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Wikipedia

Opera Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent at the Arts Centre Melbourne, where it is accompanied by Orchestra Victoria. In 2004, the company gave 226 performances in its subscription seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, attended by more than 294,000 people.[not verified in body]

Logo of the company
Sydney Opera House, home of Opera Australia, illuminated at night

It is funded by government grants, corporate sponsorship, private philanthropy, and ticket sales. The proportion of its revenue from ticket sales is considerably higher than that of most companies, approximately 75 per cent.[not verified in body] The company is perhaps best known internationally for its association with Dame Joan Sutherland, for Baz Luhrmann's production of Puccini's La bohème in the early 1990s and more recently, for, apart from performances inside the opera house, large scale outdoor performances on Sydney Harbour.

Many thousands of Australians also experience the company's work through television, radio, video, compact disc, DVD, and the annual free performance of opera in the Domain in Sydney. The company also performs in an annual outdoor event at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, where since 2012 operas such as La traviata, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Aida and Carmen have played.

History

Australian Opera Company, 1956–57

In 1956, the Australian Opera Company was formed in Sydney under the auspices of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It commemorated the Mozart bicentenary by presenting four Mozart operas in all capital cities, travelling more than 10,000 kilometres, and giving 169 performances.

Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company, 1957–70

By 1957, it changed its name to the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company.

In 1959 the company's laid-off singers gave the first of many regional tours (presented by state Arts Councils) with Rossini's The Barber of Seville using reduced scenery and conducted from the piano by Georg Tintner (Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland). Subsequent Arts Council tours included Rigoletto (1960; Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales), Così fan tutte (1961; New South Wales, Queensland) and La traviata (1962; New South Wales, Queensland), all conducted by Tintner. However, by 1963 a permanent nucleus of singers and staff was retained throughout the year and the company had made appearances at regional festivals, including the Adelaide Festival. It was also able to establish the first Elizabethan Trust Orchestra for the company by 1967 with additional government aid. During this time, Stefan Haag played an important role in the development of the company.

A major milestone for the company was a television recording of Puccini's Tosca filmed in 1968 at the Adelaide Festival. This starred Tito Gobbi as Scarpia alongside two Australian singers, soprano Marie Collier in the title role, and tenor Donald Smith as Cavaradossi, with the Argentinian born, Italian conductor Carlo Felice Cillario conducting. This was the commencement of a long and fruitful association between the Australian Opera and Cillario until his retirement in 2003. Some of his first rehearsals in the country involved conducting the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra and the Australian Opera Chorus, both newly formed and on permanent contracts.[1]

While not yet appearing with this company, Joan Sutherland, then an internationally known Australian soprano, and her husband, the conductor Richard Bonynge, helped the cause of opera in general in Australia during the 1960s. Sutherland's name was also linked to the progress of the Sydney Opera House, begun in 1957 and still undergoing a lengthy and controversial construction.[2] By the time "La Stupenda" appeared there in 1974, one year after the opening of the theatre, the company was a leading repertory company with a large chorus and a roster of experienced Australian principals supplemented by guest singers and conductors.[3]

The Australian Opera, 1970–96

In 1970, the company became known as The Australian Opera. The 1970s saw considerable changes both in administration and location. In 1972, Edward Downes, formerly associated with London's Royal Opera House, became musical director, and his first new production was the Australian premiere of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, followed closely by Prokofiev's War and Peace as the opening night performance of the Sydney Opera House, a short time before the building's official opening.

The Sydney Opera House, as well as quickly becoming a distinctive cultural landmark in that city, gave the company a permanent performance home and thus helped to expand its repertoire and develop local audiences. Audiences were boosted by Joan Sutherland's performances with The Australian Opera in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. In the 1974 season, three Australian works were performed: The Affair by Felix Werder, Lenz by Larry Sitsky, and Rites of Passage by Peter Sculthorpe. (Rites of Passage was to have been the inaugural opera presentation at the Sydney Opera House, but was not ready in time.)

By 1976, Richard Bonynge had become musical director and he led the company on its first overseas tour to New Zealand with Verdi's Rigoletto and Janáček's Jenůfa, the latter conducted by Georg Tintner. This was followed in 1978 by the first Australian Opera country tour with orchestra to north-eastern New South Wales (Don Pasquale with the Queensland Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Tintner). The principal tenor for this tour was Robin Donald. From 1977 to 1990, the resident director was Elke Neidhardt.

