Elena Xanthoudakis as Eurydice and Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus in L'anima del filosofo: Orpheus & Eurydice composed by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and produced by the Pinchgut Opera at Sydney in 2010

If we are looking at examples of how you can make a past art form like Opera appeal to people of the present we need to look no further than the amazing Sydney based Pinchgut Opera, a small company that presents one major work annually. Over the past decade it has championed early works and instead of spending precious funds on elaborate costumes, fripperies and over embellished sets that can detract from a performance, or worse still hide mediocrity, they have invested their funds in splendid voices. Designers produce simple settings of great impact to highlight the historical musical scores in a contemporary way. ‘Authentic instruments’ also help audiences engage with the performance, because they re-create the sound as it was composed, mellow, beautifully round and rich and, so gloriously sensuous.

The reviews were so good they ensured that its first production or two were noticed. But here’s the thing. Pinchgut Opera,’s audiences, which have built steadily over that decade wait now with baited breath for the next performance and are ready to ‘book’ it out. This is because they have learned to appreciate the choice of music presented, and the incredible standard of excellence achieved. People keep coming back because they want more. They are also bringing others along to experience an art form many have not known. Their is no ‘high brow’ atmosphere, just friendly banter, happy chatter and enthusiastic applause. The stories presented are about human frailty, which means everyone connects to them emotionally. It’s truly awesome, brilliant stuff.  And they have done it without any government funding, just with funds from supporters and ticket sales. The applause after each performance has been deafening.

Tenor Andrew Pryor at the launch of Operapolitan in the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane

Long may they grow and prosper.

Having said all of that Opera is not only just about people gathering in a theatre any more to access it. This is a style of music truly millions of people love, but have found difficult to access one on one. There are many reasons for this, least of all is cost. Many people will spend hundreds of dollars to attend a rock concert, despite having to stand all night to be part of a huge crowd that often has to hoist people up on their shoulders to see. One of the reasons they don’t come to opera is because they feel intimidated by ‘opera regular’s. They are the members of the ‘club’ Artistic Director of Opera Australia Lyndon Terracini recently referred to in his Peggy Glanville Hicks Address 2011.

Now whether this is intentional or not, it is how people feel. And how they feel today is what counts. No longer can Opera remain part of an exclusive ‘club’ of just a few people comparatively to the rest of the population. Opera Companies receive huge grants of government funding i.e. money from the people. That means they need to showcase wonderful voices by presenting songs from opera along with other great songs that suit such voices, to millions of people not just thousands. For a reason that I find personally hard to fathom. many people believe some ‘art forms’ like some ‘people’, are quite beyond their reach, whether intellectually or socially. But that is not how it should work in a true democracy. Everyone should be able to access its own culture and its art forms. No one person is better than any other; although we do recognize as individuals, that we have different skill sets, strengths and weaknesses. And, if we are being honest, many fragile moments. It’s about getting us to play or sing in tune that is the challenge.

Interestingly, engaging with art in an art gallery seems less intimidating than listening to opera in a theatre

The beliefs many people have, interestingly enough these days, doesn’t have so much to do with paintings, sculpture and objects as ‘art’ like when I was a child. This is because increasingly since World War II the majority of people in society, including kids from school, have been able to access those produced through history by going to their State or National Art gallery, which has free admission to permanent collections and free guides to tell you all about it.

Collections have grown for the last two hundred years all over the world to include ceramics, textiles, glass, precious metal and other objects. As a general rule this means people don’t feel nearly as intimidated by going to the art gallery or to the museum, as they do about going to listen to the opera in a theatre. So they go in their droves, coming from all walks of life and all backgrounds. Just look at the record breaking crowds the Treasures of Tutankhamun recorded at Melbourne recently. At a State art gallery or museum people can choose what they would like to see and access further education if they want. It’s their choice.

The world of Opera however has developed as a ‘separate ‘art form’ much like the Ballet and different styles of Orchestras. This has happened around those who want a passive, more restrained and elegant experience (in house at the theatre) as against those who want a participating experience (out there along with everyone else), moving along to the music.

Andrew Pryor Tenor, Liza Beamish Coloratura, Christian Gante on Steinway Grand

They have created around them a culturally diverse society that can be ruled by one class of people. The theory of a ‘cultural hegomony’ is about how one group of people manipulates societal culture (beliefs, explanations, perceptions and values) so its view is perceived as a societal norm that is beneficial to all society, while in reality it only benefits the ruling class.

Today this is not an idea to be tolerated. It is not about what is right or wrong or what is appropriate. but it is about sharing the music around. This has happened to a degree in the last few years with initiatives like Opera in the Vineyard, Opera in the Paddock and Opera at the Cinema, presented on a big screen near you.

At Brisbane the ‘Operapoltian’ Team of singers launched the initiative of bringing works from the La Scala Opera House at Milan for Birch Carroll & Coyle. But it’s still not a first hand experience unless delivered in ‘real time’ – live. Perhaps that’s something Opera Australia could do with their opening nights (which are always booked out anyway). What fun to dress up and share the experience of first night at a reasonable cost.

With a colleague from Theme and Variations Piano Services, who sponsored the fabulous Steinway Grand piano, a team of people under the banner Operapolitan between 2006 and 2008 offered free concerts at Brisbane. We started with wonderful opera arias and operatic style songs in acoustically wonderful buildings on Eagle Street in the heart of the CBD. These great buildings housed five to seven thousand people working every day. The team performed three concerts in the Riverside Centre each day for three days and then moved on to Riparian Plaza, where we performed three more for a further three days.

Both buildings were designed by Sydney architect Harry Seidler. Because the acoustics were so excellent we were able to present them cost effectively, without having to involve sound people or technology, just using the architectural acoustic to bounce the sound around. It resonated beautifully.

Liza Beamish Coloratura, Kathleen Procter-Moore Mezzo Soprano and Christian Gante Accompanist on the Steinway Grand - Presenting The Flower Duet from Lakmé at Riverside Centre, Eagle Street Brisbane in 2007

We presented the wonderful voices of Liza Beamish (coloratura), Kathleen Proctor-Moore (mezzo), Andrew Pryor (tenor) and Shaun Brown (baritone) who were accompanied by Christian Gante (pianist) on the fabulous Steinway grand piano.

The voices bounced because Harry Seidler had a great love of proportion and the golden mean ratio in mathematics, which is directly related to musical harmony.

They entertained with such songs, arias and duets as O Mio Bambino Caro, Nessun Dorma, La Donna Mobile and The Flower Duet from Lakmé.

Soprano Milica Ilic - Principal Artist for Opera Australia in 2012

The owners of the biggest venue, Riverside Plaza were very chuffed and flew from Sydney to attend. The workers in the building attended, as did passers-by lured in by the sound and the scene.

