Sydney Chamber Opera
| Sydney Chamber Opera | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Sydney, Australia |
| Genres | Contemporary opera, chamber opera |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Website | sydneychamberopera.com |
Sydney Chamber Opera is an opera company based in Sydney, Australia. It is a resident company at Carriageworks.[1] The company was founded in 2010 by Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds.[2] Its first production was in February 2011 and it has since produced between two and four 20th- and 21st-century chamber operas each year. Its repertoire typically consists of world premieres of Australian operas and recent international works receiving their Australian premieres, including stagings of song cycles or non-traditional stage works.[3]
History and repertoire
[edit]Sydney Chamber Opera began with the world premiere of Notes from Underground by Jack Symonds and Pierce Wilcox, an adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel at the Cellblock Theatre, Darlinghurst.[4] The Cunning Little Vixen, The Lighthouse, Owen Wingrave, Exil, His Music Burns, Mayakovsky, Fly Away Peter, An Index of Metals and O Mensch! were presented at Carriageworks and I Have Had Enough, In the Penal Colony and Climbing Toward Midnight at National Institute of Dramatic Art.[5] Through The Gates was a performance for the 18th Biennale of Sydney at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay amidst a large-scale installation by Belgian artist Honoré δ'O[6] and Victory Over the Sun was another site-specific commission by the 20th Biennale of Sydney for performance on Cockatoo Island, reimagining an early-twentieth century Futurist work with Western Sydney artist Justene Williams.[7] His Music Burns,[8] Passion[9] and O Mensch! by Pascal Dusapin,[10] and Biographica[11] were presented in the 2014, 2016 and 2017 Sydney Festivals. Passion was a revival of a production by Pierre Audi. Fly Away Peter toured to Arts Centre Melbourne in association with Melbourne Festival in October 2015,[12] and in 2018 the previous year's production of The Rape of Lucretia was co-presented by Victorian Opera and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra at the Dark Mofo Festival.[13]
Past productions
[edit]2011–2015
[edit]WP= World premiere; AP= Australian premiere
- Notes from Underground (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2011)
- The Cunning Little Vixen (Leoš Janáček arr. Jonathan Dove) – AP dir. Kate Gaul (2011)
- I Have Had Enough (JS Bach / Jack Symonds) – WP (Symonds) dir. Kip Williams (2011)
- In the Penal Colony (Philip Glass / Rudolph Wurlitzer) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2012)
- Through The Gates (various songs by Bach, Barber, Debussy, Mahler, Poulenc, Shostakovich et al.) dir. Kip Williams (2012)
- The Lighthouse (Peter Maxwell Davies) dir. Kip Williams (2012)
- Climbing Toward Midnight (Jack Symonds / Richard Wagner) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2013)
- Owen Wingrave (Benjamin Britten / Myfanwy Piper) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2013)
- Exil (Giya Kancheli) – AP dir. Adena Jacobs (2013)
- ...pas à pas – nulle part... (György Kurtág / Samuel Beckett) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014)
- Into the Little Hill (George Benjamin / Martin Crimp) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014)
- Mayakovsky (Michael Smetanin / Alison Croggon) – WP dir. Kat Henry (2014) – about the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky[14]
- Fly Away Peter (Elliott Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Imara Savage (2015)
- An Index of Metals (Fausto Romitelli / Kenka Lekovich) – AP dir. Kip Williams (2015)
2016–2020
[edit]- Passion (Pascal Dusapin / Rita de Letteriis) – AP dir. Pierre Audi (revival dir. Miranda Lakerveld) (2016)
- O Mensch! (Pascal Dusapin / Friedrich Nietzsche) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2016)
- Victory Over the Sun (Huw Belling / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Justene Williams/ Pierce Wilcox (2016)
- Notes from Underground (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP new version dir. Patrick Nolan (2016)
- Biographica (Opera by Mary Finsterer / Tom Wright) – WP dir. Janice Muller (2017)
