African colours and gaudy glamour for Opera on the Harbour
Costume and set designs revealed for 2015’s production of Aida. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Costume and set designs revealed for 2015’s production of Aida. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The acclaimed Russian soprano also makes a substantial donation to a rebel-held opera house.
Australian soprano steps in to play lead role in the Royal Opera’s L’Elisir d’Amore.
Disgraced Georgian soprano aims to make amends for hurt caused to LGBTI community.
The coloratura discusses mental instability, her new Lucia and where next for those famous top notes.
The young Sydney-born mezzo talks to us about her gifts, goals, going abroad. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
We want you to tell us who you consider worthy of a place in the elite Maestro Pantheon.
The world famous performance artist will depict La Divina in new video artwork.
Why, oh why is Gluck’s Ipigénie en Tauride still a relative rarity on the stage? In his late, post-reform operas, the German Classical composer and noted Francophile achieved an almost unmatched marriage of text with music – an emotional ‘rightness’ that alas went the way of all flesh once the brassy bel canto of Rossini and co. took over in the 19th century. Perhaps its modest lack of showiness works against it – there are no da capos here, no flashy vocalisations on display. Gluck can be a slowburn composer, his sublimities revealing themselves on further hearings rather than smacking you between the eyes first time round. And it is, after all, Greek drama in its purist form – no romantic entanglements, no mad scene, no laughs – just a searing human drama of almost domestic proportions. In his adaptation of one of Euripides’ most potent masterpieces, Gluck was able to dish out hope, grief, despair and that oh-so-crucial cathartic relief of the happy ending in two hours of intense, introspective suffering. Hardly box-office, then, to offer up to today’s sensation-craving “where are the crackers?” opera on the harbour crowd. Fortunately, Lindy Hume, in her handsome classically proportioned production for…
Nothing makes a bad opera like a bad libretto. Luckily Gluck knew a thing or two...
Australia’s favourite conductor shares his seasons greetings.
Company comes under fire after seeking unpaid supernumeraries for Aida.
Jonathan Meese brands Wagner festival organisers “cynical liars.”