In 1977, the New South Wales Friends of the Australian Opera and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust established the Armstrong-Martin Scholarship to further the musical education of professional opera singers.

During the 1980s, after many years of recording performances by the Australian Opera for television, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and The Australian Opera presented their first live simulcast, Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus, and it was seen by more than two million people. Over the following years a series of simulcasts reached millions of Australian homes.

Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland appeared at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House in 1983, with the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge (the sister orchestra in Melbourne was known as the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra. Now they are known respectively as the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Sydney and Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne). Another successful concert with Sutherland and Marilyn Horne was held in the Concert Hall.

Several innovative features characterised this period of the 1980s. The first, Esso Opera in the Park in the Sydney Domain, quickly became an annual event, and it is now called "Opera in the Domain". Typically, it attracts almost 100,000 people each year. A similar annual outdoor event, which attracts more than 25,000 people, is held in Melbourne. The second was the establishment of The Esso Young Artists' Development Program for the Australian Opera while the third was the Australian Compositions Program launched with a new production of Brian Howard's Metamorphosis.

Another innovative program, The National Opera Workshop, was established to enable selected Australian composers to present works in workshop form with artists from the Australian Opera. Lastly, OperaAction, the Youth Education Program, established a program of events, including three youth performances of Puccini's Madama Butterfly and, in 1986, Winds of the Solstice, an original youth opera created by 70 students working on libretto, music, choreography and orchestration and presented at the Sydney Opera House.

The company re-organised its administration gradually throughout the decade, appointing Moffatt Oxenbould as artistic director in 1984, and announcing that Bonynge would become Musical Director Emeritus and principal guest conductor from 1987, after his decade long contract as musical director expired.[4]

In 1988, in association with the Australian Bicentennial Authority, the company toured Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and the National Opera Workshop in Melbourne with The Ra Project, a music-theatre work composed with the direct participation from the earliest stages by the singers who performed it and marking director Baz Luhrmann's first association with the Australian Opera.

Sutherland gave her farewell performances for the Australian Opera in 1990 in a production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Two years later, the company named its major rehearsal studio after Dame Joan.

Also in 1990, Baz Luhrmann's La bohème premiered in Sydney, establishing Cheryl Barker and David Hobson as important principals in the company. Such was its impact that the production went on to play at the Broadway Theatre in New York in 2002 for 228 performances.[5][6]

The early 1990s were to see two important changes in the way that the company worked: firstly, in 1991, with the formation of the Artistic Associates of The Australian Opera, a body of people was created which comprised some of the most important figures in the Australian musical and performing arts world. Secondly, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra was integrated with the Australian Opera to produce a permanent opera and ballet orchestra for the company.

In its first performances outside Australasia in 1994, the company performed Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Edinburgh International Festival. In addition, the Baz Luhrmann production of La bohème was screened over more than 300 North American television stations, followed by worldwide video release and a later Broadway version.

Opera Australia, since 1996

Opera Australia (OA) was formed by the merger of the Australian Opera and the Victoria State Opera (VSO) companies in 1996, following the financial collapse of the Melbourne-based VSO.[7] Adrian Collette was appointed general manager of the new company, and developed a three-year plan to restructure the company[8] involving twice yearly seasons in both Sydney and Melbourne, integrating the OA and VSO staff and planning a viable financial structure so as to manage the inherited debt.

The first few years of the present century saw the retirement of Moffatt Oxenbould, Opera Australia's artistic director for 15 years, and the appointment of Simone Young as musical director. Immediately on taking up her position in 2001, Simone Young appointed the Australian director Stuart Maunder to the position of artistic director. Young proceeded to develop the company's core repertoire, including more German operas[9] in the repertoire and diversifying the types of productions mounted and the standards of international and local artists employed. By late 2002 however, the OA board, faced with mounting deficits, announced that Young's future visions for the company were "unsustainable" and decided not to renew her contract after the end of 2003.[10]

At the end of 2003, Richard Hickox was named music director-designate of Opera Australia, and took up the post full-time from January 2005. During his tenure, Hickox diversified the repertoire with the addition of more 20th-century works such as The Love for Three Oranges, Rusalka and Arabella, recording live performances of many of these works for Chandos Records. The company's 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2006 with a gala concert in which tributes were paid to Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge, the principal artists, the chorus, production staff and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (the AOBO) for their "artistry and talent" and the "ensemble nature" of the company.[11] In mid-2008, Hickox and Opera Australia were criticised by a singer for what she perceived as a decline in artistic standards since the start of Hickox's tenure. The board expressed complete confidence in Hickox.[12] On returning to the UK in November 2008 following the Sydney winter season, Hickox died suddenly from a heart attack after conducting a rehearsal in Swansea.[13] On 30 June 2009, Lyndon Terracini was announced as the new artistic director.[14]

