I took up singing because ... – only one note at a time! I joined a choir at university and was later encouraged to take lessons. I'm still singing because I still have lot to learn and it never ceases to make me happy. Versus piano, I enjoy being able to stand up, move around and engage an audience more directly.

My favourite material to sing is ... – romantic classical, light music and music with jazz or folk roots.

The biggest challenge of being a musical director is

My most embarrassing moment on stage was ... I've never felt embarrassed while performing, but in hindsight ... Whilst performing an excerpt from Carmen, a chorus girl "helped" to clear the stage on exit and collected the flower that Carmen threw. I needed to sing about the flower in the next aria, I had no idea where it had gone, I kept trying to spot it out of the corner of my eye. I was very confused.

My proudest moment performing was ... in Philo's Cabaret I was music directing, acting, singing and at one point playing an on-stage piano. I'm not sure I'd take that much on again in a hurry, but thanks to the support of a lot of people, it all came together incredibly well. In 2015, I'm looking forward to playing a soldier in Philo's production of Evita, concerts with Canberra Opera, and studying some more art songs.

RON CERABONA