Monica Trapaga
To say that Monica Trapaga is a diverse entertainer is understating it. Monica's talents and experience have led her into numerous roles in the Australian recording, television, corporate and children's entertainment industry.
Monica's television experience is vast. She is currently a presenter on Seven's high rating, and 5 Logie winner, "Better Homes and Gardens", where she presents the Deco segments. Before this, she presented TV shows “Living In The ‘90’s” (ABC), then came "Behind the Wheel" in 1995-96 as well as regularly featuring on shows such as "Burke's Backyard", "Midday with Kerrie Anne", "Roy and HG", “Denise”, “Good Morning Australia”, “The Morning Shift’, "Carols in the Domain", "Brisbane Carols"... the list is endless.
As a dramatic actor she has received roles in "GP", "Police Rescue" and the films "High Tide" and "The Tennis Ball".
As a corporate speaker and personality, Monica has worked for organisations such as Australia’s Original Stitches and Craft Show, Optus, The Nursing Mother's Association, Australia Day Ambassador, The Starlight Foundation, Barnardo’s Australia’s Mother of the Year Awards, The Variety Club, to name a few. She is Goodwill Ambassador for The New Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney where she regularly appears, to the delight of the children, and gives ongoing help in raising much needed funds. Monica is patron (alongside Geraldine Doogue) for the Home-Start program, set up by the Benevolent Society of NSW which offers support to families with young children. Very recent additions include being chosen as Patron to the Mater Children’s Hospitals in Brisbane and WA and the first Patron for Radio Lollipop.
As a children's entertainer her profile and experience are enormous. She has been a regular presenter on ABC's Play School for ten years and is perhaps the most recognisable face on children's television. She has released four children’s videos and five cds under her own name. Her fifth video, entitled “I Love The Zoo”, released late in 2000 through Buena Vista Home Entertainment nationally and, with the wonderfully scenic location of Taronga Zoo, has been a big hit with the littlies. The corresponding cd (her 6th) was released shortly after through Festival Kids.
Other video titles include “Monica’s House”, Monica’s Seaside Adventure”, “Monica and George In The Magic Toyshop” and “Monica’s Trip To The Moon”.
“Monica’s Trip to the Moon” cd was nominated for an ARIA award for Best Children’s Release for 1999. Her first video, "Monica's House" went platinum within three weeks of being released in 1996. Her cd, Monica's Tea Party, received an APRA award for the best children's song of 1993. She has contributed to numerous other children's productions including many Play School cds and Bananas in Pyjamas, writing some of the songs and singing the theme tune.
Monica has been cementing ties with Walt Disney by filming her third series of 5 minute interstitials which are currently being shown on The Disney Channel. She also appears as narrator of six mini book and tapes for Disney including The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book, Winnie The Pooh and other favourites. Monica was chosen by Disney to lead the promotion for Mickey's 70th Anniversary and she also fronted the Disney spectacular which was a highlight of the 1999 and 2000 Carols in the Domain concerts which are televised on Channel 7.
Monica has achieved a high level of success as a singer and entertainer in both the jazz and corporate worlds. With her band "Monica and the Moochers" she released two cds, "Too Darn Hot" and "Cotton on the Breeze", in the early ‘90s and which were critically acclaimed and sold extremely well.
Her latest musical involvement is Monica Trapaga with John Morrison’s Swing City where she is able to indulge her passion for performing with big bands. This band boasts up to a 20 piece group with the awesome sounds of John Morrison on drums with some of Australia’s freshest young talent and performs some of the hippest big band music in the land.
With this big band Monica has developed an amazing “Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald” show which premiered to rave reviews at last year’s Tower Twilight at Taronga. It was a sellout over 3 nights and is an ongoing project for Monica.
Almost exclusively for the corporate world (virtually no public shows) Monica has also reformed the extremely popular Monica & The Moochers who wowed audiences in the early 1990’s. This time around the band will feature John Morrison (drummer extraordinaire) as Musical Director and, in addition to the swinging forties and fifties numbers they were famous for, will be some of the Latin styles Monica has recently developed.
As always, Monica also has a mixture of smaller bands available including a 9 piece Latin/Cuban/Brazilian band “Monica and Mano a Mano” who perform traditional Cuban dance numbers. She also has various combinations of quintets, quartets and trios featuring Swing Jazz, Lounge, Latin and Brazilian songs. All of which are extremely popular at corporate and private functions and events.
In various formats over the years she has entertained numerous corporate clients including IBM, Coca Cola, Westpac, The Prime Minister, The Packer Group, Computer Associates, Telstra, Optus, Ausrail, The Federal Labor Party, The NSW Liberal Party, The Dally M awards, The Launch of the Brisbane Broncos, Woolworths and The Australian Olympic Bid Party to name a few.
Monica has featured at every major Jazz festival in the country and is often chosen to compere large events of this nature including Jazz in the Domain, Carols in the Domain and the New Year's Eve Celebrations in Hyde Park. The highlight of the century was her performance on New Year’s Eve 1999 for the Lord Mayor’s Mask Party at the Sydney Opera House. This was broadcast around the world as a feature of Australia’s celebrations. Other performances that night include a children’s concert in the afternoon and a Latin/Brazilian concert on completion of the midnight fireworks, both at the Domain in Sydney. This was repeated at the New Year’s Eve 2000 celebrations!