 
Sydney Opera House, 2010

"Change for survival"

In 2011, Terracini gave a controversial speech as part of the annual Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address, in which he announced that Opera Australia had to change in order to survive. "Opera companies and orchestras of significance world wide are closing at an alarming rate ... We can blithely ignore the fact ... or we can change ... brave programming is having the courage to programme what critics will criticise you for, but will make a genuine connection to a real audience."[15]

 
Stage of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour 2013

Terracini pursued a program designed to bring opera to wider audiences. In 2012 through the sponsorship of Haruhisa Handa and Destination NSW, Opera Australia staged the first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, a three-week season of a fully produced and staged opera, designed to be an opera "event".[16] The production of La traviata was directed by Francesca Zambello and attracted an audience of 40,000 people.[17] In 2013, Opera Australia staged an open-air production of Carmen on Sydney Harbour, directed by Gale Edwards. It reached similar audience numbers.[18] The harbour has since received annual stagings, followed by Madama Butterfly (2014), Aida (2015), and Turandot (2016),[19] a new production of Carmen in 2017, La bohème (2018), West Side Story (2019).

In 2012, Opera Australia replaced the regular Gilbert and Sullivan productions that had formed part of the company's repertoire for some years with a series of Broadway musicals. A Lincoln Center Theatre production of South Pacific played at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 2012, kicking off a national tour which continued in 2013.[20]

An extensive philanthropic drive enabled the company to program its first full-length Ring Cycle, which was performed in Melbourne over four weeks at the end of 2013.[21] After tickets to the event sold out in just one day, ABC Classic FM and Opera Australia announced the radio station would live broadcast the Ring Cycle to audiences across the country.[22]

In April 2013, Opera Australia announced a 44 per cent growth in total revenue based on an increase in box office sales of more than 55 per cent. For the second year in a row, the company reported an operating profit following two successive deficits.[23]

In January 2013, the board of Opera Australia announced they would extend Lyndon Terracini's contract as artistic director for five more years.[24] Later that year, Terracini announced that singers on 12-month contracts will be "rested" without pay for a period of six to twelve weeks in 2014.[25]

Terracini resigned in October 2022 and in December Opera Australia announced Welsh-born Jo Davies as his replacement. She is the first woman to be appointed artistic director of the company.[26]

Educational outreach

Oz Opera was established after the merger of the AO with the VSO in 1996 with Lindy Hume as its director. Its aim is to present opera to audiences throughout metropolitan and regional Australia. It presents performances in primary schools across New South Wales and Victoria, adapting large-scale scores to suit young audiences.[27]

Oz Opera, now called Opera Australia Touring and Outreach (Opera Australia's education, access and development arm), presented the La bohème production in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, attended by 13,350 people, while OzOpera's Schools Company performed to over 63,500 primary age children in more than 360 performances in urban and regional New South Wales and Victoria.[not verified in body] Since then the touring and outreach arm of the company has performed to a great many more people around Australia and toured other states, including South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.

Modern Australian opera

Opera Australia is committed to the long-term development and performance of modern Australian operas. Since 1974, OA has fully staged 12 new Australian operas and workshopped over 20 new works in various stages of development. The main new works staged by the company have been The Little Mermaid by Anne Boyd (1985); Metamorphosis by Brian Howard (1985); Voss by Richard Meale (1986); Whitsunday by Howard (1988); Mer de glace by Richard Meale (1992); The Golem by Larry Sitsky (1993); The Eighth Wonder by Alan John (1995); Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Richard Mills (1999); Batavia by Richard Mills (2001); Love in the Age of Therapy by Paul Grabowsky (OzOpera 2002); Lindy by Moya Henderson (2003); Madeline Lee by John Haddock (2004); Bliss (2010) by Brett Dean; and The Rabbits by Kate Miller Heidke (2015).[28] In 2015, OA produced the television opera The Divorce by Elena Kats-Chernin and Joanna Murray-Smith based on an original idea by Terracini for ABC Television.

