Category: OPERA

Coming this June: A movie about the one-and-only tenor Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti

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Posted: 16/04/2019

The trailer to what may very well be the movie of the year for opera lovers has dropped and it’s all kinds of good news. Since the tenor of tenors died in 2007, the world of opera performances has been left somewhat void. Of course, there’s the likes of Jonas Kaufmann, Diego Torre and basically the entire cast of Opera Australia, but The Pav was different. The movie tells the tale that not many know about the larger-than-life superstar. We all know he put opera on the map, had a look all his own and a voice you can recognise within the first few bars, but who was the man himself? That’s a lot about what the movie sets out to tell the story of. The movie named Pavarotti is a compelling look at the life of an icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award-winner Ron Howard gives audiences a front row seat for an exploration of The Voice… The Man… The Legend. Out on Decca records from 7 June 2019.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

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Royal Opera’s Big Screens: Watch performances from anywhere in the UK this summer

Carmen production image (C) ROH. Photo by Bill Cooper

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Updated: 08/04/2019

In 24 locations all around the UK, the best of British culture by the Royal Opera will be broadcast – thanks to BP Big Screens – for everyone to enjoy. Putting on classics like Romeo and Juliet (11 June), Carmen (2 July) and The Marriage of Figaro (9 July), the Royal Opera will broadcast live to locations across the UK like at Aberdeen’s Duthie Park, Castle Square in Swansea, Walton Halls and Gardens in Warrington and all the way down to Bembridge in the Isle of Wight. What else in on? Well, nothing but the best. 11 June at Covent Garden will show Kenneth MacMillan’s celebrated ballet Romeo and Juliet 2 July will see the screening of the award-winning director Barrie Kosky’s exuberant take on Bizet’s Carmen. And, on 9 July, the Royal Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro will be screened. Mozart’s greatest comedy is given a sumptuous staging by David McVicar, its stunning score is fast-moving in this hilarious production with ravishing duets and emotionally potent arias. The Big Screens have been running since 1987 and smashed out over 41,500 audience members between the lot of them last year alone. It’s a popular endeavour by the Royal Opera and it’s easy to see why. There is a seriously large number of places to catch some of the headlining screenings. Here they all are: Romeo and Juliet, 11 June 2019: Trafalgar Square (London); Cressing Temple Barns (Essex); Trinity Square (Hull); Sandy Balls Holiday Village, The New Forest (Hampshire); Television Centre, White City (London); Walton Hall… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON, OPERA

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Something new on Sydney Harbour: West Side Story by Opera Australia

Opera Australia West Side Story HOSH dance

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Updated: 16/11/2022

It’s not often Opera Australia strays from the respite of centuries-old, well-loved scores by the likes of Puccini, Bizet and Verdi to try something more contemporary. But the latest production of West Side Story by Opera Australia that headlines this year’s annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour does just that, and has done so well. Complete with mid-way surprise fireworks as is now customary by the production company, and a range of 40-strong cast that can easily blur the lines between opera singer, dancer and actor, it’s a remade musical that pays homage to the original, the book and the tale; just makes it better. Directed by Jerome Robbins, the entire production of West Side Story is a shining testament to the classic story that’s given us some of the world’s most memorable show tunes. They were all there in the script. Think Maria, Tonight, America and Gee Officer Krupke to name a few. All of them just as hilarious as they are telling in the play about the horror to come. With OA names like Julie Lea Goodwin and Alexander Lewis as Maria and Tony; Mark Hill and Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva as Riff and Bernardo and Karli Dinardo as Anita, the musical adaptation is done wonders as the story of race hatred and a blossoming romance unfolds to the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Opera Australia’s artistic director, Lyndon Terracini has been wanting to produce West Side Story on the HOSH stage for years. Something about the backdrop and the… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, SYDNEY

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A chat with Yonghoon Lee, Calaf in Turandot by Opera Australia

