Opera Australia has once again posted a major operating loss and is weathering criticism for its very safe repertoire. Both these points merit consideration in the federal government’s National Opera Review.
Dramatic in its effect, Fly away Peter is a requiem to the fallen and damaged of the first world war. Photo: Zan Wimberley.
Sydney Chamber Opera
One of the few Australian novels dealing with the first world war, David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter, has been adapted for the opera stage – and the Sydney Chamber Opera’s production is a great success.
An opera based on David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter opens in Sydney this weekend.
Carriageworks/Toby Burrows
Sydney Chamber Opera’s production of David Malouf’s 1982 novel Fly Away Peter opens this weekend. It’s not the first opera adaptation of Australian literature – and there are reasons to hope it’s not the last.
3D goggles might be commonplace at the cinema, but few associate the opera with digital technology, or would ever expect to wear 3D goggles in a theatre. A new production of The Flying Dutchman, created…
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. I usually begin my end of life ethics lecture with one of Dylan Thomas’ best-loved…
Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride is a milestone in opera history – and Pinchgut’s production is marvellous. Photo: Keith Saunders.
Pinchgut Opera
In any Opera History 101 course, Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) is cited as one of the most influential figures in the development of opera. And, of course, this is true. Gluck’s operas, and his…
Critics of The Death of Klinghoffer at The Met in New York have claimed the opera is both anti-semitic and glorifies acts of terrorism.
EPA/Peter Foley
On Monday night in New York, protesters demonstrated against the premiere of John Adams’ 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer, at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Its subject matter is the murder…
Debate over WA Opera’s production of Carmen reveals some faultlines in corporate arts sponsorship. Photo: Opera Australia dress rehearsal.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
One of the loopier actions of the eccentric Roman Emperor Elagabalus (inventor of the whoopee cushion) was an edict calling for all sex scenes in imperial theatres to be performed live and not simulated…
Musicals such as The King and I bring the crowds – but should a state-funded opera company be staging them? Photo: Brian Geach.
Opera Australia
Why is Opera Australia staging The King and I? The Rodgers and Hammerstein favourite is currently playing at the Sydney Opera House and has been a remarkably successful choice, commercially speaking. Even…
Regional tours such as Opera Australia’s cross-country circuit with The Magic Flute deliver real benefits to the communities they visit.
Albert Comper, Opera Australia
Since July, Mozart’s popular opera, The Magic Flute, has been touring regional Australia. The Opera Australia production, a version of Mozart’s classic reinvented by Australian playwright Michael Gow and…
Sydney Chamber Opera’s Mayakovksy critically engages with neglected aspects of the great Russian poet’s biography.
Photo: Zan Wimberley
“I’m a poet. That’s what makes me interesting.” So begins the autobiography of Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose futuristic militarisation of poetic verse proved even more revolutionary than the Bolsheviks’ seizure…
The Royal Opera House’s restaging of La Bohème will get the same responses as any other production of the Puccini opera. The savvy enthusiast hedges cautiously, perhaps going with the sceptic’s play-it-safe…
The world’s most famous tenor visits Australia next month. What’s all the fuss about?
Photo courtesy Opera Australia
Jonas Kaufmann, currently the world’s hottest tenor, is a freak. Kaufmann, who will sing at the Sydney Opera House during his first Australian visit next month, has broken the mould for what might be expected…
Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri wrote a homophobic letter to her country’s president, praising anti-gay violence.
Facebook
Opera Australia (OA) has dealt with what was becoming a significant boycott threat by sacking the Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri. The company had planned to bring her to Australia to perform the role of…
Richard Strauss saw – and heard – it all. Born before German unification, he lived through two world wars and the division of Germany into East and West, dying that same year, in 1949. Musically he also…
Carmen’s rhythms set her body in perpetual motion – contagious and seductive.
Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Carmen & the Opera Australia Chorus, photo: Branco Gaica
The fictional character of Carmen – the heroine of Bizet’s opera – attracts a range of labels which variously position her as seductress, femme fatale, sex addict, fate/ death obsessed, victim, liberated…
Ticket touts? Great entrepreneurs…
EPA/Grzegorz Momot
There has been much discussion about the seemingly inherent lack of culture in those who have held the office of culture secretary. But in the light of Sajid Javid’s attitude to ticket-touting, one might…
Sasha Waltz’s production of Dido and Aeneas is a breathtaking visual spectacle.
Jamie Williams/Sydney Festival
One thing is for sure – the first performances of Henry Purcell’s baroque masterpiece Dido and Aeneas, currently playing at the Sydney Festival, would have been seen in a far less spectacular, and challenging…
Bicentenary celebrations have re-invigorated the ‘Wagner question’ around the world.
Jeff Busby
As part of the wave of Wagnermania currently sweeping Melbourne — including Opera Australia’s Melbourne Ring Cycle and a month-long Ring Festival — a symposium titled Wagner and Us will take place at the…