MAX THE OPERA SINGER is developed, written and played by Max Sharam



Captivating, eccentric, powerful, eclectic. The first 21st Century diva. Her voice is utterly captivating. She conjures coloratura, she purloins punk, her voice liquefies love and emulsifies emotion...Plug into the universal heartbeat, trust your spirit, and walk boldly over the horizon: that is Max. Raised near Melbourne, Australia on great grandfathers large sheep station then on her mother's Arabian Horse Stud in an area called Musical Gully (named for the sounds of picks and shovels from the gold rush era), Max came of age in an atmosphere of wide open spaces that imposed no bounds on her imagination.

Studied classical singing and the electronic organ. While graduating from Performing Arts College, majoring in Behavioural Science, Max brought her guitar to Europe, where she sang, wrote and performed her own compositions in clubs throughout. She also teamed up with a group of Madonnaro artists and traversed France, Switzerland and Italy, painting and singing on the streets.

While performing in Florence, RAI News Anchor & Producer Carlo Picone invited Max to audition for Forza Venite Gente, a popular musical in Rome, for which she landed the lead role, allowing Max to work alongside some of Italy's greatest talents. The hit musical played to full houses then toured for two years. Max Sharam Video Other Italian Theatre productions readily engaged her, notably Kolbe directed by the renowned Polish Film Director - Krzysztof Zanussi. She received the Star of the Year award at Genoa's Cole Porter Festival, recorded a dance LP I'm Occupied, and her story La Ragazza con La Chitarra was documented for RAI TV. After a year in Japan studying Taiko drums and fronting a Japanese band in Hiroshima, Max returned to Sydney. Her acoustic spots at club Kinselas attracted wide audiences and critical acclaim.

After somewhat of a bidding war Max signed with Warner Music and later that year Warner released her EP, Coma. A warped celebration of revenge, humor, and post-modern genre blending. Coma hit the top ten nationally and was voted the eighth most popular song of the year by Australia's JJJ Net- work. (I'll creep 'round your garden til daybreak, I'll look through your window'til dawn, I'm hoping to catch me an eyeful, of your love and you doing porn...I'm coming to get you...) Quickly her album reached platinum status. She was nominated for 8 Aria Awards. The story goes on. With Max...liberation comes from embracing the unexplainable...


"Imagine a voice that can shift from Liz Phair to Diamonda Galas in a heartbeat with lyrical savvy and a perfectly obscure sense of humour & you're halfway there."

"Max's songs range from predestined hits to the more unusual with visceral falsettos and surreal and intrepid gypsy rondos. Max Sharam can sing an Aria in Italian that would have Cecilia Bartoli's eyebrows lifting. Powerful and provocative she elicits strong reactions from press & pedestrians alike."

"Max Sharam is a force to be reckoned with...she's confident and strong, cutting and satirical; competent and sensational. And that's just in interviews..."

MAX loves :

Dali's love for Gala, the passionate elengated strokes of El Greco, OPERA (but not necessarily Operas), Edward Gorey, artists Tim Burton, Mark Ryden, John Currin, Michael Caine, Lucille Ball, John Lennon, Liberace, Endora, Pee Wee Herman, the 'ornate', the 'avant-guard', TRUTH! (but not necessarily reality), computers, stainless steel, neuroscience, equality, love, sex, luggage, mules, hares. Peace. Silence.
She lives a lieless life.
She has a penchant for red wine. She never runs out of coffee, milk or lemons. She loves the piano. She loves whipped cream. She has an eye for antiques, likes old clocks and anything that measures anything...the compass, the thermometer, the sphygmomanometre, the Decibel Counter, the Geiger counter...the spoon.
Her blonde headed, porcelain skinned niece went to school on an Island north of Arnhem Land where she was the only white child.

• She wants an aboriginal baby but can't imagine being a mother.
• Her mother breeds Champion Arabian Horses, they are all branded with treble clefs and called names like Allegro, Minuet, Tremolo, Vibrato...
• She loves that.
• She has the same bra size as Sharon Stone. She should be in Mensa.
• Her family is remote. Scattered. Detached. Her ancestors were nomadic Berbers and failed aristocrats.
• Max and her girlfriend made two video clips; she a previous Olympic Ice-skater, skates in one. There were made on Super 8 in the Warehouses in which they lived. 'Crashlanding!' is hauntingly beautiful. Max wrote and produced the track with the Electric String Quartet.

Max is a loner with no patience.


Text and photographs by Max Sharam.