A Mozart Gala

Artists in full period costume.
Starring:
Lorina Gore Soprano – Tarita Carbo Soprano – Sally Anne Russell Mezzo Soprano –
Joshua Bloom Baritone.

Flattery and flirtation. Lust and intrigue…few events can rival an evening of Mozart at his seductive best. Join the company as they take an enchanting journey through the life and times of this musical genius, led by superb performers in full period costume. Add the breathtaking surrounds on the vineyards and there is the perfect setting for a night of romance.
Venues;
Balgownie Estate in Victoria’s most famous wine region, will play host to a special concert in a grand marquee, accompanied by piano and strings.
Season: Saturday October 16. 

Wyndham Estate in the New South Wales home of wine the Hunter Valley.
Season: Saturday October 23.
Arrive early and enjoy the wonderful local wines together with gourmet delights.
Bookings: Ticketek: 132 849.

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The Marriage of Figaro

Figaro is a security guard and his fiancée Susannah is a maid in the Almaviva family's lavish mansion. Everyone knows everyone inside he gated compaund and everyone is watching. There is plenty to see. Count Almaviva is in lust with Susannah, the Countess is in tears and Cherubino' hormones are getting him into trouble again. It is up to Figaro to lick his way through a mad day and hopefully end up married.
Season: November 17, 20, 2233. December 2, 9, 11, 15, 17.Venue: State Theatre Victorian Arts Centre.

Rigoletto

Rigoletto is in the pay of the Duke of Mantua. His job is to keep his master laughing and to deflect attention from the Duke's many paccadillos. When the Duke's eye looks onto a touchingly innocent young maid, Rigoletto turns from spiteful joker into desperate father.

Season: November 22, 25, 27. December 12, 3, 7, 19. Venue: State Theatre Victorian Arts Centre.

Opera Austraalia News

Opera Australia announces The Melbourne Ring Cycle for 2013.

Melbourne will play host to its first ever staging of wagner's epic, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) when Opera Australia brings this gargantuan production the the State Theatre in 2013.
Opera Australia, in collaboration with Houston Grand Opera, the Victorian Government (through the Victorian Major Events Company) and Maureen and Tony Wheeler, is delighted to announce this long-awaited project The Melbourne Ring Cycle will be a journey through 15 hours of music across four nights of theatre. The creative team will be led by two of Australia's most celebrated talents - director Neil Armfield and conductor Richard Mills. Three complete cycles will be performed during November/December 2013, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth.
The journey has been made possible through a leadership donation by Maureen and Tony Wheeler - the largest donation ever received by Opera Australia - with additional direct investment coming from Houston Grand Opera, VMEC and Opera Australia. It is hoped that this landmark production will ensure that Melbourne becomes the home of The Ring Cycle in Australia for many years to come, attracting a wide interstate and international audience on a triennial basis to the city.
Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini says "For such an important event, we believe that The Melbourne Ring Cycle should have an Australian creative team and feature major international and Australian artists. Consequnetly it will be directed by one of Australia's finest directors, Neil Armfield and it will be conducted by one of Australia's finest conductors, Richard Mills. The Ring requires exceptional talent to reveal its greatness and I'm thrilled that Neil and Richard hace accepted this greatest of all challenges."
CEO Adrian Colette says " For some time now Opera Australia has been keen to bring something to Melboune, to nurture this important part of our community and demonstrate our commitment to the city. Now with The Melbourne Ring Cycle, we have it. A wonderful opportunity to do something to this great city, harnessing the best talent together with the best of Opera Australia. And to bring the eyes of the world to Melbourne, to witness this extraordinary undertaking.
Collaborating with Opera Australia on this momentous production is the renowned Houston Grand Opera, Anthony Proud OBE, General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera, noted that the companies have collaborated on several important initiatives in recent seasons, including the acclaimed production of Peter Grimes which Huston presents as part of its 2010/11 season.
Presenting The Melbourne Ring Cycle will be a monumental project, and the rehearsal period will begin a year in advance, to allow all involved adequate time to prepare for this'Mount Everset' of artistiv entrprises, it will feature a tailor made orchestra to be known as The Opera Australia Ring Orchestra,which will consist of players from Orchestra Victoria, the Australian Opera and ballet Orchestra, as well as musicians from other major orchestras from around Australia. The Ring Cycle requires an orchestra of epic proportions with more tha 100 players, including 6 harps, 14 horns, Steerhorns and a thunder machine.
Production will rwuire 600 hous of rehearsal - 240 hours of this for the orchestra aklone. No less than 350 singers, dancers, designers, costume makers and backstage staff will be part of bringing The Melbourne Ring Cycle to fruition, along with up to 100 technicinas behind the scene. The spectacular set is expected to take 14 months to build.
The Melbourne Ring Cycle features 34 principal roles. Major roles that are confirmed are: Susan Bullock as Brunhilde, Juha Unsitalo as Woton, Gary Lehman as Siegfied and John Wagner as Alberich.
Tickets will go on sale in late 2013. This webmag will adise as sonn as possible.
The creative team

