Opera Australia admits to early discussions to bring the Albanian soprano back to Australia for Donizetti’s trilogy. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
A stunning new Butterfly for Queensland delivers mixed results.
The Korean-born soprano talks about embracing the cultural perils of Puccini’s tragic Madama Butterfly. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The late director’s Cio-Cio San of choice remembers a remarkable collaboration. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
There are two Opera Australia DVDs of Madama Butterfly and, apart from the music and some of the performers, you could be watching two different operas. For Moffatt Oxenbould’s production – still going strong after 18 years – designers Peter England and Russell Cohen used Kabuki theatre as their inspiration with ninja-clad servants handing out props; sliding screens and a surrounding moat to represent the divide between Japanese and American culture. Cio-Cio-San, also sung by Japanese soprano Hiromi Omura, was dressed in a kimono, looking the true geisha. For the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour production, newly released on DVD, director Àlex Ollé from the groundbreaking Spanish theatre group La Fura Dels Baus takes an edgier and more political approach to this tragic love story set amid a clash of cultures. Here we are in the present day and the passionate, unscrupulous Pinkerton is a shiny-suited salesman intent on building a housing development in Nagasaki. Butterfly sports a full body tattoo, denim shorts and a Stars and Stripes T-shirt. For the first act the clever set is a grove of bamboo atop a grassy knoll. For the second act everything is different. No more nature – it’s all building sites,…
So-so revival only manages a flutter compared to last year’s offering on the Harbour. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Acclaimed imports and co-productions make up the backbone of WAO's next season.
Mark Morris, Anthony Minghella's Butterfly, Les Arts Florissants and The Sixteen top epic and intimate bill.
This model of a modern Butterfly soars as art and spectacle combine on Sydney Harbour.
Let’s hope that the news of Handa Opera’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Handa Opera unveils La Fura dels Baus’ spectacular visual plans for Puccini’s classic. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
La Fura dels Baus have worked on the world's largest stages. Director Àlex Ollé reveals some of the plans for Sydney Harbour.
Opera Australia will give Puccini’s classic a contemporary makeover for 2014’s Handa Opera season. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