Digital strategy

In 2011, Opera Australia launched a digital strategy in order to bring high-definition recordings of its operas to cinemas (in collaboration with CinemaLive), as well as launching DVD, Blu-ray and CD releases on its own label and broadcasting these recordings on ABC Television.[29]

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
1988 Voss Best Classical Album Won [30]
1992 Mozart Arias & Scenes Nominated
1994 Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album La bohème (with Giacomo Puccini) Nominated [31]
1999 Hansel & Gretel (with Christine Douglas & Suzanne Johnston) Nominated
2000 Best Classical Album Amoureuse: Sacred and Profane Arias (with Rosamund Illing, Richard Bonynge and Ballet Orchestra) Nominated [30]
2002 Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album Verdi: Requiem (with Simone Young) Nominated [31]
2015 Bliss Nominated
2016 Best Classical Album This Kiss (with Nicole Car, Ballet Orchestra and Andrea Molino) Nominated [30]

References

  1. ^ Hall. S, "Opera Conductor a Humble Wizard in Oz", The Australian. 20 December 2007. Accessed 15 December 2008
  2. ^ Adams 1980, p. 126.
  3. ^ Adams 1980, pp. 235–236.
  4. ^ Oxenbould 2005, p. 419.
  5. ^ ​La bohème​ (2002) at the Internet Broadway Database
  6. ^ "Once more with chutzpah" by Erica Jeal, The Guardian, 13 December 2002
  7. ^ Gill, Ray (7 September 2003). "Opera takes diva into the red". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  8. ^ Oxenbould 2005, p. 650.
  9. ^ Oxenbould 2005, pp. 706–707.
  10. ^ Mattison, Ben (13 September 2002). . andante Corp. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  11. ^ Opera Australia's 50th Anniversary Gala Programme Note. 2006. p. 3, Hickox.
  12. ^ Roger Maynard (16 August 2008). "Soprano sounds off about 'disrespectful' Briton in charge of Opera Australia". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  13. ^ Ashleigh Wilson (24 November 2008). "Opera Australia conductor Hickox dies suddenly". The Australian. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  14. ^ "Opera's artistic director Lyndon Terracini found close to home"[permanent dead link] by Corrie Perkin, The Australian (1 July 2009)
  15. ^ PGH Address 25 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine. New Music Network. Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  16. ^ "Opera goes to water to attract masses". The Australian. 25 May 2011.
  17. ^ Opera on Sydney Harbour a resounding success. Aussietheatre.com.au (18 April 2012). Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  18. ^ "Carmen sings $6 million aria as rain strains sale – Weather hits Handa Opera on the Harbour's attendance figures" by Steve Dow, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  19. ^ . Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Box office takings a high note for OA". The Australian. 18 April 2013.
  21. ^ Melbourne's multi-million dollar Ring cycle | The National Business Review 17 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  22. ^ ABC Classic FM and Opera Australia announce special event partnership. About the ABC (4 June 2013). Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  23. ^ Opera Australia posts 44% growth 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Limelight (18 April 2013). Retrieved on 2013-08-02.
  24. ^ "Reign of Terracini to last five more years" 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Limelight. Retrieved 2 August 2013
  25. ^ "OA uproar as singers 'rested' without pay" by Matthew Westwood, The Australian, 4 May 2013 (subscription required)
  26. ^ Freeland, Anna (19 December 2022). "Opera Australia announces first female artistic director in its near-70-year history". ABC News. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  27. ^ Opera Australia. "Life Amplified" 2009, p. 51
  28. ^ Oxenbould 2005, pp. 700–707 Not all repertoire lists are complete. Check bibliography for full in-text references.
  29. ^ "Opera Australia launches own DVD/CD label and TV broadcasts after successful debut at cinemas" 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Press Release (12 May 2011)
  30. ^ a b c ARIA Award previous winners. "ARIA Awards – Winners by Award". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  31. ^ a b ARIA Award previous winners. "History Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 July 2022.

