Wonder of Wonders
When Stephen Rae wanted to listen to The Eighth Wonder, he discovered there were no recordings available so he set about establishing a bespoke website, which features a complete, remastered, authorised rendition of the score, plus the libretto and much more. Kim Williams discusses the importance of the opera and why he recommends logging on.
In my view there are two truly great, large-scale, original Australian operas, The Eighth Wonder by Alan John with libretto by Dennis Watkins and John, and Voss by Richard Meale, composed to a libretto by David Malouf (based on the famous Patrick White novel)....
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This was one of the most fantastic Operas I have ever seen! I too went looking for the recording a while ago and had no luck, so I can only say a huge THANK YOU! This resource is truly fantastic!
I saw it in 2016 and there was an aria with the architect that blew me away!
Greetings, I’ve been meaning to email for ages to thank you for the March issue of Limelight (as well as all the amazing online articles etc) but time got away… Now the April issue is already out & I just had to write in to express how excited I was on hearing about the website with recordings from The Eighth Wonder. I saw it in 2016 during the “world’s first (large scale) silent opera” and will never forget Alex majestically singing her heart out on the Opera House steps while a storm rolled in over the harbour, just to make it that much more dramatic! This was actually the first Australian (written) opera I’d ever seen and I loved the characters, especially Alexs’ rather down to earth dad. It made a huge impression and is still one of my favourite operas of all time. Thanks for the update, and all the other essential Arts news Limelight imparts…