About
Penny Mathisen began her career (encompassing musical theatre and opera, cabaret and concert performances)with P&O Cruises, singing her way to Australia.There she joined the Victorian State Opera playing Josephine in HMS Pinafore, opposite Yes Minister’s Paul Eddington. She performed with Australia’s leading opera companies, making her debut for the Australian Opera at the Sydney Opera House as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. Other operatic roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Gianetta in The Gondoliers, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Juliette in Romeo and Juliette, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and (one of her favourites) Clorinda, one of the ugly sisters in Rossini’s Cinderella.
Penny has also performed extensively in musical theatre, performing Christine in The Phantom of The Opera and Cosette in Les Miserables in the West End, having played the same role in the original Australian cast. She has sung Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and Laurey in Oklahoma. Her singing has taken her travelling to Germany as Pamina in The Magic Flute in Hamburg, performing throughout France with Les Musiciens du Louvre for Deutsche Grammphon’s film of Handel’s Messiah and starring as Anna Glawari, the title role in The Merry Widow for Columbia Artist’s tour of the USA.
Her television appearances include The Midday Show, with an audience of several million in Australia and televised opera for the BBC.