After two years of lockdown living, have we become better or worse at listening closely; to ourselves, to our surroundings, to one another? In many ways there has been less to distract us, yet paradoxically, more to consume. Our streaming options are endless, and we could, if we wanted, easily fill our days without coming up for air. What does this mean for us, as we slowly emerge at our theatres and concert halls? Are we ready to listen, and do we remember how? Will we need to re-train ourselves to lean in and pick up the smallest nuances of what we see and hear on stage?

Rubiks Collective perform David Lang’s the whisper opera, April 2022. Photo © Theresa Harrison.

These are the questions posed by David Lang’s the whisper opera, performed by Rubiks Collective in the intimate Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The work, which is not allowed to be amplified, recorded or filmed in any way, asks us to consider what would happen “if a piece were so quiet and so intimate and so personal...