American professional audition service will make their first visit down under, in a quest for local talent.

German conductor noted for his exploration of the byways of the German and Czech repertoire passes at 78. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Zambello’s handsome Carmen is graced by some fine performances, and not just from the horses.

A rather good opera company tucked away in Armidale. Who knew?

Without inviting accusations of Sydney snobbery, I think I can safely state that opera performances are not exactly a frequent occurrence in Armidale, a rural town of some 24,473 inhabitants in northern NSW. This makes the sophomore production by local company Opera New England something of a big deal – and not just for the town’s inhabitants, but for all those who believe opera can, and should, flourish outside Australia’s state capitals. Puccini’s La Bohème was the ambitious choice of opera (following on a well-received debut with Figaro last year), and it demonstrated that even a grand Romantic blockbuster can be staged in a small theatre on a small budget. All you need is an engaged community, a dash of talent and plenty of hard yakka. The cast of this production was comprised of hopeful young singers from around Australia, and I’m guessing it took little effort for them to step into the roles of passionate young artists living on the smell of an oily canvas. Many of the voices were still works-in-progress, but all the singers were able to meet the challenges of the score, some brilliantly so. As the consumptive seamstress Mimì, recent Sydney Con graduate Sarah Toth gave an assured performance,…

Royal Opera House brings the past to life as the Lady de Grey photo archive goes online. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Strauss and Hoffmansthal’s fantastic fairytale has a reputation as a brute to stage and while expensive, requiring a heavy-duty cast of singers to do it justice its heavy symbolism and Jungian archetypes, it’s a gift to directors who can give free rein to their imagination. Sadly, most try too hard to spell out the bafflingly symbolic as seems to be the case in Jonathan Kent’s literal production which serves the human aspects well but is rather ho-hum when it comes to the other-worldly; Barak and his wife live in a squalid Laundromat while the inhabitants of the Spirit-World gad about in a colourful Russo-Oriental pastiche.  The Mariinsky singers have the necessary heft but also a great deal of Slavic wobble. Best of the bunch were the Olgas Sergeeva and Savova as the Dyer’s wife and Nurse; both threw themselves into the maelstrom and their dramatic intensity made up for the occasional ugly sound.  Gergiev’s conducting, while wildly exciting, lacks the sweeping Echt-Straussian line and while the strings make some glorious sounds the orchestra comes across as relentlessly loud and crude. An essential purchase for Gergiev fans, perhaps, but I would veer towards the Sawallisch/Munich production with its clever Kabuki-style and musical…

Charles Wuorinen’s operatic version of Annie Proulx’s gay classic gets mixed reception at Teatro Real, Madrid. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

So how did Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle measure up against the great productions of history?

Australian Chamber Orchestra and Dawn Upshaw head the impressive list of this years winners.

Here’s a curiosity. It seems that the Paris Opera didn’t entirely turn down the young Richard Wagner’s Flying Dutchman in 1840. Instead they bought the subject from the ever strapped-for-cash composer for 500 francs and gave it to a chum of the director, a former double bass player- cum-composer, Pierre-Louis Dietsch. For the Wagner birthday celebrations, Marc Minkowski came up with the ingeneous idea to perform both the rare original ‘Paris’ version of Wagner’s opera as well as Dietch’s jauntier bel canto confection, Le Vaisseau Fantôme (the Ghost Ship). The Wagner receives a fine performance with excellent soloists. Russian baritone Evgeny Nikitin makes a spirited Holländer with plenty of textual nuance and lashings of angst, if lighter in tonal weight than is sometimes the case. He is well matched by his Senta, Ingela Brimberg, occasionally under pressure but often exciting and always committed. The period instruments feel a little thin at times (Wagner was perhaps already demanding more of the orchestras of the day) and Minkowski doesn’t always allow enough breathing space for the drama to land, but when it does, it’s an exciting enough affair. For the explorer, though, it’s the curiosity of the Dietsch that will draw them…

Rossini's six characters in search of an author find one, plus a first-rate director and production to boot.