Sources

External links

  • Official website
  • Opera Australia's channel on YouTube
  • The Australian Opera, operas performed during 1970–1996

opera, australia, principal, opera, company, australia, based, sydney, performance, season, sydney, opera, house, accompanied, orchestra, runs, approximately, eight, months, year, with, remainder, time, spent, arts, centre, melbourne, where, accompanied, orche. Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia Based in Sydney its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year with the remainder of its time spent at the Arts Centre Melbourne where it is accompanied by Orchestra Victoria In 2004 the company gave 226 performances in its subscription seasons in Sydney and Melbourne attended by more than 294 000 people not verified in body Logo of the company Sydney Opera House home of Opera Australia illuminated at night It is funded by government grants corporate sponsorship private philanthropy and ticket sales The proportion of its revenue from ticket sales is considerably higher than that of most companies approximately 75 per cent not verified in body The company is perhaps best known internationally for its association with Dame Joan Sutherland for Baz Luhrmann s production of Puccini s La boheme in the early 1990s and more recently for apart from performances inside the opera house large scale outdoor performances on Sydney Harbour Many thousands of Australians also experience the company s work through television radio video compact disc DVD and the annual free performance of opera in the Domain in Sydney The company also performs in an annual outdoor event at Mrs Macquarie s Chair Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour where since 2012 operas such as La traviata Madama Butterfly Turandot Aida and Carmen have played Contents 1 History 1 1 Australian Opera Company 1956 57 1 2 Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company 1957 70 1 3 The Australian Opera 1970 96 2 Opera Australia since 1996 2 1 Change for survival 2 2 Educational outreach 2 3 Modern Australian opera 2 4 Digital strategy 3 Awards and nominations 3 1 ARIA Music Awards 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditAustralian Opera Company 1956 57 Edit In 1956 the Australian Opera Company was formed in Sydney under the auspices of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust It commemorated the Mozart bicentenary by presenting four Mozart operas in all capital cities travelling more than 10 000 kilometres and giving 169 performances Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company 1957 70 Edit By 1957 it changed its name to the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company In 1959 the company s laid off singers gave the first of many regional tours presented by state Arts Councils with Rossini s The Barber of Seville using reduced scenery and conducted from the piano by Georg Tintner Victoria New South Wales Queensland Subsequent Arts Council tours included Rigoletto 1960 Victoria Queensland New South Wales Cosi fan tutte 1961 New South Wales Queensland and La traviata 1962 New South Wales Queensland all conducted by Tintner However by 1963 a permanent nucleus of singers and staff was retained throughout the year and the company had made appearances at regional festivals including the Adelaide Festival It was also able to establish the first Elizabethan Trust Orchestra for the company by 1967 with additional government aid During this time Stefan Haag played an important role in the development of the company A major milestone for the company was a television recording of Puccini s Tosca filmed in 1968 at the Adelaide Festival This starred Tito Gobbi as Scarpia alongside two Australian singers soprano Marie Collier in the title role and tenor Donald Smith as Cavaradossi with the Argentinian born Italian conductor Carlo Felice Cillario conducting This was the commencement of a long and fruitful association between the Australian Opera and Cillario until his retirement in 2003 Some of his first rehearsals in the country involved conducting the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra and the Australian Opera Chorus both newly formed and on permanent contracts 1 While not yet appearing with this company Joan Sutherland then an internationally known Australian soprano and her husband the conductor Richard Bonynge helped the cause of opera in general in Australia during the 1960s Sutherland s name was also linked to the progress of the Sydney Opera House begun in 1957 and still undergoing a lengthy and controversial construction 2 By the time La Stupenda appeared there in 1974 one year after the opening of the theatre the company was a leading repertory company with a large chorus and a roster of experienced Australian principals supplemented by guest singers and conductors 3 The Australian Opera 1970 96 Edit In 1970 the company became known as The Australian Opera The 1970s saw considerable changes both in administration and location In 1972 Edward Downes formerly associated with London s Royal Opera House became musical director and his first new production was the Australian premiere of Richard Strauss s Der Rosenkavalier at the Princess Theatre Melbourne followed closely by Prokofiev s War and Peace as the opening night performance of the Sydney Opera House a short time before the building s official opening The Sydney Opera House as well as quickly becoming a distinctive cultural landmark in that city gave the company a permanent performance home and thus helped to expand its repertoire and develop local audiences Audiences were boosted by Joan Sutherland