The courier boy on his rounds stopped resting his back on the wall to shut his eyes and grab a few moments for himself, as did many executives and office workers.

A consultant producer of musical and community events to Brisbane City Council 2006 – 2010, my accepted brief was to take opera to the people, not have them come to it. The Operapolitan program went on to hold a further twenty-seven concerts at three Westfield Shopping Malls and twelve concerts at Retail First Shopping Centres.

Before we started we went and spoke to the principals of the Conservatorium of Music and Opera Qld asking if they would like to feature some of their emerging artists as well. The lovely student soprano Milica Ilic, who will be a new principal artist for Opera Australia in 2012, sang brilliantly as did sopranos Alicia Jane Lee who also formed the Ten Divas. Then there was Elizabeth McBride from Opera Queensland, who was both an experienced pediatric speech pathologist and successful opera singer. A rare combination

Christian Gante Accompaninst, Liza Beamish Coloratura, Andrew Pryor Tenor and Jeffrey Black Baritone, Launch of Operapolitan Queen Street Mall

We kicked them all off with another three concerts in the Queen Street Mall at Brisbane, where we were overwhelmed by the crowds that formed. The hurdles we had to jump included not using the Mall stage as the people who worked the stage each day wanted us to. But we didn’t decide how to arrange the stage for our performers until after we had been in the Queen Street Mall to meet up with the Stage Manager to discuss arrangements. Unbeknown to any of my staging team it was the day Queensland Opera was offering a free publicity performance to launch their new season. The Mall stage manager said he had deliberately invited us for that time because he wanted us to see how it was done ‘properly’! You can understand we were not amused that he patronised us all so pointedly.

We gathered patiently to watch the company set up in the usual way preferred by Stage staff. Facing down the mall where people sat neatly in rows on chairs as in a theatre. Control was the key. The opera company then, to our minds did a curious thing. They put their own ‘stage’ onto the existing stage. This way they raised the singers up above stage level on one side and ground level on the other. They turned their back to the third side, where people could stand, placing a black backdrop curtain ensuring they couldn’t see.

A professional interior designer and design history lecturer of some considerable experience, I was very disappointed, because I knew that in design raising people or objects up translated to instilling a notion they are the best or above everyone else.

It’s a deliberate technique architects use to great effect and did so very effectively during the so-called Baroque style period in Europe during the seventeenth century, at a time when opera became part of Louis XIV’s grand entertainments at the Chatéau at Versailles.

Just look at the Chateau Vaux le Vicomte outside Paris in the countryside.

This is the original palace of the first ‘Sun King’ Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680). There it stands so splendidly on its platform set among stunning gardens and accessed by a great sweep of stone stairs.

It is a divine building in a divine garden setting. It cost a fortune, even in its day and subsequently it’s owner ended up in gaol after the King threw a hissy fit as Fouquet was his Minister for Finances.

The point is that it was deliberately designed to intimidate the approaching visitor and instill the notion the occupant was both wealthy and powerful. It works well even today. Any visitor having a one on one experience at Vaux cannot help be overwhelmed by it all. It added to my enjoyment of the place when visiting that I knew a great deal about its design. Knowledge allows you not to hopefully be ‘tricked’ by such clever devices.

It is telling too in that the architect Louis le Vau, designer Charles Le Brun and gardener Andre Le Notre, were all seconded from Fouquet by that same jealous young King Louis IV to renovate and extend his father’s old hunting lodge at Versailles into a chatéau, which provides a similar experience. Fouquet ended his days in prison and his family have been trying to clear his name since.

We would have to say Vaux is like a great, and very Grand Opera Diva on display.

Contemporary photographer’s also use the design ‘intimidation’ technique by kneeling down and shooting a photo looking up at someone, especially when they are deliberately trying to make that person look elitist or to raise them up ‘above’ everyone else.

This style of  ‘grand manner’ is an image Opera, to remain relevant in Australia has to leave behind. Opera is music of the people, about the people and for the people. All of them. And, as we can see design matters.

Larry Parkes as Al Jolson

Back at Brisbane in the Queen Street Mall we watched as the State Opera Company achieved a small audience and complete lack of participation or interaction with the public. There wasn’t any connection between what was happening on the stage and the audience at all.

Age can be a blessing in disguise sometimes, because I could not help remember an example of making music accessible to many. It was a scene in the first ‘talking’ movie ever made that caused millions to embrace cinema – The Jazz Singer. This was the story of Al Jolson (1886 – 1950) an American singer, comedian and actor who in his day was dubbed “The World’s Greatest Entertainer”. Played by Larry Parkes on screen Jolson’s story was a phenomenon in more ways than one. In the movie he declares to his manager that he hates being behind blinding lights on stage, because they stop him seeing the people in his audience’s faces.

The people he is singing to and for. This was important to him and his performance. The stage hands all think he’s mad, but he insists and has them build a runway into the audience, so that he could run along it, shake hands and kneel down and sing to people one on one. He was also resisting all those who wanted to put him on a pedestal to suit their own agendas.

Kylie Minogue and Reece Mastin tread the X Factor runway to meet their audience

Recently designers of the X Factor television show built a runway that went around behind the judges so the winning vocalist, Reece Mastin and his colleague Kylie Minogue, when singing a duet together could venture into the crowds too, receiving a great one on one reaction.

In the Queen Street Mall one very experienced stage worker re-invented the way the sound worked on the stage for the Operapolitan Team, because he was so excited to be involved in us changing how it worked.

By putting performers directly onto the stage surface and facing the audience another way, we opened up the arena so that people could surround the performers on three sides and offer them a far more intimate experience.

Despite being in the open the audience felt as if they were up close and personal and they responded accordingly by cheering wildly, calling out and, in some instances singing along.

Operapolitan Launch, Queen Street Mall with Liza Beamish Coloratura, Andrew Pryor Tenor and Guest Star Jeffrey Black, Baritone

Enjoyment of music today is about is ‘being there’. About being able to ‘express self’ by singing along, waving your arms about, jumping up and down and in some instances, screaming. This is what happens at most pop concerts. You don’t have to worry what anyone else thinks, because they are all doing the same thing. That makes contemporary music a ‘real’ experience.

We held three performances that day and most people stood while some older people, or people with babies in prams chilled out on the few benches available. We put out a few rows of chairs in the usual spot, which was now to one side and left plenty of room for people to gather behind them.

There were grandparents, mums and dads with children in hand or in strollers. There were teenagers galore, some with coloured hair, rings in their noses, ears or lips, as well as heaven forbid, even a few Goths who are known to flee classical music scenes. There were also a lot of hand holding romantics and lots of young parents with small children, who wonderfully held them up to listen. Everyone was relaxed and happy.