Director Neil Armfield - needs little introduction to Australian audiences/ As artistic director of Belvoir Street Theatre he directed award-winning shows including Cloud Street, Keatin! and Gulpilil. His production of Billy Budd won Best Opera in the 2009 Helpmann Awards, and his feature film Candy won best screenplay at teh AFI's. He has worked with Opera Australia on many occasions, most recently on the new Australian production Bliss which had highly acclained seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, and which heads to Edinburgh Festival in September.

Conductor Richard Mills:
is one of Australia's most sought after composers and conductors which has seen him working with almost all of the nation's major music organisations, including Opera Australia. He is currently Artistic Director of the western Australi Opera, a post held since 1997 He is one of the few Ausralians composers who has writen opera for main stage performances in Australia, and these have met with critical acclaim and a multitude of awards. These are Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, (1996) Bqatavia (2001) and The Love of the Nightingale (2007) - the latter will be presented by Opera Australia in Sydney during 2011.

THE RING CYCLE

German Composer Richard Wagner composed The Ring Cycle as a series of four operas based loosely on stories from Norse mythology. Although renowned for his many other opratic works such as Tristan and Isolde, The Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser, The Ring Cycle became his most famous work and one he developed over the course of almost 30 years culminating in 1874. The cycle is intended to be performed consequently, however as this reprsents an enormous challlenge for singers and musicians, is not often performed in its entirety. The second of the individual operas - The Valkyrie - is the most recognised of these. Performed in full, The Ring Cycle is around 15 hour in duration.

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2010 Season

The 2010 season begins at the Sydney Opera House with a bold new production of Puccini's Tosca by US director Christopher Alden alongside traditional productions of La traviata and Manon, plus Baz Luhrmann's beguiling vision of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The climax of Sydney's summer season is the world premièe of Bliss, Brett Dean and Amanda Holden's new opera, based on the novel by Peter Carey.

Winter Season:

In the Sydney Winter Season there is an iommense range of operas on offer, from the thoroughly traditional productions such as A Little Night Music and Der Rosenkavalier, to old favourites giving intriguing new interpretations like The Girl of the Golden West, The Marriage of Figaro, and La sonnambula; plus some of Opea Australia's best-loved productions, Rigoletto and The Pirates of Penzance.

New Year Eve's Gala

Celebrate the year ahead in style with the greatest Sydney tradition of all, the spectacular Opera Australia New Year's Eve Gala in the Cioncert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Jonathon Biggins hosts a spectacular line-up of true opera stars including Emma Matthews, Jacqueline Mabardi, Rinat Shaham, Dominca Matthews, Julian Gavin, Jakes Egglestone, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Andrew Jones, Conductor Andrew Greene

Actor, comedian and writer Jonathon Biggins is compére for a fast-moving show which will include favourite arias from Carmen, La bohéme, Madama Butterfly and many more. The other majoe evnt on the program will be the City of Sydney's own celebrations for New Year's Eve , including the magnificent fireworks and Harbour Bridge illuminations. Sydney Opera House offers the erfect vantage poin, and the audience in the concert Hall will have exclusive access to the Northern Foyers to watch the 9pm family firework display. After the concert the audience is invited to party on into the small hours.

Madama Butterfly

Opera Australia's 2011 Summer Season opens with a living work of art when American soprano Patricia Racette stars in Moffatt Oxenbould's legendary production ot this exquisite Puccini romance.
Lieutenant Pinkerton ia an American naval officer stationed in Nagasaki. He has rented a house on the hill overlooking the, and with it comes a wife, Cio Cio San. In pite of her family's disapproval. she is keen to marry the American. Their wedding night is bliss, but when Pinkerton's tour of duty comes to an end it is clear he and Cio Cio San have different expectations of what will happen next. He is going home to find a wife and settle down. She is going to wait until he returns, one fine day.
Season: January 7 - March 3.

Carmen

"If you don't love me, I'll love you and if I love you watch out!"

You have been warned. This raven-haired gypsy wii sing her way out of gaol and into your heart before you know it.Just watch her. See her dance the Seguedilla. Hear her sing those dark-lingering melodies and don't be surprised if you fall under her pell.
Francesca Zambello's celebrated production of Carmen is a vivid evocation of dust, heat and danger under the wide Spanish skies. From the bustling town square to the bandit's cave to the bullring, the colours, the costumes, the gypsy songs and sultry moves leap of the stage.
Season: Januarty 15 March 30.

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