Simon O’Neill and Lianna Haroutounian soar over Kupfer’s epic production.

Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House

July 5, 2014

For many (myself included), Otello is Verdi’s very greatest work. The opera that he was so reluctant to write, considering himself by this time in his life a retired gentleman farmer, Otello was a compositional labour of love for a man in his seventies. It eventually took him four years to pen, from 1884 to 1887, but these far from mellow fruits of the composer’s old age were well worth the waiting for.

Arrigo Boito’s libretto may also lay claim to being the most masterly adaptation of a Shakespeare play for the musical stage. Taut, pacey and faithful to the playwright’s intentions, Boito’s masterstroke was to cut the first act entirely – no great dramatic loss. He also (possibly more by luck than judgement) managed to remove any overtly racist references, making it entirely plausible to play Otello as a man of any colour a director chooses. Finally, by adding Iago’s chilling Credo, he ennobles Shakespeare’s villain, raising him from embittered middle-management type to intriguing philosophical nihilist.

Harry Kupfer’s handsome production for Opera Australia, sensitively revived by Roger Press, is just over ten-years-old...