Turandot Yonghoon Lee

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Posted: 23/02/2019

New to opera, old to opera; it doesn’t matter. If there’s one voice you hear this season by Opera Australia, it’s Yonghoon Lee as Calaf in the company’s production of Turandot, on until 30 March. If there was ever a tenor to belt out the aria made most famous by the late Luciano Pavarotti, Nessun Dorma, it’s Yonghoon, who makes hitting that hair-standingly invigorating high C seem all too easy. Yonghoon is a Korean born opera singer, who’s established himself internationally as a leading tenor of his generation.  He has made debuts at most of the most prestigious theatres in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera and so many more, and has now joined OA to give some of their singers a taste. We had a chat with him off the back of his more-than-rousing performance in Turandot at the Joan Sutherland Theatre in Sydney Opera House recently. How exciting is it to perform for OA this year?  I’m so happy to work with OA. It has become a favourite place among opera singers, where we all want to perform. This year is especially exciting for me – I get to perform my favourite piece and production with my favourite artists, so it made me so thrilled to be here.  You can really blow the roof off with your rendition of Nessun dorma. How long have you been practising that aria?  I made my Calaf debut in 2012, but of course I sang this beautiful and famous aria long before 2012.  How emotionally invested do… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, SYDNEY

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Worth a visit: The Royal Opera House in London has been redone

Royal Opera House

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Updated: 16/02/2019

Three years after the Royal Opera House in London was overhauled, it’s open and the result is exactly what you’d expect of the city’s finest arts and culture venue. It comes complete with all the bells ‘n’ whistles of the old opera house, just a lot nicer, newer and with a whole new feeling entirely its own. With inviting new entrances, extended foyers and terraces and a new café, bar and restaurant, together with an extensive programme of ticketed and free daytime events, the Royal Opera House is now open to the public every day from 10am. You’re welcome to wander in, check it out, have a coffee and take a tour, but for those die hards, there’s a full program of oeratic wonderment that is absolutely worth a ticket. See their full line-up here. The whole project was spurred on by the Linbury Theatre; a new space, which takes the spot as the West End’s newest and most intimate theatre. The new space will let The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera and other special artists all perform in the same space. Check out the Royal Opera in Covent Garden and the new space with any production at the Opera House any time. Have a look at their website.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON, OPERA

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Opera Australia is taking it to the bush in a bold new outback series

Opera Australia Madama Butterfly Capitol Theatre Sydney flowers

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Updated: 10/02/2019

Opera Australia is taking it to the Aussie outback in a new series launched in partnership with tour people APT. Opera in the Kimberley will comprise two exclusive concerts in September 2019 at Cathedral Gorge in the heart of the Bungle Bungle Ranges. It’ll come complete with opera singers ready to brave the heat and harsh conditions to deliver a stellar performance in the Purnululu National Park, a World Heritage listed area of Western Australia. What’re they performing? OA’s National Tour in 2019 will see John Bell’s celebrated production of Puccini’s much loved Madama Butterfly travel through Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia taking in some of Australia’s most iconic landscapes along the way. See more at the Opera Australia website.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, OPERA

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Who’s who? The cast of West Side Story on Sydney Harbour has been announced

West Side story

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Posted: 08/02/2019

They’re doing something different this year. Every year, Opera Australia puts on a grand outdoor performance of their headline act for the autumn-winter season, but this year, they’re trying something new. The Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH) isn’t doing an opera this year, rather a modern production of West Side Story and the cast is epic. They’ll take to Opera Australia’s famous over-water stage and join opera/musical crossover stars Julie Lea Goodwin and Alexander Lewis, the role of the fiery Anita will be played by Melbourne-born Karli Dinardo, who is gaining attention as a rising musical theatre star in the U.S., with performances in Hamilton(National Tour), West Side Story (Carnegie Hall), and the starring role in Flashdance (National Tour). Karli will be joined on stage by her sister, Luca Dinardo, who will play the tomboy Anybodys, pitching the sisters against each other on opposing sides of the famous West Side Story gang rivalry. “I was blown away by the calibre of Australian performers that auditioned,” said Associate Director and Choreographer, Julio Monge. See it from 22 March to 21 April 2019, or for more, go to the Opera Australia website.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, THEATRE

