With its themes of family dysfunction, love, death, madness and the supernatural, this Old Testament story is ready-made for opera.
Articles on Opera
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Victoria Opera’s ‘Tis Pity brings a litany of harlots to the stage, but doesn’t give its female lead many characters to play with. Indeed it risks capitulating to the very 'male hypocrisy’ it seeks to address.
A new production of the opera King Roger will open this week. At a time when Europe was charged with fear of the ‘Muslim threat’, this 12th century king collaborated with an Islamic scholar on an extraordinary project.
This brilliant production of Handel’s Theodora, written in 1750, has great contemporary resonance.
Barriers between artforms are tumbling down in three recent productions that mix circus and opera. The shows range from sombre to silly, but all hit magnificent high notes.
New Mozart production set in 1930s Eritrea made headlines when ticket holders in Edinburgh were offered refunds – before the event.
The Sydney Opera House is getting an A $200 million upgrade. It’s a chance to rectify some glaring faults, but in our risk-averse times, the outcome will be decided by committees.
Films about incompetent, inspirational flops are popular at present. These strange heroes embody the mantra of our self-help culture: never give up and embrace willpower over talent.
Verbatim theatre is being adopted more and more to give a voice to marginalised communities in the hope of instigating social change.
It seems obvious to say that opera “moves” people. But the question of “how” it moves people is far less straightforward. Cue a new research project pegged to Voyage to the Moon.
The kinds of voices that can be used in a show like ABC’s The Divorce are certainly not typical of those one would hear in Madama Butterfly. But – and let’s be honest for a second – does it matter?
Victorian Opera this week stages The Seven Deadly Sins, the final collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. First staged in 1933, it is a masterpiece by two of the most revolutionary artists of Weimar Germany.
The Rabbits has adapted Shaun Tan’s evocative paintings and John Marsden’s spare storytelling into a rich and compelling “opera”.
Amid dwindling audiences and rising production costs, Australian opera is facing its first national review. So what are the solutions put forward so far?
A gang-rape scene in a new London staging of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell was greeted with audience booing, and has sparked ongoing controversy. Are opera directors at risk of miscomprehending the medium?
Performers and audiences alike are undermined by graphic depictions of violence, like Michieletto’s Guillaume Tell.
The violence of the Royal Opera House’s production of William Tell should shock us - but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Opera Australia has once again posted a major operating loss and is weathering criticism for its very safe repertoire. Both these points merit consideration in the federal government’s National Opera Review.
One of the few Australian novels dealing with the first world war, David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter, has been adapted for the opera stage – and the Sydney Chamber Opera’s production is a great success.
Sydney Chamber Opera’s production of David Malouf’s 1982 novel Fly Away Peter opens this weekend. It’s not the first opera adaptation of Australian literature – and there are reasons to hope it’s not the last.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Vocal Studies and Opera, University of Sydney
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Principal Fellow and Professor of Music, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries and ARC DECRA Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Musicologist and music critic, Deakin University
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Senior Lecturer in Musicology, University of Sydney
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Publications Editor / Research Fellow (Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation), Stellenbosch University
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Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University
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Honorary Research Associate, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney
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Cellist and musicologist, University of Sydney
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Musicologist, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer, Deakin Research Innovations, Deakin University
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Research Affiliate, Monash University
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Professor of Music, Culture and Society, City St George's, University of London
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Honorary associate, Sydney College of Arts, University of Sydney
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Professor of Collaborative Composition, University of Salford