The clothes we asked them to wear were meant to be what they might wear on a first date.

Throughout the series the diversity of cultures listening was palatable. One family of Italians brought their grandfather because he had never seen opera live before.

The Gold Coast's lovely coloratura Liza Beamish, a superb songstress for all seasons

In the mall and in the shopping centres where the Operapolitan Team performed people cheered and clapped spontaneously and loudly.

After the performances they politely crowded the singers to grab autographs, to shake their hands and to say thank you. Many couples and some whole families also became groupies following us everywhere as the team performed.

The best thing for the team was that people came to tell us all their stories. They told us how they loved opera but couldn’t afford high prices, or to buy the posh dresses they felt they needed to wear when they went. And it kept them away. It was not that they did not like the music, which is a conclusion some people conveniently come to. They did and they do. However they felt (feelings are important) they were not wanted or accepted by their peers. How awful.

It seemed that over time Opera had got away from being about the music of the people, and the music of love and life. It had become a backdrop to a stage on which others performed for their own benefit.

That hopefully is set to change. Bless you Lyndon Terracini of Opera Australia for standing up and leading the change needed to make opera far more accessible from 2012 to those who want to enjoy its richness and wonderful music. It will surely add to their lives and to the thousands more who will be introduced to its magic for the very first time.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

* developed by Antonio Gramsci

Related posts:

1. Changing Opera Culture in Australia: Vision & Taking Action
2. Opera, the Music of Love and Life
3. Looking forward to tenor Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus, questing for love for the Pinchgut Opera

French pop singer Sébastien Izambard, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, American tenor David Miller and Swiss tenor Urs Bühler - Il Divo

The evolution of opera in Europe from its earliest beginnings to its heyday was a passionate pursuit of many people. It changed dramatically as it developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, responding to the times, people’s preferences and earth shattering events. Following World War II in the twentieth century, the son of an Italian émigré from Philadelphia, Mario Lanza (1921-1959) became the most famous tenor in the world, performing operatic music on film to the delight of millions of people. His passion spawned a generation of new singers, including members of the Three Tenors Placido Domingo (1941-) and Jose Carreras (1946-), who together with Luciano Pavarotti generated an even greater interest in opera world wide. They sang among the ancient ruins at Rome on July 7, 1990 – the eve of the FIFA World Cup Final, inspiring another generation of opera trained singers. This included four pop/opera crossover singers, who were united in 2002 by TV executive Simon Colwell to become Il Divo. Colwell certainly knows a good tenor when he hears one, understands what entertainment is all about and, that people really want to hear great voices singing great music.

Every year since 1999 in Australia, an outstanding advocate of music is invited to present The Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address. In 2011 Artistic Director for Opera Australia Mr Lyndon Terracini was invited to honour this, one of Australia’s great international composers. Raising many eyebrows with some remarks Mr. Terracini declared “There is a very passionate small group of people who can sometimes appear to be members of a club who feel that their views are the only opinions of real importance and that presenting what they want to see is the role of “their” opera company. “All of Sydney is talking about it” one of them said to me recently, referring to a particular production that, while being successful artistically, had experienced very poor attendances.

Artistic Director Opera Australia, Lyndon Terracini

I pointed out that only slightly more than 4,000 people had bought tickets for the production that this particular person was referring to and on last count there were a lot more than 4,000 people living in Sydney… “well all of my friends have seen it” was the response… and here you have the fundamental problem…. everyone at my “club” has seen it and bugger those who aren’t members of my club. That sense of patrician entitlement is not only at odds with what we regard as the Australian way of life, but it is also completely at odds with contemporary Australia” said Mr Terracini.

Not wanting people to take your words out of context Mr Terracini I have included a link to Opera Australia and added the address in PDF format at the bottom of this post to be downloaded. Your wake up call will surely embolden many to step up behind you. A neo-Renaissance is surely the way to go for opera, but without the ‘grand manner’ of the baroque perhaps more high-art meets the new hegemony of a fluid, ongoing contemporary society, one that values excellence and actively supports sharing the love around. Your courage, strength, sense of purpose and goal for that of ensuring opera, will be made much more accessible with your ‘Big Bold and Beautiful Program’ to be delivered from 2012 is admirable. How good is it also to know Opera Australia in 2013 will produce German composer, conductor and writer Richard Wagner’s huge operatic and very influential masterpiece, Der Ring des Nibelungen – usually abbreviated to The Ring.

If members of the infamous ‘arts club’ are interested in safeguarding the future of opera in Australia and, if they are genuine, they will step up to help you by challenging themselves first and then getting behind you Mr Terracini. They will dig deep to help you find the way forward and generously sponsor opera’s accessibility to the wider public by relieving the pressure from government. In the future governments will focus much more on health, education, science, technology, urban planning and investment in the environment, while trying to keep a balance with the ever expanding creative industries that they know are transforming everyday life.

Opera reflects the classical maturity of contemporary society while expressing its attitudes and philosophies, its fashions and passions^

The very essence of opera is that the music is integral to the story, not just incidental as in a ‘musical’ or a play with music. Early music operas are different to those produced during the second half of the nineteenth century, a time of working class militancy and organized socialist movements, built on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. They contrasted greatly with the reality of intense and systematic discrimination between sexes and other cultures. Yet it is often described as a ‘golden age’?

To gain an appreciation for any culture and its art forms people have to be exposed to it, preferably one on one. If that’s not possible education is the next best thing. Perhaps the Renaissance Art Exhibition currently at The National Gallery of Canberra will be timely in helping to inspire and expand interest in the arts, as its advertisers suggest?

Greek philosopher Aristotle believed education about music should be introduced to the very young, because it had the power of forming character. If ever a discipline integrated the unconscious and emotional aspects of the mind with the intellectual and physical movement it would be music. Its choice is deeply personal, particularly with opera. This was reflected beautifully in the reaction of a Pretty Woman (actor Julia Roberts) when she was taken to the opera for the first time. Her whole story was about embracing great change.

At dinner recently with a young woman, who had just graduated music school was an enlightening experience. She let us all know she will be playing in a symphony orchestra soon. She also let me know she had fabulous teachers at university who brought the music alive and make it relevant to our time when I asked her about the music she liked, which included opera. Now she wants to have other young people engage with it as well, so she has become a teacher at a girl’s school, where she will no doubt imbue them with her enthusiasm for all sorts of classical music, because she has the passion and courage of her convictions. Spreading the word is also about the power of one.

If we were being truly multi-cultural in Australia then surely adding Chinese Opera to performances Opera Australia presents, would be a good thing. It would certainly deliver a mark of respect to a people and culture that has contributed much to Australia and her growth.

