Music and Tea at the Wollongong Art Gallery will end the year with Being Alive, a concert on December 5 featuring songs from musical theatre starring Molly Margaret Stewart.

Molly is a 23-year-old NIDA graduate passionate about musical theatre and voice acting. In her teenage years, she was described as the ‘Woonona songbird’. She is now a Sydney-based performer undertaking a Bachelor of Music Performance (Music Theatre) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Molly will be accompanied by Joanna Li, a collaborative pianist who is completing her master’s at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The event will begin with a Prelude by song duo Sydney Parker and Jagger Leith, who captivated our audience in 2023 with their performance flair and musical collaboration. They are two exceptional young Wollongong singers who also focus on musical theatre. We are delighted to have them open our final concert in 2024.

I first heard Molly sing at a studio concert at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music in 2010 – she sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow and accompanied herself on the piano. It was a beautiful performance combining a quiet but beguiling confidence for one so young. This is not surprising given that, as Molly writes, “I have been learning and growing as a performer since I was four years old and am constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone, both in my professional and personal life.”

In Wollongong, singing coach Karen Cummings and local theatre companies, including the Arcadians and So Popera, fostered and encouraged Molly’s talent. She recently made her Hayes Theatre Company debut in A Little Night Music and joined the ensemble for An Evening With. Her multiple theatre credits include Mamma Mia!