VIOLETTE Hyland, fourteen, a year 8 student at Nambucca Heads High School, has been selected to perform a solo in a concert at the Sydney Opera House at the end of this month.

The Mimosa Concert is a Department of Education-run event to be held on 27 June featuring more than 1000 students from NSW public primary and secondary schools.

The concert will show-case a wide variety of instrumental and vocal performances, selecting from some of the highest achieving young musicians in the State.

Violette is singing ‘Zero Gravity’ by Kate Miller-Heidke.

“I’m really excited to have this opportunity and I think it will be a great night,” the committed young performer told News Of The Area.

Violette works extremely hard attending singing, acting and piano lessons every week, followed up by much practice in her private time.

That training paid dividends in the recent Coffs Harbour Eisteddfod.

She performed in eight sections of the Eisteddfod held mid-May, placing first in seven and second in one.

Some of the categories she won were vocal solo, Australian song, classical song, sacred song, folk song and musical theatre.

She also won an intermediate vocal scholarship for overall excellence.

It has been a busy few weeks for Violette.

Last Monday, when NOTA spoke to her, she had just finished performing in a concert at the Compass Music Festival in Coffs Harbour, a concert series featuring primary and secondary regional and rural students, organised by the Arts unit of NSW Government.

She performed an original song called ‘Out of my control’.

Perhaps it will come as no surprise to many that Violette hopes to one day have a career in musical theatre.

By Ned COWIE