Inter-cultural conversations and cross -cultural dialogue, whether delivered in words or through music, is all about inventing the future of our global community, one in which we have respect for each other, each other’s ideas, traditions, arts and cultural concerns.

Just as today Western society is being educated about Eastern cultures in their turn the East are embracing knowledge of the West. The Internet has opened up the world invoking great and rapid change, as people in repressed societies find out that while a democratic society might be imperfect in many ways, it does have many benefits.

An all-new National Cultural Policy, currently being put in place by the Australian government, will hopefully be part of informing change. Recently the Australian Minister of the Arts said in an address to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School 2011 Graduation Ceremony

“I am looking to work with these training bodies through our new cultural policy and in particular, the development of the National Schools Curriculum. A curriculum, which places arts as one of the key learning disciplines… because the skills gained across the arts and creative industries are crucial to the innovative and flexible thinking needed in a 21st century economy”.

Innovative and flexible are the key words. Difficult to believe though that the Australian government has taken so long to catch up with what the rest of the western world seems always to have known about the benefits of studying the arts and classics. But there it is.

Diva Divine, American born Greek soprano Maria Callas (1923-1977) who kept the home fires burning as everyone recovered from World War II. Her voice was surely from heaven.

You will have no doubt offended many members of the ‘arts club’ you talk about, Mr Terracini with your words. And you are right. People with this attitude do exist and like to believe they are above everyone else in society. They also seem to believe they are not accountable to it, which is the scariest part. They have done their best to keep opera, one of the great forms of human expression “in house” for a long time. I for one can understand your frustrations and have felt them too, having spent three plus decades of my life hoping they would raise their gaze a little and see out and into the rest of the world.

Understanding why they take the stance they do has always been important to me. Human identity has so many dimensions, including time and place. Music is a key aspect in the formation of identity and community. We remember many of the events of our life by what songs are being sung at the time.

Following World War II European families, including grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins, aunts and uncles were all migrating to America and Australia. The older members kept the stories of their life at home in Europe alive through music, because it reminded them of when they were so happy and times were good. And we cannot blame them they all had a really horrible time.

Music from home became part of their survival mechanism, one they tried to pass on. I know this because I worked with many people who came to Australia in the two decades after the war on social profit committees at Sydney between the 70′s and the 90′s. They told me a great many stories that today most people would not deal with.

Vienna, the interior of the Opera House

Very often some of their children, and definitely their grandchildren were born into this different world and subsequently wanted more. This was about generational change and, appropriate. There had been a considerable shift in thinking from being in ‘survival’ mode during the war to embracing ‘self expression’ in a climate of peace. What their grandchildren and other people wanted out of life post-War was very different. It was hard for many of them to take this on board, having suffered so terribly.

It would be fair to say there is no right way or wrong way of looking at things, just different ideas in different places brought about by different times.

It has been my experience people club together through fear. After all many who migrated lost either some family members, or all of them. So dreadful. They lost their homes, their possessions, country of origin and cultural connections. Wounds like this run very deep and it takes a long time for them to heal. The only thing they could do was to hang on to the music. It was the only thing left that would rest their mind, feed their spirit and nurture their soul. Over the years music from the opera helped them to keep going. So it’s no surprise they wanted to just keep it close.

We also need to remember though that there are a minority of people among the ‘arts club’, who did not have these experiences and patronize everyone else and the public, because they have other fears and agendas.

Sydney Opera House, home for Opera Australia

Today as we move into the second decade of the 21st century the time is ripe for action, because many of these people are better placed to face their fears. It doesn’t mean their fears are not still relevant, but like the rest of us there is a point where they have to come to terms with them or life ceases.

We cannot build a bright future for the next generation on a rocky foundation, one of hurt and anger. However we can build social capital by using our intellectual capital. The last thing we want is to drift slowly into a genteel style of arts poverty in Australia.

Opera Australia as you pointed out receives the biggest grant of money from the state and national governments, and yet only reaches very few people on the scale of things. $20 million dollars of government funds is gleaned from taxes paid by Australian citizens to support it. As you also pointed out in your address, when you took over the opera company audiences for some operas were only reaching 4,000 people.

You were right, this fact is truly a scandal.

Michael Lewis and Jacqueline Mabardi in Opera Australia's Macbeth. Music Composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901). It is a terrific opera, fast paced and full of good tunes. It is faithful to Shakespeare's powerful tragedy, which includes ambition, treachery, madness and mass murder. Pic: Jeff Busby

The ‘creative class’ of the last decade worldwide has transformed everyday life, helping to build and grow community spirit, attracting new investment and contributing much to local and national economies.

This has required technological infrastructure, a diversity of talent and above all, tolerance, persistence and endurance.

I learned to love opera music as a child watching Mario Lanza on the big screen. Many a world famous opera singer said his example was why they wanted to pursue opera as an art form.

Economies thrive when they are driven by inventiveness. But a truly creative society is not merely a game of solitaire any more, it is one played by a team, which requires both energy and awareness.

All types of creative industries increasingly are vital to our success as a national economy, and integral to extending the breadth and depth of our society and its cultural development. And so the funds allocations will change. They must provide the citizens who contribute so much with value for money.

Next year you have said Mr Terracini Opera Australia will play to 500,000 people with a program that will be popular, not populist.

If you expose people to the brilliance of opera singing there will be those who will then beg, borrow or steal to purchase a ticket to experience a real night at the opera.

After all some pay huge sums to see rock stars, you just have to get them to ‘grow’ their taste for other forms of music. Then they will want the real experience, just like that enjoyed by a really Pretty Woman.

Opera is about the people and for the people, all of them. The Operapolitan Team retained by Brisbane City Council (2006-2008) to present music to people in places where they gathered, gained a huge amount of feedback. They told us they really loved opera, but couldn’t afford the high prices to attend or, to buy the posh dresses they felt they had to wear when they went. This was because they were also very aware of the ‘disapproval’ of the so-called ‘arts club’. And it kept them away. It’s not that they did not like opera music, they did and loved it, but they felt (feelings are important) that they and their contribution was not wanted or worse still, not relevant.

It seemed to me at the time very sad that Opera had got away from being about the music of the people and instead become a backdrop for a stage on which others performed for their own benefit and hidden agendas.

Andrew Pryor Tenor, Christian Gante Pianist, Shaun Brown Baritone, Liza Beamish Coloratura performing for Operapolitan 2006 - 2008, an initiative of Brisbane City Council taking Opera to the People in the Queen St Mall, Westfield and Retail First Shopping Centres. The sponsor was Theme and Variations Piano Services, who supplied the Steinway Grand

How good is it to hear you are going to make Sydney Harbour a backdrop for an exciting presentation of La Traviata – that “Pretty Woman’ would be pleased. Change is about enabling and emboldening an expansion of knowledge and ideas about how arts, manufactures, commerce, ideas and music are integral to a cities growth and can contribute to it.

