany.
The winner of concert three was Andrei Bondarenko from Ukraine.
View a photo gallery from concert three.
Susanne Braunsteffer - Germany
Il est doux, il est bon (Hérodiade) - Massenet
Salomé is searching for two people: her mother, who abandoned her at birth; and the man she loves - the prophet Jean (John the Baptist), who is the only person who understands her.
Temerari ... Come scoglio (Così fan tutte) - Mozart
Fiordiligi and her sister Dorabella are being wooed by two strangers, who are actually their lovers in disguise. Fiordiligi, the more strong-minded of the sisters, delivers this strong diatribe on fidelity, saying that she will remain firm as a rock in her loyalty to her lover, despite all temptations.
Un bel di vedremo (Madama Butterfly) - Puccini
Although it is three years since her American husband, Pinkerton, has left Butterfly, she remains convinced that he will return to her. She dreams of seeing the smoke from his ship approaching the harbour and watching him climb the hill to their house. She will hide for a moment, just to tease him.
Mercè, dilette amiche (I vespri siciliani) - Verdi
Duchess Elena is about to be married to Arrigo, a young Sicilian. They are both taking part in the 1282 revolution in Palermo against the French occupying forces. Elena thanks her courtiers for their gift of flowers and looks forward to her future happiness.
Helen Sherman - Australia
Sta nell'Ircana (Alcina) - Handel
In this 'trouser role', the knight Ruggiero declares his triumph over the sorceress Alcina, who has kept him prisoner on her enchanted island. Alcina keeps trying to cast a spell on Ruggiero to make him love her, but he resists.
How can I sleep? ... At the haunted end of the day (Troilus and Cressida) - Walton
Cressida is a widow, soon to take her vows as a priestess. She has met the Trojan prince, Troilus, who has fallen in love with her. She cannot get to sleep as she can only think of him, his face and his voice, although she had sworn to live a life of quiet peace, never to love again. She admits to herself that love is awakening in her and she surrenders to it.
Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia) - Rossini
Rosina is the ward of Dr Bartolo. She is being courted by Count Almaviva, in disguise as the student, Lindoro, and has just read a love letter from him. She is determined that 'Lindoro' will be hers, although her guardian will probably oppose it. Although Rosina is sweet and gentle, she will fight like a viper for her heart's desire.
John Pierce - Wales
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Die Zauberflöte) - Mozart
The Three Ladies have given Prince Tamino a locket with a miniature of Princess Pamina. He looks at the portrait and is captivated by Pamina's beauty.
Una furtiva lagrima (L'elisir d'amore) - Donizetti
Nemorino is a poor boy in love with a rich girl, Adina. But he is shy, and has taken a so-called love potion to make himself attractive to her. It is actually only cheap red wine, which makes him lose his inhibitions and leads Adina to think that he no longer loves her. In 'A furtive tear', Nemorino has noticed a tear in Adina's eye, and realises that she loves him after all. He is so happy, he could die of love.
Lunge da lei ... De'miei bollenti spiriti (La traviata) - Verdi
Alfredo has moved in with Violetta. He sings of how happy he is to be spending his life with her and of how much she loves him.
Je suis seul! ... Ah! fuyez, douce image (Manon) - Massenet
Des Grieux has joined a seminary in order to forget about his love for Manon, but finds that he is unable to get her out of his mind. He prays to God to remove this shadow from his heart.
Valentina Naforniţă - Moldova
Egli non riede ancora ... Non so le tetre immagini (Il corsaro) - Verdi
Medora is the lover of Corrado, captain of corsairs in the Aegean. She is bored and lonely without him and sings, to her own harp accompaniment, of the foreboding she feels as she awaits her lover's return.
Glück das mir verlieb (Die tote Stadt) - Korngold
Marietta is a dancer, and strongly resembles Marie, the dead wife of Paul. She goes to Paul's house and is surprised to see Marie's portrait, which could be of her. After Marietta leaves, Paul has an apparition of Marie, in which she steps out of her portrait and sings and dances for him. The title translates as 'My happiness that remains' and is about true love, and how even the truest love must die.
Amour, ranime mon courage (Roméo et Juliette) - Gounod
Juliette asks for love to give her courage before toasting her lover Roméo and drinking the potion which will make her appear to be dead. She is afraid that she should wake up in the tomb before Roméo reaches her, or that she could find herself placed close to the body of Tybalt, with his bloody wounds.
Andrei Bondarenko - Ukraine
Hai già vinta la causa ... Vedrò mentr'io sospiro (Le nozze di Figaro) - Mozart
Count Almaviva thinks that he is meeting Susanna, his wife's maid, in the garden for a romantic tryst. But then he hears her whisper to his manservant, Figaro, her fiancé, that they have won their legal case, and can now get married. The Count is enraged that he should be forced to forgo his pleasure, and that he, an aristocrat, is helpless to stop his servants from rejoicing at their triumph over their master.
Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Die tote Stadt) - Korngold
Fritz, a pierrot, is an admirer of the heroine, Mariette, and he serenades her with Pierrot's Tanzlied (Dance Song). This is one of the best-known arias from the 1920 opera The Dead City. He sings with sad yearning of the magic of the dance, how he dreams of his lost love and how the extremes of intoxication and misery are a clown's lot.
Vy mne pisali ... Kogda by zhizn domashnim krogdom (Eugene Onegin) - Tchaikovsky
Onegin has read Tatyana's letter declaring her love for him, and tells her frankly that he can only offer her brotherly love. He is not cut out for marriage; it would be a torment for them both; and she should look elsewhere for a man who could return her love.
Quella è una strada (Le maschere) - Mascagni
The commedia dell'arte character, Tartaglia the servant, stutters his way through this aria, which introduces the street and the piazza on a fiesta day in July. He grumbles that the city and country think they are great, and spend money like water. The newcomers are noisy, the old guard won't let go of their power, there are too many police sending too many petty criminals to prison without catching the real villains. But look out, he says - here comes Pantalone!