s performances with The Australian Opera in Offenbach s The Tales of Hoffmann In the 1974 season three Australian works were performed The Affair by Felix Werder Lenz by Larry Sitsky and Rites of Passage by Peter Sculthorpe Rites of Passage was to have been the inaugural opera presentation at the Sydney Opera House but was not ready in time By 1976 Richard Bonynge had become musical director and he led the company on its first overseas tour to New Zealand with Verdi s Rigoletto and Janacek s Jenufa the latter conducted by Georg Tintner This was followed in 1978 by the first Australian Opera country tour with orchestra to north eastern New South Wales Don Pasquale with the Queensland Theatre Orchestra conducted by Tintner The principal tenor for this tour was Robin Donald From 1977 to 1990 the resident director was Elke Neidhardt In 1977 the New South Wales Friends of the Australian Opera and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust established the Armstrong Martin Scholarship to further the musical education of professional opera singers During the 1980s after many years of recording performances by the Australian Opera for television the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC and The Australian Opera presented their first live simulcast Johann Strauss s Die Fledermaus and it was seen by more than two million people Over the following years a series of simulcasts reached millions of Australian homes Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland appeared at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House in 1983 with the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge the sister orchestra in Melbourne was known as the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra Now they are known respectively as the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra Sydney and Orchestra Victoria Melbourne Another successful concert with Sutherland and Marilyn Horne was held in the Concert Hall Several innovative features characterised this period of the 1980s The first Esso Opera in the Park in the Sydney Domain quickly became an annual event and it is now called Opera in the Domain Typically it attracts almost 100 000 people each year A similar annual outdoor event which attracts more than 25 000 people is held in Melbourne The second was the establishment of The Esso Young Artists Development Program for the Australian Opera while the third was the Australian Compositions Program launched with a new production of Brian Howard s Metamorphosis Another innovative program The National Opera Workshop was established to enable selected Australian composers to present works in workshop form with artists from the Australian Opera Lastly OperaAction the Youth Education Program established a program of events including three youth performances of Puccini s Madama Butterfly and in 1986 Winds of the Solstice an original youth opera created by 70 students working on libretto music choreography and orchestration and presented at the Sydney Opera House The company re organised its administration gradually throughout the decade appointing Moffatt Oxenbould as artistic director in 1984 and announcing that Bonynge would become Musical Director Emeritus and principal guest conductor from 1987 after his decade long contract as musical director expired 4 In 1988 in association with the Australian Bicentennial Authority the company toured Brisbane Darwin Hobart Melbourne Perth and the National Opera Workshop in Melbourne with The Ra Project a music theatre work composed with the direct participation from the earliest stages by the singers who performed it and marking director Baz Luhrmann s first association with the Australian Opera Sutherland gave her farewell performances for the Australian Opera in 1990 in a production of Meyerbeer s Les Huguenots Two years later the company named its major rehearsal studio after Dame Joan Also in 1990 Baz Luhrmann s La boheme premiered in Sydney establishing Cheryl Barker and David Hobson as important principals in the company Such was its impact that the production went on to play at the Broadway Theatre in New York in 2002 for 228 performances 5 6 The early 1990s were to see two important changes in the way that the company worked firstly in 1991 with the formation of the Artistic Associates of The Australian Opera a body of people was created which comprised some of the most important figures in the Australian musical and performing arts world Secondly the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra was integrated with the Australian Opera to produce a permanent opera and ballet orchestra for the company In its first performances outside Australasia in 1994 the company performed Britten s A Midsummer Night s Dream at the Edinburgh International Festival In addition the Baz Luhrmann production of La boheme was screened over more than 300 North American television stations followed by worldwide video release and a later Broadway version Opera Australia since 1996 EditOpera Australia OA was formed by the merger of the Australian Opera and the Victoria State Opera VSO companies in 1996 following the financial collapse of the Melbourne based VSO 7 Adrian Collette was appointed general manager of the new company and developed a three year plan to restructure the company 8 involving twice yearly seasons in both Sydney and Melbourne integrating the OA and VSO staff and planning a viable financial structure so as to manage the inherited debt The first few years of the present century saw the retirement of Moffatt Oxenbould Opera Australia s artistic director for 15 years and the appointment