A fresh, feminist La traviata. An acrobatic Orpheus & Eurydice. Mozart’s Magic Flute and Handel’s Theodora reimagined for the times we’re in. And no La bohème.
The first part of Opera Australia’s 2024 season has launched and it’s not a business-as-usual proposition.
Programmed by OA’s Guest Creative Director Lindy Hume, this summer suite of five productions, all new to Sydney audiences closes the chapter on the Artistic Directorship of Lyndon Terracini while holding the fort until the arrival of incoming Artistic Director Jo Davis, who takes over the reins of the company in 2024.
Opera Australia Summer 2023/24. Image supplied
Hume was invited to curate what amounts to a pop-up season while the selection process for OA’s new Artistic Director was still underway. “I was very much of the mind that I didn’t want to set any particular direction or agenda with my programming,” she tells Limelight.
“In my mind, it was a stand-alone season, a mini-festival. But what I did want it to do was reflect Sydney in the summer...
Why can we not have a fully staged version of Theodora with Pinchgut? Is this an economically driven decision? It is disappointing your first co-production with Pinchgut should be trimmed back in a work that relies so much upon ornament and excess for it’s production values to bloom. Sad really, and perhaps foolish. Just be careful not to defenestrate the baby with that bath-water.