Opera Australia’s 2023 program – and the end of an era

Madame Butterfly Sydney Opera Australia geisha

Posted: 02/09/2022

Next year in 2023, Opera Australia will hit another one of its many milestones, though with a bitter-sweet undertone. Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, the man behind the sumptuous programming and incredible progress of the company will see out his final season before moving onto other things. Though his last season will definitely not leave us wanting! In a clear indication of Opera Australia’s standing on the global stage, some of the biggest names in opera will be performing for the Company in 2023. The world’s leading tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, in demand sopranos Ermonela Jaho, Lise Lindstrom, Jessica Pratt and Amber Wagner, along with globally renowned Wagner interpreter Stefan Vinke, legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto and audience favourite Michael Fabiano, to name just a few, will all make very welcome returns to Australia in 2023. The season for 2023 will – as per usual – include a phenomenal line-up of productions with world-class singers from every corner of the globe. Think Chen Shi-Zheng’s amazing production of the world’s first digital Ring Cycle in Brisbane, with the cast from the original 2020 season largely intact; OA’s co-production of The Tales of Hoffmann will finally make it to the stage after being postponed in 2021 and everyone’s favourite, Alex Ollè’s Madama Butterfly. Karah Son will reprise the starring role of Cio Cio San that she performed to much acclaim for OA in the Joan Sutherland Theatre in 2019. Ultimately, 2023 is shaping up to be a year of celebration of Australian talent with many homegrown performers singing alongside their international counterparts, many in break-out roles. Among those… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

Tags: Madame Butterfly Sydney, opera, opera australia, opera australia sydney, Sydney opera season, What opera to see Sydney

Homegrown talent to see at Sydney Opera House this spring in La Traviata by Opera Australia

by James Banham

Posted: 24/06/2022

If there’s one soprano you need to see in your life, either while living in or visiting Sydney, it’s Melbourne’s own Stacey Alleaume. She’s a rocket of a singer that is more often than not, found up front-and-centre in many of Opera Australia’s annual productions. And it’s easy to see why… Stacey was proclaimed a star when she sang Violetta in the 2021 Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour production of La Traviata and last month received more glowing reviews for her main-stage debut as Violetta at Arts Centre Melbourne. Along with Stacey, soprano Irina Lungu will open the second stage of the Sydney season on 22 October, singing her signature role of Violetta in Australia for the first time, having sung the role across Europe, the UK and Tokyo, including receiving rave reviews in 2019 at the Vienna State Opera. Along with a range of other singers, the spread of what’s on from Opera Australia is – as per usual – internationally acclaimed, and will shine the light on the best of Australia’s arts and music scene from the lens of Opera Australia. Here’s a full run-down of the Opera Australia winter season for 2022. For more and to book tickets to La Traviata, head to the Opera Australia website. What is La Traviata about? Opera Australia explains it as a tragic love story that inspired pop culture classics Moulin Rouge and Pretty Woman, Verdi’s famous score includes the show-stopping aria ‘Sempre libera’ and the instantly recognisable drinking song, ‘Brindisi’. Combined with lavish sets and costumes,… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

Tags: opera australia, opera australia la traviata, Opera Australia Stacey Alleaume, Opera in Sydney

Phantom opera sydney harbour: Dazzling new Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour

by Emi Berry

Updated: 19/11/2022

It’s Phantom of the Opera, but not as you know it. Commencing Friday 25 March until 24 April 2022, the longest-running show in musical history can be experienced under the stars on Sydney Harbour, with iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge creating a stunning backdrop for this popular production. Not only is this a new version of Phantom, but it’s also the first fully-staged outdoor production of this popular opera, with fireworks every night. The themed pop-up bars and restaurants will make this an unforgettable evening for all. About Phantom of the Opera on the harbour Having played for 35 years on the West End of London, and 34 on Broadway in New York, this inspired interpretation of Gaston Leroux’s novel remains one of the world’s favourite musicals. The story of a mysterious masked man who lives beneath the Paris Opera House, and the beautiful young singer who becomes his obsession and muse, seduces generation after generation and continues to enchant long-time devotees. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score — immortalised in one of the highest-selling cast albums of all time — is studded with melodies famous the world over: from the haunting beauty of ‘The Music of the Night’ and ‘All I Ask of You’, to the splendour of ‘Masquerade’, and the crashing chords of the title song. Two of Australia’s most in-demand theatrical talents, director Simon Phillips and designer Gabriela Tylesova, bring a whole new level of spectacle to the show’s defining moments — the mirror, the journey to the Phantom’s lair, the… Read More

Category: OPERA, SYDNEY

Tags: opera australia, opera australia sydney, opera on the harbour, phantom of the opera

Cheap opera tickets by Opera Australia: for those who want to try it

Teodor Ilincai Tosca Opera Australia THE F 4

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

If there’s one thing in life you need to do, it’s to see the opera. And if there’s one company anywhere in the world you need to see it by, it’s Opera Australia. We’ve written about their world class productions so many, many, many, many times which is testament to just how insanely impressive and disciple-making they are. And now, you can access world class productions for a casual 20. In a bid to encourage more people to experience grand opera, Opera Australia is offering $20 tickets to 2,000 first time opera-goers to see its upcoming production of Puccini’s Tosca, which runs from February 22 to March 13, 2021. Thanks to the generosity of the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation Access Program, Opera Australia is able to offer tickets for less than the price of a movie ticket to people who are yet to experience the magic of live opera. For more and to sign up, get along to the Opera Australia website, link above.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

Tags: Best opera tickets, Cheap opera tickets, Cheap opera tickets by Opera Australia for those who want to try it, How to see opera Sydney, opera australia, Opera Australia tickets, Sydney Opera house tickets