Raising an awareness of how the arts in all their forms will contribute to our very special cultural diversity and can only but benefit society as a whole. Perhaps if we start singing the old Labour political tag tune “It’s Time” to encourage arts ‘patricians’ in Australia to throw open their doors and let the ‘plebeians’ in it may help. If they don’t well, they really could sign the death knell of the music they profess to care about.

Opera is the music of love and life and the last thing we want is that it becomes irrelevant. It is an elite form of art and long should it remain so. No one wants that more than me. But it should never be elitist. In such a progressive society as Australia change is constant and people need to embrace it. There’s a great many Mr Terracini, who would gladly help, as well as give you three cheers for stepping up and taking the lead in changing opera culture in Australia – it is not just all about having the vision, but about taking the action. Go well.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MR LYNDON TERRACINI’S PEGGY GLANVILLE-HICKS ADDRESS 2011

* Maria Callas

^Carolyn McDowall, Operapolitan 2006=2008

Definition of OPERA – Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 4th edition By Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne Copyright © 1996 Oxford University Press By permission of Oxford University Press

Related posts:

1. Showcasing Opera: Taking the Music of Love & Life to People
2. OPERA AUSTRALIA on the Big Screen
3. Vivaldi’s Griselda – Pinchgut Opera, a Decade of Excellence

All forms of art should always be elite, but never elitist. A random act of culture, as performed by a musical flash mob, deserves to be applauded in so many ways. However these days if it is to proceed and continue, it must also become a smart mob that behaves intelligently and within the law. A musical flash mob provides people from all walks of life and all backgrounds with an opportunity to come together on the spur of the moment to create a memory, that when remembered, will for a long time in their lives cause them to smile.

It’s certainly brilliant that it steps outside the box of conformity to celebrate spontaneity and take back to the people performance art forms hijacked over the last fifty years to become almost exclusively the preserve of a modern corporate aristocracy.

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start... Ravel's Bolero, drumming up an audience at Copenhagen Railway Station

Since 2003 the instant public performance art movement that sees elite style music now played in places where a majority of people gather, the railway station, the shopping mall, the park and so forth has grown gradually. It has been interesting to see the reaction world wide. The people love it. because its all about a moment of unexpected sheer delight. It sets hearts racing and smiles broadening.

From a choir singing George Frideric Handel’s soaringly splendid Hallelujah Chorus magically in Macy’s Department Store at New York in November 2010 to a great piece of pomp and circumstance, the playing of Ravel’s hypnotic Bolero by the Sjællands Symfoniorkester (Swedish Symphony Orchestra) at Copehagen Railway Station on May 2nd 2011, the musical flash mob has become cultural phenomenon that should be encouraged and licensed by smart councils and local governments to happen regularly.

These magical moments reach out to children of all ages, inspires young adults and re-inspires those who are more mature. It also motivates musicians and singers to strive to ensure their music remains ‘elite’ and to save it as an art form so that it can continue to be enjoyed well into the future. A musical flash mob allows many to enjoy and experience a moment of beauty one on one. As an art form it crosses all boundaries in its quest to achieve excellence and is admired by people from all walks of life.

Enjoy Ravel’s Bolero and then read on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEk06XXaAw

From my experience opera when performed in a public place always receives a rousing welcome. There is a great deal of difference in listening to a piece of opera music on a CD via headphones than being in a place where its being performed by musicians first hand. Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, a tale of triumph of courage, virtue, and wisdom was first performed in a suburban theatre, rather than at court. Mozart himself conducted the orchestra, his sister in law sang the role of the Queen of the Night and Emanuel Schikaneder, who had provided the libretto played its popular character, the bird catcher Papageno. Opera is really all about humankind, its advancement through trial and error and love and life. But in order for it to survive as an art form, opera companies like that at Philadelphia, which organized many of that cities choirs to perform in Macy’s near to Christmas, need to continue to step outside the norm and challenge themselves for the good of their art.

When Campbell Newman was Lord Mayor of Brisbane he supported an initiative at Brisbane City Council, Operapolitan, which brought opera events to the wider community in the Brisbane metropolitan area from 2006 – 2008.

He wanted to ensure that a lot of people in Brisbane city had an opportunity to experience something beautiful by taking opera from the concert hall to the shopping mall.

David De Vito's got talent

The Operapolitan Team performed at Westfield and Retail First Shopping Centres. They included Liza Beamish (coloratura), Kathleen Proctor-Moore (mezzo), Andrew Pryor (tenor), Shaun Brown (baritone) and Christian Gante (pianist), with guest artists Jeffrey Black (baritone), Lachlan Baker (tenor), Elizabeth McBride (soprano) and David de Vito (tenor), who went onto become a finalist in Australia’s Got Talent 2011. Christian Gante accompanied them on a Steinway Grand provided by Theme and Variations Piano Services.

The repertoire featured works from the traditions of opera and operetta, plus songs from musical theatre, the movies as well as cultural and contemporary songs. They entertained with wonderful songs, arias and duets such as O Mio Babbino Caro, Nessun Dorma, La Donna Mobile and My Heart Will Go On.

Launch Operapolitan Queen Street Mall, Brisbane Soprano Liza Beamish, Tenor Andrew Pryor, Guest Artist Baritone Jeffrey Black and Christian Gante on the Steinway Grand

The crowds were phenomenal. There were people from all walks of life and all backgrounds.

The courier on his daily round who kept looking at his watch, but taking time out to drink in the atmosphere, the busy P.A. who hoped her boss would wait a few minutes longer, the construction workers from the site next door, the tradies on break, the blue collar workers in their suits, the secretaries and so many more.

There were couples with babies holding them up to hear the music, children on holiday rushing to sit down to listen, mothers, grandmothers, boys and girls.

The team of singers gained a following of families, who went to every shopping centre performance becoming opera groupies. One Italian family brought along their grandfather who had always loved opera, but he had never seen it performed. Not even back in Italy before he and his wife migrated, where opera is considered by all the people as their own.

Dear Grandfather was so overwhelmed with joy at the first and second concerts he was crying with happiness. When it came to the final concerts weeks later, to the team’s dismay they discovered that he had died. In his honour the rest of the family turned up for the final performance and this wonderful tribute touched everyone involved and it’s a memory they will carry with them forever.