of Simone Young as musical director Immediately on taking up her position in 2001 Simone Young appointed the Australian director Stuart Maunder to the position of artistic director Young proceeded to develop the company s core repertoire including more German operas 9 in the repertoire and diversifying the types of productions mounted and the standards of international and local artists employed By late 2002 however the OA board faced with mounting deficits announced that Young s future visions for the company were unsustainable and decided not to renew her contract after the end of 2003 10 At the end of 2003 Richard Hickox was named music director designate of Opera Australia and took up the post full time from January 2005 During his tenure Hickox diversified the repertoire with the addition of more 20th century works such as The Love for Three Oranges Rusalka and Arabella recording live performances of many of these works for Chandos Records The company s 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2006 with a gala concert in which tributes were paid to Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge the principal artists the chorus production staff and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra the AOBO for their artistry and talent and the ensemble nature of the company 11 In mid 2008 Hickox and Opera Australia were criticised by a singer for what she perceived as a decline in artistic standards since the start of Hickox s tenure The board expressed complete confidence in Hickox 12 On returning to the UK in November 2008 following the Sydney winter season Hickox died suddenly from a heart attack after conducting a rehearsal in Swansea 13 On 30 June 2009 Lyndon Terracini was announced as the new artistic director 14 Sydney Opera House 2010 Change for survival Edit In 2011 Terracini gave a controversial speech as part of the annual Peggy Glanville Hicks Address in which he announced that Opera Australia had to change in order to survive Opera companies and orchestras of significance world wide are closing at an alarming rate We can blithely ignore the fact or we can change brave programming is having the courage to programme what critics will criticise you for but will make a genuine connection to a real audience 15 Stage of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour 2013 Terracini pursued a program designed to bring opera to wider audiences In 2012 through the sponsorship of Haruhisa Handa and Destination NSW Opera Australia staged the first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour a three week season of a fully produced and staged opera designed to be an opera event 16 The production of La traviata was directed by Francesca Zambello and attracted an audience of 40 000 people 17 In 2013 Opera Australia staged an open air production of Carmen on Sydney Harbour directed by Gale Edwards It reached similar audience numbers 18 The harbour has since received annual stagings followed by Madama Butterfly 2014 Aida 2015 and Turandot 2016 19 a new production of Carmen in 2017 La boheme 2018 West Side Story 2019 In 2012 Opera Australia replaced the regular Gilbert and Sullivan productions that had formed part of the company s repertoire for some years with a series of Broadway musicals A Lincoln Center Theatre production of South Pacific played at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne s Princess Theatre in 2012 kicking off a national tour which continued in 2013 20 An extensive philanthropic drive enabled the company to program its first full length Ring Cycle which was performed in Melbourne over four weeks at the end of 2013 21 After tickets to the event sold out in just one day ABC Classic FM and Opera Australia announced the radio station would live broadcast the Ring Cycle to audiences across the country 22 In April 2013 Opera Australia announced a 44 per cent growth in total revenue based on an increase in box office sales of more than 55 per cent For the second year in a row the company reported an operating profit following two successive deficits 23 In January 2013 the board of Opera Australia announced they would extend Lyndon Terracini s contract as artistic director for five more years 24 Later that year Terracini announced that singers on 12 month contracts will be rested without pay for a period of six to twelve weeks in 2014 25 Terracini resigned in October 2022 and in December Opera Australia announced Welsh born Jo Davies as his replacement She is the first woman to be appointed artistic director of the company 26 Educational outreach Edit Oz Opera was established after the merger of the AO with the VSO in 1996 with Lindy Hume as its director Its aim is to present opera to audiences throughout metropolitan and regional Australia It presents performances in primary schools across New South Wales and Victoria adapting large scale scores to suit young audiences 27 Oz Opera now called Opera Australia Touring and Outreach Opera Australia s education access and development arm presented the La boheme production in Victoria the Northern Territory and Western Australia attended by 13 350 people while OzOpera s Schools Company performed to over 63 500 primary age children in more than 360 performances in urban and regional New South Wales and Victoria not verified in body Since then the touring and outreach arm of the company has performed to a great many more people around Australia and toured other states including South Australia Queensland and Tasmania Modern Australian opera Edit Opera Australia is committed to the long term development and performance of modern Australian operas Since 1974 