Australian Armenian Eurovision entrant wows on ‘The Voice Australia’

· September 3, 2024

MJ (Mary-Jean) O’Doherty, an Australian who represented Armenia in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, has made it through The Blind Auditions of The Voice Australia Season 13.

Performing judge Kate Miller-Heidke’s own 2019 Eurovision entry Zero Gravity, soprano MJ received chair turns from both Kate herself and Australia’s own inaugural 2015 entrant Guy Sebastian. She even performed a reprise of the song’s chorus on stage with Kate before ultimately choosing to join her team.

Kate was impressed that MJ managed to go even higher than her on the song’s last note.”Honestly that was insane…you made it your own. It’s a song about transcendence and I feel that you gave us that really beautifully.”

After the performance, Guy reminisced with MJ about their 2015 Eurovision experience:

“How fun was that by the way? It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done. It literally felt like ‘The Hunger Games’ with all the countries coming out with their flags. There was something so beautiful about it.”

Asked about why she had auditioned for the show, Sydneysider MJ, said there were times in her career when she had lost confidence –

“I didn’t believe in my talent….I thought what if I’m not good enough or I’m not cool enough so this is all about trying to boost my confidence again and find myself as a singer.”

MJ, who has an Australian father and Armenian mother, was part of supergroup Genealogy who represented Armenia at Eurovision in 2015 with ‘Face the Shadow’, finishing in 16th place.

Armenian First Lady Rita Sargsyan handpicked six singers of Armenian heritage from across the globe to make up the group. Other members were Inga Arshakyan (Armenia), Vahe Tilbian (Ethipia), Tamar Kaprelian (United States of America), Stephanie Topalian (Japan) and Essai Altounian (France).

“We had a moment where we all walked to our own continents but I had to be really careful because if I didn’t hit the mark like a big huge flame would like fold up and swallow me…it was wild to share the same stage with Guy Sebastian and now I get to hopefully impress him as a contestant”.

Mary-Jean was actually born in Houston, Texas in 1982 and studied at both the North Carolina School of the Arts and East Carolina University. She has a Bachelor of Music degree majoring in voice and flute performance and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology.

After graduating, Mary-Jean moved to Sydney and took part in the 2006 Operatunity Oz talent search where she was one of the finalists. In 2007 she won the ABC Symphony Australia Young Vocalist Award and in 2008 was the inaugural recipient of the Australian International Opera Award.

Part of this prize included a scholarship to study at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice in Wales.

On completion of her studies, Mary-Jean began her professional career and has perfomed with various companies across the globe including Wales, England, Czech Republic, Australia, Italy, Spain, Israel and Austria. Her notable operatic roles include: The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Lulu (Lulu). She was also a finalist at the 10th Aragall Singing competition in Sabadell, Spain in 2010 and the Stuart Burrows International Vocal Competition in Wales 2011. In 2013, she took first prize at the prestigious Paris Opera Awards.

Along with the other foreign members of Genealogy, Mary-Jean received an Armenian passport from President Serzh Sargsyan on 28 April 2015, just a few weeks before the group’s Eurovision performance.