The Anglican Christ Church in Beechworth was jam-packed on Saturday with the audience treated to hearing exceptional voices of young opera singers for a concert ‘Mostly Mozart’.

Seven performing singers from a cohort of 22 in the Melbourne-based Opera Scholars Australia (OSA) graduate program enthralled around 130 classical music lovers at the special concert.

The rising stars sang operatic works by Austrian-born Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Italians Gaetano Donizetti and Guiseppe Verdi, and others.

OSA artistic director Alexander Lewis said it had been the first time in Beechworth for the singers.

“It’s also been the first time since the pandemic we’ve held a concert in Beechworth and was an absolute delight with not a spare seat in the house and a perfect audience,” he said.

OSA founders Graham Wall OAM and Margot Cory-Wall OAM attended as well.

Mr Lewis said the couple have fond memories of starting concerts in Beechworth with Opera in the Alps.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for young singers to bring music to communities, they have a good time good time performing and couldn’t have been more well received,” he said.

It’s really important for us to get back to our heartland in Beechworth with our opera scholars and we’re planning to have a concert once a year in the future with good voices unleashed.

We want to maintain our connection to the community.

Mr Lewis said OSA is working on visiting schools with OSA’s wonderful programs.

"We had a workshop with students at Beechworth Secondary College while here,” he said.

“It’s about having with classical music with the next generation.”

Coordinator for the concert in Beechworth, Margot Baker, said the concert had been an exquisite afternoon as well as sitting in a beautiful space.

Ms Baker said the opera singers’ skill and connection to the audience had been incredible.

“They are young, professional and were very generous with their performance,” she said.

“Patrons and supporters came up from Melbourne, too.”

Ms Baker said people travelled to be in the audience with some tripping from rural southern NSW.

One of the Beechworth Secondary College students who had taken part in a workshop presented the scholars with a gift.

Opera Scholars Australia founded in 1998 is a leading professional development program for young classical singers.