Music critic Michael Church once noted the existence of “Those who mistakenly believe that historical operas by dead composers can only be made ‘relevant’ if they are updated and taken out of their traditional theatrical context”.* Whether or not you subscribe to this view, Opera Australia’s Roger Hodgman directed offering of Verdi’s masterpiece Rigoletto demonstrates…
It’s rush hour for Sydney’s performing ensembles as they jostle to release their programmes for 2014 and secure the all important subscription dollar for the year. Hot on the heels of the SSO’s 2014 season release, Opera Australia has announced it’s compilation for next year on a re-vamped website. Nine of the 16 productions offer opera in…
Christian Badea chuckles as he confesses that he has known Tosca all his life. The Romanian born US based conductor is in Sydney again for Opera Australia, rehearsing John Bell’s production of the Puccini opera which opens here in early July. Just last year, the graduate of the Juilliard School, Grammy Award winning conductor and past- director…