Musical flash mobs showcase to the rest of the world the best of the many democratic freedoms we in the west enjoy. The musical arts reflect the maturity of contemporary society, and alongside all the other visual arts, represent the very essence of our culture, its attitudes and philosophies its fashions and passions.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle October 2011

Related posts:

1. Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus: Surprise and Elation In Macy’s New York – A Random Act of Culture
2. The Celts – Gathering to Celebrate Life & Culture Heroically
3. Changing Opera Culture in Australia: Vision & Taking Action

Promising Young Artist Soprano Milica Ilic

Exciting news to hand is that Brisbane based soprano Milica Ilic will appear as Queen of Night in Mozart’s delightful The Magic Flute for Opera Australia in 2012. She will also cover the title role in their new production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Milica will take soprano solos in several concerts with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO), and become a major recording artist with ABC Classics. Over the past decade Milica has invested both her energy and her capital in her career. She has, as innovative guru Steve Jobs would approve, the courage of her convictions living her life by following her heart and inner voice to become what she wants to be, an opera singer.

Now represented by the very astute Patrick Togher and his Artists’ Management at Sydney, her wonderful news is not surprising for those who have followed the early career of this promising young artist as she has added to her growing list of awards and prizes. Traveling to Europe in November 2011, she will spend a few months in Milan and other opera centres extending both her range and repertoire while gathering and enhancing her experiences, broadening her perspective and helping to contribute to maintaining high standards of excellence in the world of music, especially opera.

Serbian born Milica Ilic migrated to New Zealand in 1996 where she began singing lessons with Professor David Griffiths. As a member of the Young Friends of Opera New Zealand, she performed as a soloist and in the chorus. It was when she was appearing on the New Zealand television series ‘Dreams Come True’ that Milica met legendary opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. She subsequently attended a weekend workshop hosted by the renowned soprano. With her family Milica came to Australia where three-times she was a semi-finalist at the Australian Singing Competition (2002, 2003 and 2005).

Milica studied German at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin (2005) and voice with Leandra Overmann (Professor of Singing at the Academy of Music in Würzburg in Germany). Completing a Bachelor of Music Degree at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in 2008 she also won the Australian National Eisteddfod, the Dame Joan Sutherland Vocal Competition (at the youngest recorded age of 19), the Elwyn Barber Memorial Encouragement Trophy, as well as being two time winner of both the Margaret Nixon Vocal Competition and the South East Queensland Aria and Concerto Competition (2006 and 2008).

Milica-Ilic-Dirty Apple Fool-Opera

In 2009 Milica created the role of Emma in the youth opera Dirty Apple. She appeared in La Traviata – for Opera Queensland and sang the role of Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Macau International Music Festival. In 2010, Milica continued her affiliation with Opera Queensland as a Young Artist performing in their touring production of The Merry Widow. She performed in the Opera Gala for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) and this year has seen many more performances as soloist with the QSO, exploring ‘pinnacles of passion’ as she emerged as charismatic soloist to watch. Her performances attract much acclaim because she truly lives the music.

She won the MBS National Young Performers’ Award in 2009 and sang three operatic arias, Ch’i bel sogno (Puccini La Rondine) , Bel raggio lusinghier (Rossini Semiramide) and Dis-moi que je suis (Massenet Thaïs) to win a $10,000 Travelling Scholarship donated by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust.  She became a developing Artist in 2009 at Opera Queensland performing the roles of Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Cupid in Semele and Nannetta in Falstaff.

I first met Milica Ilic in 2005 aged just 21. A creative colleague Greg Thompson and I were producing FREE lunchtime concerts in the foyers of Australian legendary architect Harry Seidler’s Riverside and Riparian Plaza buildings at Brisbane. We were showcasing the piano and superb acoustics of each foyer by having the brilliant pianist Christian Gante accompany some truly superb voices on the wonderful Steinway Grand Piano distributed by Theme and Variations.

I will never forget the sight of Milica stepping ever so daintily and elegantly out of a taxi for her gig wearing a dress of beautiful black lace, a tiny slip of a girl. Her size and stature completely belied the beautiful big voice that emerged. When it was finally released into the foyer she reduced the rapidly gathering audience to tears with her innate sensitivity of the repertoire she was performing.

Sent to me by renowned and very astute Head of Opera at the Queensland Conservatorium, Greg Massingham, Milica projected a grasp of professionalism way beyond her years and won everyone’s admiration and respect.

The result was an outstanding success for all concerned. The thousands of people who worked in the buildings loved those lunchtime concerts, which were held over a two week period.

Over the years since we have firmed a wonderful bond of friendship. I have enjoyed watching her progress and admired her determination and willingness to work very hard to achieve her aim of being the very best that she can.

Milica Ilic performing in Romance and Passion with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra

As a producer of community events for Brisbane City Council I was very pleased to have an opportunity as to invite her to be guest artist at the Festive Music that Resonates Concert in St John’s Cathedral Brisbane on November 27 2009 as part of the Brisbane 150th Anniversary celebrations. It was the final event for me before I left Brisbane and so it meant a great deal that she was taking part. She produced a superb result and her solo, Rejoice Greatly from German composer George Frideric Handel’s masterwork The Messiah, had the audience shouting for more. She also demonstrated her complete willingness to face all challenges by learning, in less than a week, the mezzo soprano part to perform the beautiful Flower Duet from the opera Lakme with the seasoned coloratura Liza Beamish. They both brought the house down.

Milica Ilic is a young lady with a brilliant career in opera before her.  Being part of that journey will be a privilege for those who will travel with her. She is a sincere young lady with a beautiful voice that has great depth and range. She has both the passion and commitment for her art and craft, the mental strength, persistence and talent required to succeed and a great deal of sensitivity and style. She is for all the opera companies of the world, the whole package.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle October 2011

Related posts:

1. Changing Opera Culture in Australia: Vision & Taking Action
2. Showcasing Opera: Taking the Music of Love & Life to People
3. Apollo, Lully, Secret Garden and Shelley – Making my Day

Australia’s Got Talent showcases many different musical styles and types of talent, none more outstanding than David de Vito who has reached the Final in 2011.

A tenor from the Gold Coast, Queensland David is a big man with a big voice and even bigger heart that seems to nearly burst when he sings, such is his passion for opera.

Just lately you have probably watched with awe as he proves, along with his colleagues, that Australia has indeed many talented artists.

With a voice he describes himself as a ‘dramatic tenor, David was trained in classical piano and discovered by examiners to have a talent for singing in ‘perfect pitch’ at a very young age.

The irresistible entertainment that is ‘Opera’ captivates the imagination

Nowadays we have the best of all worlds in music…there is something for everyone.  With its stories about love and life opera is always fashionable.

We have been hearing it on television, in advertisements,  at the movies and in general life for years.

The difference is right now, young people are discovering something in opera that they find both powerful and different.