Hear the greatest opera arias in 90 mins at Sydney Opera House

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

Described as the ‘best of opera without the boring bits’, Opera Australia is putting on a 90-minute show that’s jam-packed with tunes that most people will be familiar with and not realise! The opera masterpieces are famous around the world, not just the soundtrack from a commercial and come from a completely different time by some of the greatest musical minds in history. Performed by an all star operatic cast, they’ll perform tunes that the audience will no doubt recognise from car and pasta adverts, along with films such as Pretty Woman and Star Trek. On now until 3 March 2021, the performances go for 90 minutes for $69 for adults (fees may apply). Concession prices available. Opera Australia Box Office (02) 9318 8200 www.opera.org.au

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

Tags: Best of opera, Hear the greatest opera arias in 90 mins at Sydney Opera House, opera, opera australia, sydney opera house, Sydney opera short concerts

Opera Australia is going fully digital for their premieres

by James Banham

Posted: 05/06/2019

It was back in 2018 that Opera Australia first introduced their new digital screens in Aida. They fly around the stage, producing incredible images of stage props, striking colours and engaging projections that singers, the choir and stage actors move around seamlessly like they’re barely there. Here’s a refresher: Pegged as the opera of the future, Opera Australia is bringing them back again, only this time, instead of limiting it to one production, they’re turning them out for all of them. They’re the first company in the world to present a fully digital season of three brand new productions when it opens its Sydney Winter Season on 28 June 2019 in Sydney. Starring at the world renowned Sydney Opera House, Madama Butterfly – perfectly timed too, given its last production by Moffat Oxenbould wound-up last year – Anna Bolena and Whiteley will benefit for the digital treatment, no doubt wowing everyone who’s there to see it. They work thanks to fourteen, 7-metre high suspended LED screens that are choreographed to move seamlessly around the stage, creating a visual landscape that needs to be seen to be believed, and taking opera to a whole new level. See more and get tickets to the productions at the Opera Australia website.

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

Tags: Digital screens Opera Australia, opera, opera australia, Opera digital screens, Opera world first, Sydney digital opera, sydney opera

Opera for One: The new initiative for opera lovers who go it alone

La Traviata 2018 Opera Australia brindisi

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

If you love opera, but your friends just don’t get it, then never fear: your days of going to the opera to see the wowing productions of Opera Australia are over. OA are introducing ‘Opera for One’, a new initiative for people who’ve for too long, enjoyed the dazzling highs of Carmen and the heart-wrenching plights of La Traviata by themselves. For the upcoming autumn season of opera in Melbourne, Australia, OA found that the number one reason people do not attend the opera is because they have no one to go with. One in five people said they had not yet seen a performance because they were unwilling to go on their own. Opera for One, the incredible new initiative by Australia’s largest opera production company aims to bring together solo attendees so they have someone to enjoy the show with and chat to during those awkward moments pre-show, during interval and that all-important post show critique. How it works is simple: If you’ve bought an Opera for One ticket, you’ll be invited to complimentary drinks and canapès an hour before the performance to meet other solo guests in a welcoming and relaxed environment. The group will be treated to a pre-performance talk by a member of the OA creative team before all being seated together for the show. The upcoming opera season in Melbourne includes these shows, which you can more easily visit alone now, if you’ve always wanted to, or just if you prefer it that way! RIGOLETTO State Theatre, Arts Centre… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA

Tags: Going to opera alone, How to go to opera alone, opera, opera australia, Opera for One, the f opera, THE F Opera for One

Oscar and Lucinda in Sydney: Carriageworks, Sydney Chamber Opera produce world premiere

by James Banham

Posted: 01/05/2019

Australia’s artistic triumph of a book by the same name will make it onto the stage thanks to Carriageworks Sydney and its resident opera company, the Sydney Chamber Opera. Composer Elliott Gyger will join forces with librettist Pierce Wilcox to transform Peter Carey’s novel Oscar and Lucinda into a new Australian opera from 27 July – 3 August 2019. Directed by Opera Queensland Artistic Director and CEO Patrick Nolan, the work reimagines the love story between the orphaned proto-feminist industrialist and the man who believes he is touched by God. Having nothing in common, except their addiction to gambling, Oscar and Lucinda find each other in colonial-era Sydney with a wild dream: to build a cathedral of pure glass, and to walk it into the Australian outback. “Elliott is one of this country’s greatest composers, with an originality, refinement and savage beauty that sounds like no one else. Seeing the score develop into our most ambitious and large-scale new work, filled with astonishingly vivid characters, colours and sounds has been a deeply exciting experience. Elliott has created a modern Australian epic without ever relying on the tired clichés of Australiana – a feat worth celebrating as we interrogate the history and stories that make up this complex country. Give him one instrument and he’ll make a world; give him 16 instruments and 6 singers and he’ll create a universe,” said Sydney Chamber Opera artistic director Jack Symonds. Tickets on Sale 3 May, 2019 at the Carriageworks website.

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

Tags: Carriageworks Sydney, opera australia, Productions Carriageworks Sydney, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera Carriageworks, THE F music, the f opera, the f sydney

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

Opera Australia West Side Story HOSH dance

by James Banham

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

Tags: Arts blog, culture blog, opera australia, the f opera, THE F review, the f sydney, THE F West Side Story, west side story, West Side Story reviews, West Side Story Sydney review

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

Opera Australia Madama Butterfly Capitol Theatre Sydney flowers

by James Banham

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

Tags: opera australia, Outback Australia, THE F Madama Butterfly, the f opera, The F Opera Australia, THE F opera outback

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