About Us

Luciana Masci (B.Phty) was born in Brisbane, Australia to Italian parents, from Ripa Teatina, Abruzzo. The Abruzzese heritage and cultural ties have remained strong with Luciana.  Her frequent visits to Italy, and to her extended family still in Abruzzo have only deepened her appreciation of its wonderful cuisine and rich folklore embedded in tradition and the seasons and often, in superstition and mystery. Fluent in the Abruzzese dialect as well as Italian and French, she has taught Italian Language and Cooking in Brisbane. Also a Tour Guide since World Expo 1988 in Brisbane, she has shown many inbound Italian tourists and incentive groups the sights of Brisbane and Australia.

After a long and challenging career as a physiotherapist, she is ready to hang up her thumbs for a while and follow her other passions. She is currently collecting and researching recipes for an anthology of Abruzzese recipes. It is now time for Luciana  to share the treasures of Abruzzo with others and discover this little known corner of Italy.

Michael Howard was born in Brisbane and graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium in Sydney in 1986. After winning several national and international singing competitions, he was engaged by the Augsburg Opera, in Germany as principal lyric tenor until 1992. After his success at La Scala Milan in 1997 where he made his role debut as Andres in Berg’s “Wozzeck”,  Michael Howard was invited to return in 1999 and in 2000 in the Strauss operas “ Frau ohne Schatten” and “ Ariadne auf Naxos”. He also debuted at the Roma Opera as Mime in Wagner’s “Ring” and sang the same role in the Ring Cycle under the late Maestro Sinopoli and Adam Fisher at the Bayreuth Festival, Germany.

A versatile artist whose repertoire spans from early Baroque to contemporary music, opera, operetta and concert, he is much  in demand in Europe and has sung in many other leading opera houses in Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Hanover, Nuremberg, Lyon, Turin, Paris and Zurich. This year he has been invited to sing in “Wozzeck” at the Tel Aviv Opera.

Michael has taken part in many radio broadcasts for German, Italian, French and Swiss Radio and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. A new recording of “Ariadne auf Naxos” with Michael Howard was released in 2001 on the Deutsche Grammophon label which was then nominated for a Grammy Award in the USA as best opera recording of the year. Michael is also fluent in German and Italian. He studied Italian at Griffith University, Brisbane.