If you would like to offer your support and have an opportunity to hear opera star David de Vito sing

David de Vito Live in Concert
Saturday 25th June, 2011

For Bookings Contact
Gold Coast Arts Centre (07) 5588 4000
or De Vito Management 0488 442 332  or info@daviddevito.com

Dinner & Show tickets $100 ea,
10 per table (3 course meal, wine included) 6.30pm

Show Only tickets $49 ea,
Theatre seating 7.30pm
Tickets are limited!

The very essence of opera is that the music is integral to the story

In 2007 David de Vito sang with Operapolitan at Brookside, Brisbane.

When he and colleague Tenor Andrew Pryor sang George Bizet’s incredible “In the Depths of the Temple” you could have heard a pin drop. He joined Andrew and Gold Coast Coloratura Liza Beamish to sing Nessun Dorma as a Trio, and other great arias. When it became time for them to sing the great favourite ‘Time To Say Goodbye’, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

At Brookside, and indeed all the places the Operapolitan team sang, people of all ages and cultures were stopped dead in their tracks. They stood in there thousands hardly able to breathe as Operapolitan’s singers performed some of the best-known tunes in opera for shopping mall crowds.

An initiative of Brisbane City Council in conjunction with Theme & Variations who provided Steinway and Boston pianos, Operapolitan was about bringing the concert hall to the shopping mall so that many more people had an opportunity to experience something beautiful.

At the time Bernadette Condren of the Courier Mail’s observations in her article ‘Mums the Word’ summed it up…that a ‘hollow chamber dedicated to consumerism and greed had, for a moment, given a gift no money could buy’.

Related posts:

1. Chinese Ehru Soloist at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards – A Coup for the Gold Coast
2. Looking forward to tenor Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus, questing for love for the Pinchgut Opera
3. Flash Mob to Smart Mob – Enjoying Random Acts of Culture

OPERAPOLITAN Team Brisbane City Council and Westfield Sponsored 2006 - 2008 L - R Mezzo Soprano Kathleen Procter-Moore, Tenor Andrew Pryor, Accompanist Christian Gante, Baritone Sean Brown, Coloratura Liza Beamish at Sponsors Theme and Variations, Steinway Showroom

Nowadays we have the best of all worlds in music…there is something for everyone.

I just love opera. Its stories of love and life are always fashionable. A great many young people are being won over by its beauty and charm.

There isn’t a human culture, no matter how remote or isolated, that does not sing. Singing is both ancient and universal and the voice the original musical instrument.

Singing is associated not so much with entertainment and frivolity as with those matters vital to the inner well-being of every individual, social or religious group.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music tells us that Opera is an abbreviation of the term Opera in Musica, meaning a work, or story that is a social comment on its time set to music.

The very essence of opera is that the music is integral, not incidental, as in a ‘musical’ or, a play with music. Opera then as an art form reflects the very essence of our culture, its attitudes and philosophies, its fashions and passions.

You definitely need to wear Cartier Jewellery to the opera

An opera tells a story. It can come from many sources, including history, current events, magical, Bible, and fairy tales, legends, literature, poetry, and mythology. Opera can be funny, sad, scary, dramatic, mysterious, imaginary, or a combination of the above.

Like Disney movies opera is a powerful combination of fantasy, live action and music.  Great parallels exist between the story of courtesan Violetta in nineteenth century composer Giuseppi Verdi’s much-loved opera La Traviata and the lovely Vivienne, that opportunistic hooker in the 1990 feel good movie “Pretty Woman”.

We certainly all feel part of Vivienne’s experience when, in a ravishing red gown and dazzling Cartier necklace she is whisked off to the opera on a private jet by her charming prince Edward to be captivated and cry over a performance of yes, you guessed it, La Traviata.

The original story of the opera was based on the tragic short life of the nineteenth century voluptuous and popular Parisian courtesan Marie Duplessis [1824-1847] reputedly unable to endure the scent of any flower but the camellia.

Marie was described as delicate, animated, with the loveliest teeth in the world and, one of the last and few courtesans with a heart. To have an opera written about you within a few years of your death was at the time ‘to achieve such immortality as art can bestow on anyone’.

In today’s culture however no one wants to die tragically for love but rather live to experience it. Opera remains a significant tradition in western culture because it is about love and life. It is for everyone, communicating ideas and emotions at the very heart and spirit of Australian culture.

Enjoy the Drinking Song from La Traviata with Placido Domingo and Teresa Stratas

Carolyn McDowall 2010

Related posts:

1. Showcasing Opera: Taking the Music of Love & Life to People
2. Music, Churches and Chivalry – Choirs, Crusaders and Courtly Love
3. Changing Opera Culture in Australia: Vision & Taking Action

Elena Xanthoudakis, Eurydice and the Spirit in the Pinchgut Opera's performance of L'Anima del Filosofo, Orpheus+Eurydice this December at Sydney (photo credit Bridget Elliot)

Australian born opera singer Elena Xanthoudakis, whose heritage on her father’s side is appropriately Greek, is starring as Eurydice, and the Spirit this December in the Pinchgut Opera’s presentation of  L’Anima del Filosofo – Orpheus + Eurydice by Joseph Haydn at Sydney.

Orpheus and Eurydice are two names irrevocably linked. They loved each other beyond the shadow of death and wanted to be together for eternity. In mythology Eurydice was one of the daughters of Apollo, the Greek god of light and her legend has many parallels in other cultures.

It is important to clarify the use of the word legend. Some may be fearful I am suggesting a lack of truth. However, in antiquity a legend was generally understood to be an illustrative story, designed to convey a profound spiritual truth in an attempt to explain that which could not be explained, the inexplicable.

All the stories about Orpheus+Eurydice are founded on the love of a man (Orpheus) for his wife (Eurydice) and the devastation he feels when he loses her. He journeys to the underworld hoping to restore her to his life. The gods however impose a condition. He must trust them and not look back at her face until they both return to the light. However Orpheus proves himself full of frailty,  unable to trust, or resist temptation and so he loses her forever. It is an ironic twist on the legend of Adam and Eve and, it is also about being truly human.

According to reviewers over the past decade there are not nearly enough superlatives to praise Elena Xanthoudakis’s voice. It has been described as having a ‘lovely silvery timbre and smooth legato‘.  She has sung Lieder (19th-century German art song) Oratorio (usually based upon a religious theme) and Opera (an extended dramatic composition, in which all parts are sung to instrumental accompaniment).

She has certainly stolen the show on many occasions and has won over 80 first prizes in Eisteddfodau in Australia.  Internationally she has won the Maria Callas International Grand Prix 2003 (Oratorio – Lied) in Athens and the renowned International Mozart Competition 2006 in Salzburg. In 2008 she won the female first-prize and overall Grand prize at the International Adam Didur Opera Singers Competition, the Tait Vocal prize in the Performing Australian Music Competition and was a major prizewinner in Placido Domingo’s prestigious international opera contest ‘Operalia’.