Melburnian opera singers dominate the annual Mazda in the Domain, Sydney

Opera Domain 1

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Posted: 21/01/2019

Their voices soar so high, you can hear them from Circular Quay. And that’s the way we like it. Sydney’s annual Opera in the Domain has been going strong for 19 years now and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. They say 30k people come to hear some of the world’s most impressive voices belt out tunes up-to 300 years old. It’s quite the spectacle. Overtaking Sydney’s famed Domain public grounds, right next to the Sydney Harbour, singers primarily from Melbourne as well as around the world like mezzo soprano Sian Pendry (Melbourne), soprano Stacey Alleaume (Melbourne), soprano Anna-Louise Cole (Melbourne), tenor Shanul Sharma (Melbourne), tenor Diego Torre (Mexico) and baritone Jose Carbo (Argentina-Australia) performed beautifully, pieces by Puccini, Bizet and Rossini and many more. It even made the first large-scale public presentation of vocal clarity for two young up-and-comers, Anna-Louise Cole and Shanul Sharma, both of whom made their big-stage debut at the Sydney event. Mazda Australia is in its 16th year of sponsoring the Opera in the Domain as their way of enriching Australia’s cultural scene. By giving back to a community that has continued to support them and their business, Mazda is happy to support something quite unique for opera and quite unique to the rest of the world, right here in Australia. “An appreciation for art in its many forms is deeply embedded in Mazda’s DNA. From world class musical spectacles to groundbreaking gallery exhibits, we pledge support to a vast range of art initiatives, to help make these culturally enriching… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, SYDNEY

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4 biggest songs to hear in La Boheme by Opera Australia

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Updated: 21/01/2019

You can be a veteran opera-goer or a first-timer, the effect of La Boheme (Puccini) are always the same: complete transfixation. There’s something to be said for the opera’s ability to suck everyone in with the tale of fragility, love and untimely death that draws-out the inner emotion from us all. Puccini was known to have put big stories into the lives of little people with simple tales told well, and the one of his timeless classic, La Boheme, does that all too well. Complete with an international mixing pot of cast this spring-summer season of opera by Opera Australia, that includes the likes of Joyce El-Khoury (Mimi, Maija Kovalevska (2, 4, 9, 11, 21, 23, 31 Jan; 2 Feb–28 Mar)), the Australian production company has turned out another seat-filler of a presentation. Here are the four biggest songs of La Boheme to listen out for in this season’s production… Che gelida manina ‘What an icy little hand’ The first arias of many between protagonists Rodolfo (Ivan Magrì (Jan 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 17, 19 Jan, and Diego Torre (2, 4, 9, 11, 21, 23, 31 Jan; 2 Feb–28 Mar)) and Mimi, it’s the moment the two characters fall in love as they fumble around for a lost house key. Quando m’en vo When I go along (Musetta’s Waltz) Musetta is Marcello’s occasional girlfriend, who in a club in Paris one night, sings about her apparent irresistibility. She’s stunning, and tries to reclaim the attention of Marcello and kicks her husband out of the bar. Si, mi chiamo Mimi Yes, my name is Mimi Mimi’s song is a feeble one that… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

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Joyce El-Khoury has joined Opera Australia in 2019 for La Boheme

Mimi sings for Rodolfo in La Boheme

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Updated: 11/01/2019

Maria Callas is back! Well… not really, but, she may as well be if any of the articles out there about Canadian-Lebanese soprano, Joyce El-Khoury are anything to go by; she’s one of the most exciting new additions to Opera Australia this spring-summer season of 2019. Opening the season with Puccini’s classic La Boheme, El-Khoury will pick-up the role of Mimi, the innocent little bird who’s swept-up into the drama of the Bohemians in the thick of winter. Joyce headlines the cast of this season’s production, which has fast-proved to be an international explosion of some of the world’s finest singers. In addition to her debut to the Australian opera scene, Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska will partner with El-Khoury on the role of Mimi, while Italian and Mexican tenors Ivan Magri and Diego Torre will shine in their portrayals of Rodolfo, the poet and male lead. With experience at The Met (NYC), Handa Opera (Sydney Harbour), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London), The Bolshoi and Teatro Colon (Buenoa Aires) between them all, this production’s cast will leave large shoes to fill. Read more about how Diego Torre did something not many others can. This season’s production comes off the back of last season’s which culminated in a magical production of La Boheme at the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Complete with snow and actual cars, the production was one for the memory books, only surely to be met in quality and transcendentalism with the addition of these stunning new international singers. See more and get your tickets… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, OPERA, SYDNEY

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