Graham Pushee was born on April 25, 1954 in
Sydney, Australia. His first musical experiences were performing in a children's choir as a boy. He originally intended to pursue a career as a lawyer before deciding to pursue a career as a vocalist. He studied singing in his native city with Welsh tenor David Parker. In 1973 Pushee made his opera debut performing the role of Oberon in the Australian premiere of
Benjamin Britten's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' which was staged in a professional production at the
University of New South Wales. He returned there in 1976 to perform the title role in
George Frideric Handel's
Orlando. During this period he also performed in several programs of
early music with
Winsome Evans's
Renaissance Players. He also performed in several
oratorios and other works from the classical music vocal literature in Australia from 1973-1977. After this period, Pushee relocated to Europe in 1977 after being awarded a
Winston Churchill Fellowship which enabled him to study voice with countertenor
Paul Esswood in London and pursue training at the
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland with
Kurt Widmer and
Rene Jacobs. He lived in Switzerland for several years, during which time he worked as a concert and opera singer in Europe. He was particularly active at the
Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe where he performed title roles in many Handel operas, including
Poro,
Orlando,
Admeto,
Scipione,
Il pastor fido, and
Giulio Cesare. He was notably the first countertenor to ever perform the latter role; first tackling that part in 1987 at the
Paris Opera. In 1994 Pushee returned to Australia to portray the title role in
Opera Australia's production of
Giulio Cesare; a role he also performed with the
Houston Grand Opera. That same year he portrayed Andronicus in Handel's
Tamerlano with
Opera North. In 1995 he sang Giulio Cesare again in Melbourne. ==Discography==