Watch, and listen to her sing at Operalia and then read on

In 2008, Elena sang Clorinda La Cenerentola at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She sang Iris in Semele at St John Smith Square, Frasquita at the Royal Opera House and Adina in The Elixir of Love for Victorian Opera (Australia). As well she performed concerts in Quebec City, Melbourne and in Scotland.

In 2009, Elena sang Adina in L’elisir d’amore for Scottish Opera, Blonde in The Abduction from the Seraglio for Opera North and performed at concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart. She also made her debut in the London Promenade concert season at the Royal Albert Hall and undertook a two month tour as soloist throughout the UK and in Ireland in RG’s ‘Strauss Gala’.

2010 sees her perform Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at St John Smith’s Square and a return to the English National Opera and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She will make her debut in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera du Quebec, Canada; as well as perform concerts in Poland, Melbourne and for the Accademia di S.Cecilia at Rome with Antonio Pappano.

Generally Elena today divides her time between Glasgow, London and Australia. She has sung in St Petersburg, Hong-Kong, Athens, and throughout the glorious Tuscany and Abruzzo regions of Italy, Salt-Lake City, Montreal, in the UK, as well as in Australia.

If you understand that the voice does not take too kindly to differing pressures of air travel, you can begin to appreciate just how much time singers have to give themselves so they can relax their voice when moving from place to place. When she is at home in Melbourne Elena can be found performing regularly in various concerts and recitals.

Elena was four when she displayed the prodigious talent so admired today. She sang her way through school in the choir, where her flexibility became evident in first and second soprano solo parts. In 1996 she was awarded the June Bronhill Encouragement Scholarship for vocal potential and went on to play the flute and sing her way through high school. She started a university career in Physics, but midway transferred to Music and graduated with honours completing her thesis on comparative settings of Goethe’s Kennst du das Land by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Berg.

There is a lot to like about Elena and a great deal to admire about the Sydney based Pinchgut Opera.

It was founded nine years ago by a group of professional musicians, arts administrators and music lovers who discovered they shared a desire to add to the layers of diversity in the classical music genre at Sydney. They wanted to provide additional experiences and professional opportunities for young Australian singers, who are generally required to live their life out of a suitcase if they want to go in pursuit of a musical life.  Elena’s musical journey so far certainly proves the point.

Joseph Haydn’s L’Anima del Filosofo: Orpheus + Eurydice will be performed in the Angel Place Auditorium at Sydney. Its beautiful acoustic adds to the quality of the performance. The singers will be supported by the simply splendid Orchestra of the Antipodes conducted by Antony Walker, who makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2011. The orchestra play on authentic period instruments and the mellow resonance and depth of sound adds yet another layer of richness to their performances,  which to my mind have to be experienced live if you want to gain the greatest joy imaginable.

Look Forward – Book Now – Seats are selling fast

Joseph Haydn
L’Anima Del Filosofo
ORPHEUS+EURYDICE

Dates: 2. 4 and 7th December at 7.30 pm and, Sunday 5th December at 5pm
Place: City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
Bookings: www.cityrecitalhall.com
Enquiries: +61 (0) 282562222

Related posts:

1. Pinchgut Opera – Orpheus & Eurydice – Don’t Look Back!
2. Looking forward to tenor Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus, questing for love for the Pinchgut Opera
3. Another great Christmas Treat by the Pinchgut Opera – Pure Poetry in Musical Motion

Joseph Haydn’s Orpheus is an opera in Italian in four acts, the last he ever wrote. The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

The story of Orpheus has fascinated composers and librettists over the centuries. Pinchgut Opera presented Monteverdi’s wonderful version of the story in 2004 (Orfeo) to wide acclaim.

In 2010 this simply splendid Sydney based opera company will present the first professional production of Haydn’s version to Australian audiences.

Composed in 1791, the opera was never performed during Haydn’s lifetime with its first performance, surprisingly, was in 1951 in Florence with a cast including Maria Callas and Boris Christoff. After Haydn’s patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy died in 1790, he travelled to London where he received a commission to write several symphonies.

The impresario John Gallini also offered him a contract to write an opera for the King’s Theatre, but due to a dispute between King George III and the Prince of Wales, he was refused permission to stage it. As a result, the score was never completed and some music appears to be missing.

The 2010 Pinchgut production will be simply staged, with a set and costumes and emphasis on the music at the highest level. The cast will include soprano Elena Xanthoudakis as the double part of Eurydice/Spirit and tenor Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus.

The opera makes extensive use of the chorus, which will be Cantillation, and Antony Walker will conduct a classical orchestra (Orchestra of the Antipodes) that will include Erin Helyard playing fortepiano.

Pinchgut Opera began in 2001 as an idea to give audiences a different experience of opera and make opera accessible to a whole new audience. Its aim is to showcase Australian talent, performing fascinating lesser-known masterpieces in an intimate venue with an excellent acoustic. L’anima del filosofo will be the Pinchgut’s ninth production.

Pinchgut Opera presents Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo:
Orpheus & Eurydice
4 performances: 2, 4, 7 December 2010 at 7.30pm
and, 5 December 2010 at 5pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney

Principals: Eurydice, Spirit: Elena Xanthoudakis (soprano) Orpheus: Andrew Goodwin (tenor) Creon: Derek Welton (baritone)
Conductor: Antony Walker
Director: Mark Gaal
Designers: Alexandra Sommer & Brad Clark
Lighting Designer: Bernie Tan-Hayes
Chorus: Cantillation
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Antipodes
Libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, sung in Italian with English surtitles
Box office opens 22 July 2010 ph: 02 8256 2222  / http://www.cityrecitalhall.com/book/id/731

www.pinchgutopera.com.au

Related posts:

1. Elena Xanthoudakis as Eurydice – returning to the light for the Pinchgut Opera at Sydney in December
2. Looking forward to tenor Andrew Goodwin as Orpheus, questing for love for the Pinchgut Opera
3. L’anima del filosofo – Orpheus+Eurydice Premiere at Sydney

Alicia Jane (Lee) Cush has a love of, and a stunning commitment to, her chosen musical genre of opera. Two years ago she founded a superb sextet of sopranos who are now, with their GODDESS DIVINE TOUR, going to bring the glories of opera to a venue near you.

These girls are on the rise so come on board and give them the support they deserve. They have a unique sound and stunning style and a great deal to offer those who have a perchance for excellence.

It is individual character that is the inducement to great actions and the spur to great achievements and these girls are proving it.

Six individual sassy ladies with an innovative approach and creative expression providing a special experience for everyone.

Visit their website for further details

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