- The Rape of Lucretia (Benjamin Britten / Ronald Duncan) dir. Kip Williams (2017)
- The Howling Girls (Damien Ricketson) – WP dir. Adena Jacobs (2018)
- Resonant Bodies Festival (featuring Sofia Jernberg, Rully Shabara, Deborah Kayser, Sonya Holowell, Mitchell Riley and Ariadne Greif) (2018)
- La Passion de Simone (Kaija Saariaho, Amin Maalouf) with Jane Sheldon, soprano; Jack Symonds, conductor – AP directed by Imara Savage (2019)[15]
- Oscar and Lucinda (Elliot Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) with Jack Symonds, conductor; Patrick Nolan, director (2019)
- Breaking Glass (Georgia Scott / Peggy Polias / Josephine Macken / Bree van Reyk) – WP with Jack Symonds, conductor; Danielle Maas and Clemence Williams, directors (2020)[5]
2021–
[edit]- Future Remains (Double bill The Diary of One Who Disappeared by Leoš Janáček / Fumeblind Oracle Huw Belling and Pierce Wilcox) – WP with Alexander Berlage, director (2021)[16]
- Poem for a Dried Up River (Music: Jane Sheldon, text: Alice Oswald) – AP (2021)[5]
- In Song (Four programs of songs) – some AP and WP (2021)[17]
- Awakening Shadow (Music from Britten's Canticles combined with music by Luke Styles) – AP (2022)[5]
- Antarctica (Opera by Mary Finsterer / Tom Wright) – AP (2022)[5]
- Earth.Voice.Body (Triple bill The Shape of the Earth by Jack Symonds and Pierce Wilcox; La voix humaine by Poulenc; Quatre instants by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf) (2023)[5]
- Gilgamesh (Music: Jack Symonds, text: Louis Garrick, based on Epic of Gilgamesh, directed by Kip Williams) – WP (2024)[18]
Key personnel
[edit]Jack Symonds is the artistic director.[19]
Huw Belling is principal artistic associate. Danielle Maas, Mitchell Riley, Jane Sheldon, James Wannan and Pierce Wilcox are artistic associates.[3]
The company has typically engaged stage directors from a theatre background, often making their operatic debut, e.g. Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Kip Williams.[20] The company has also been noted for developing talented young singers.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ "Residents". Carriageworks. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ Tim Douglas (2 August 2013). "The wide-eyed impresarios taking on a proud tradition". The Australian. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ a b "About". sydneychamberopera.com. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Auspicious launch of an impressive production". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f "Past Productions". sydneychamberopera.com. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Through the Gates". sydneychamberopera.com. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "Sorry you missed the best thing at the Biennale". Time Out Sydney. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "Outstanding performances by Sydney Chamber Opera at Sydney Festival". Bachtrack. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "Passion: Sydney Festival".
- ^ "O Mensch!: Sydney Festival".
- ^ McCallum, Peter (8 January 2017). "Biographica review: Mary Finsterer and Tom Wright's story of Gerolamo Cardano". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ "Fly Away Peter". Melbourne Festival. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "★★★★½ The Rape of Lucretia (VO & TSO for Dark Mofo)". Limelight. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ Matthew Westwood (25 July 2014). "Portrait of the proletarians' poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky". The Australian. p. 14. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Finland's premier composer" by Andrew Ford, The Music Show, Radio National, 16 December 2018
- ^ "Future Remains production details" (2021), sydneychamberopera.com
- ^ "In Song" production details (2021)", sydneychamberopera.com
- ^ "Gilgamesh production details (2024)", sydneychamberopera.com
- ^ Ashleigh Wilson (21 October 2014). "Louis Garrick Steps down as Sydney Chamber Opera". The Australian. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ Matthew Westwood (14 November 2015). "Kip Williams leaps from STC to Sydney Chamber Opera and back". The Australian. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Live review: The Lighthouse (Sydney Chamber Opera)". Limelight. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
