Michael Azzopardi comes from a large and very musical family. His father Joe helped pioneer the sound of funk/soul in Australia in the 60's and 70's with Azzopardi family band "Afrika" featuring Mary, Rita, Tony, and Mario Azzopardi, who are all still active in the music industry. The strong presence of music in his family inspired Michael and older brother Luke (who is an amazingly talented and versitile vocalist) from an early age.
Born in Sydney in 1984, he started classical piano lessons at age 5, moving through AMEB grades and competing in eisteddfods, winning the Australian Music School's competition and overall performance award at age 12. He then attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. By his early teens, Michael turned his attention to Jazz piano, studying at the Sydney Conservatorium, performing with many of Sydney's top Jazz and session musicians by age 16.
In 2003, Michael was accepted into the Australian National University School of Music to complete a Bachelor of Music (Jazz), studying with pianists Paul McNamara, Matt Thompson and Mike Nelson. In 2004, Michael earned a spot in the band of the Australasian tour of the Broadway musical "Saturday Night Fever", touring Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 2005, Michael returned to studies at ANU, and earned the 2005 Michael Foster Scholarship, for outstanding achievment in Jazz. He was approached by USA bassist and ANU bass lecturer Eric C. Ajaye (Freddie Hubbard, Bennie Maupin, Nancy Wilson, Pointer Sisters, Taj Mahal) to form the Canberra based trio "Straight Up!", along with experienced Canberra drummer Chris Thwaite (Katook). They released their debut album "The Flow" in early 2006 to much acclaim and is played regularly on national radio, and was album of the week on Artsound FM. Their second release "Another Year" was recently released in March '07.
Michael has performed in many venues around Australia and the world including: The Concert Hall - Sydney Opera House, Esplenade Theatre - Singapore, Istana Budaya - Kuala Lumpur, The Basement, Side On Cafe, The Sound Lounge, Soup Plus, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Lyric Theatre - Star City, and jazz festivals including Manly, Wangaratta, North Coast, Thredbo and Moruya Jazz Festivals, and headlined the Bacardi Latin Festival with "Mi Tierra".
Michael has performed/recorded with Australian and international artists spanning many different genres including Marcia Hines, Bob Mintzer, Don Burrows, Lucky Oceans, Joan Rivers, Jeff Duff, Eric Ajaye, Emma Pask, Kristen Berardi, Brendan Clarke, Miroslav Bukovsky, John Mackey, Nathan Foley (Hi-5), Mi Tierra, and worked on major musicals "Saturday Night Fever" and "Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert".
Michael is currently in Melbourne performing in the orchestra of the international tour of "Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert" at the Regent Theatre.
My uncle Tony Azzopardi is one of Australia's premier percussionists. WATCH OUT FOR HIM ON AUSTRALIAN IDOL!