OA has fully staged 12 new Australian operas and workshopped over 20 new works in various stages of development The main new works staged by the company have been The Little Mermaid by Anne Boyd 1985 Metamorphosis by Brian Howard 1985 Voss by Richard Meale 1986 Whitsunday by Howard 1988 Mer de glace by Richard Meale 1992 The Golem by Larry Sitsky 1993 The Eighth Wonder by Alan John 1995 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Richard Mills 1999 Batavia by Richard Mills 2001 Love in the Age of Therapy by Paul Grabowsky OzOpera 2002 Lindy by Moya Henderson 2003 Madeline Lee by John Haddock 2004 Bliss 2010 by Brett Dean and The Rabbits by Kate Miller Heidke 2015 28 In 2015 OA produced the television opera The Divorce by Elena Kats Chernin and Joanna Murray Smith based on an original idea by Terracini for ABC Television Digital strategy Edit In 2011 Opera Australia launched a digital strategy in order to bring high definition recordings of its operas to cinemas in collaboration with CinemaLive as well as launching DVD Blu ray and CD releases on its own label and broadcasting these recordings on ABC Television 29 Awards and nominations EditARIA Music Awards Edit The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence innovation and achievement across all genres of Australian music They commenced in 1987 Year Nominee work Award Result Ref 1988 Voss Best Classical Album Won 30 1992 Mozart Arias amp Scenes Nominated1994 Best Original Soundtrack Cast or Show Album La boheme with Giacomo Puccini Nominated 31 1999 Hansel amp Gretel with Christine Douglas amp Suzanne Johnston Nominated2000 Best Classical Album Amoureuse Sacred and Profane Arias with Rosamund Illing Richard Bonynge and Ballet Orchestra Nominated 30 2002 Best Original Soundtrack Cast or Show Album Verdi Requiem with Simone Young Nominated 31 2015 Bliss Nominated2016 Best Classical Album This Kiss with Nicole Car Ballet Orchestra and Andrea Molino Nominated 30 References Edit Hall S Opera Conductor a Humble Wizard in Oz The Australian 20 December 2007 Accessed 15 December 2008 Adams 1980 p 126 Adams 1980 pp 235 236 Oxenbould 2005 p 419 La boheme 2002 at the Internet Broadway Database Once more with chutzpah by Erica Jeal The Guardian 13 December 2002 Gill Ray 7 September 2003 Opera takes diva into the red The Age Melbourne Retrieved 10 May 2018 Oxenbould 2005 p 650 Oxenbould 2005 pp 706 707 Mattison Ben 13 September 2002 Opera Australia Fires Simone Young andante Corp Archived from the original on 20 October 2006 Retrieved 10 May 2018 Opera Australia s 50th Anniversary Gala Programme Note 2006 p 3 Hickox Roger Maynard 16 August 2008 Soprano sounds off about disrespectful Briton in charge of Opera Australia The Independent London Archived from the original on 24 May 2022 Retrieved 21 November 2008 Ashleigh Wilson 24 November 2008 Opera Australia conductor Hickox dies suddenly The Australian Archived from the original on 12 September 2012 Retrieved 25 November 2008 Opera s artistic director Lyndon Terracini found close to home permanent dead link by Corrie Perkin The Australian 1 July 2009 PGH Address Archived 25 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine New Music Network Retrieved on 2013 08 02 Opera goes to water to attract masses The Australian 25 May 2011 Opera on Sydney Harbour a resounding success Aussietheatre com au 18 April 2012 Retrieved on 2013 08 02 Carmen sings 6 million aria as rain strains sale Weather hits Handa Opera on the Harbour s attendance figures by Steve Dow The Sydney Morning Herald 17 April 2013 Retrieved 2 August 2013 Opera on Sydney Harbour Tourism Australia Archived from the original on 2 June 2016 Retrieved 2 May 2016 Box office takings a high note for OA The Australian 18 April 2013 Melbourne s multi million dollar Ring cycle The National Business Review Archived 17 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2013 08 02 ABC Classic FM and Opera Australia announce special event partnership About the ABC 4 June 2013 Retrieved on 2013 08 02 Opera Australia posts 44 growth Archived 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Limelight 18 April 2013 Retrieved on 2013 08 02 Reign of Terracini to last five more years Archived 21 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Limelight Retrieved 2 August 2013 OA uproar as singers rested without pay by Matthew Westwood The Australian 4 May 2013 subscription required Freeland Anna 19 December 2022 Opera Australia announces first female artistic director in its near 70 year history ABC News Retrieved 24 December 2022 Opera Australia Life Amplified 2009 p 51 Oxenbould 2005 pp 700 707 Not all repertoire lists are complete Check bibliography for full in text references Opera Australia launches own DVD CD label and TV broadcasts after successful debut at cinemas Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Press Release 12 May 2011 a b c ARIA Award previous winners ARIA Awards Winners by Award Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA Retrieved 12 November 2018 a b ARIA Award previous winners History Best Original Soundtrack Cast or Show Album Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA Retrieved 12 July 2022 Sources Adams Brian 1980 La Stupenda Hutchinson ISBN 0 09 137410 3 Oxenbould Moffatt 2005 Timing Is Everything ABC Books External links EditOfficial website Opera Australia s channel on YouTube The Australian Opera operas performed during 1970 1996Portals Opera Australia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Opera Australia amp oldid 1131403201, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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