Madama Butterfly – Giacomo Puccini Opera Australia, Sydney Opera House 27 January 2015 Each year, Opera Australia has followed its Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour production with indoor performances of the same opera during the following year. Presumably this is intended to entice patrons who enjoyed a performance under the stars to try ‘real’ opera…
The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore) Melodramma giocoso in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Felice Romani, after Eugène Scribe’s text for Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s Le philtre (1831); Opera Australia, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, August 11th, 2014. After a very popular and beautifully executed season of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in 2013,…
A few informal conversations with emerging young professionals revealed to me that one of the most important aspects of their career path was ‘on-the-job’ experience whilst in the workforce. Be it corporate life, a trade or medicine, ‘hands-on’ professional training is critical. But what of the performing arts -in particular, opera? How is a singer…