Telstra Road to Discovery Top 10 Revealed

Media Release, 08 October 2013

Ten aspiring musicians from across Australia are now officially one step closer to a successful music career following their selection for the Telstra Road to Discovery finals which will take place at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne on 30th October 2013.

The announcement was made last Sunday following the Telstra Road to Discovery semi final event at the Great Southern Blues Festival in Narooma which saw a highly competitive field of 17 musicians whittled down to just 10.

Telstra Consumer Group Managing Director, Karsten Wildberger congratulated the contestants and reinforced the importance of the program.

“We’ve spent the past three months scouring the country to uncover aspiring musicians from a range of genres and to see all the performers come together for the semi final event in Narooma has been fantastic. Providing a launch platform for independent artists to share their music is so important for the future of our local music industry,” said Mr Wildberger.

The 17 semi finalists, who were selected from 11 live performance heats, one digital heat for performers in remote and regional areas, four songwriters and one wildcard entry each performed a live acoustic song to the huge festival crowds in Narooma and were judged by Bill Page from Mushroom Music, Graham Thompson from Compass Brothers Records and Kevin Bennett from The Flood.

2012 program winners Melody Pool and Gena Rose Bruce and Melbourne singer-songwriter Ella Hooper also joined in on the action.

The final 10 are now in the running to win a 12-month music mentorship package, including a return trip and showcase performance at the Americana Music Festival, local gigs in Australia and face to face time with some of the nation’s biggest music names, plus a $14,000 tailored music development fund, with one prize package awarded for both the performer and songwriter categories.

Plus, for the first time in the program’s history, Telstra is partnering with international superstars Bon Jovi to create an exciting development opportunity for two finalists, one performer and one songwriter, to perform as the opening act for the band’s ‘Because We Can’ Australian tour in December 2013.

The 10 performers and songwriters chosen to compete in the finals are:

Performers:

  • Olivia Hally from Fitzroy North, VIC
  • Paige Renee Court from Port Pirie, SA
  • Josh Rennie-Hynes from Delaneys Creek, QLD
  • Christopher Coleman from Hobart, TAS
  • Jesse Teinaki from Somerset, TAS
  • Imogen Clark from Bowen Mountain, NSW
  • Danny Bau from Mandurah, WA

Songwriters:

  • Angie McMahon from Alphington, VIC
  • Angharad Drake from Brisbane, QLD
  • Helen Shanahan from Perth, WA

Since its inception more than a decade ago, the Telstra Road to Discovery program has travelled over 579,000 kilometres, showcased over 2,100 individual performances and unearthed an incredibly diverse group of up-and-coming talent in every state and territory.

The program has also served as the launch pad for some of Australia’s brightest musical talents including Jessica Mauboy (2003), Neda (2009), Harry Hookey (2010) and Melody Pool (2012).

For more information, visit the Telstra Road to Discovery website.