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Japanese virtual pop phenomenon Hatsune Miku will make her Australian debut at this year’s OzAsia Festival in the world’s first opera without humans – a work festival director Joseph Mitchell says pushes the boundaries of the artform. Mitchell, who will tonight launch the full program for the September 21 – October 8 festival, says Miku
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By Ben Neutze
Last night’s Helpmann Awards were thoroughly endured by all in attendance. The ceremony, which recognises live performance in almost every form (from ballet, to contemporary music, to stand-up comedy, to opera, to musical theatre), is typically a marathon event. Thankfully, the ceremony ran pretty much to time (three hours, straight through), and there were some
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By Daily Review
Barrie Kosky’s production of Saul, which had its Australian premiere at Adelaide Festival, has dominated this year’s Helpmann Awards, picking up six awards, including Best Direction of an Opera and Best Opera. The winners of the awards were revealed tonight at a ceremony at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. Leah Purcell’s much-awarded stage adaptation of The Drover’s Wife was a
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By Daily Review
Our exclusive story on Thursday, ‘Victorian Minister blasts Opera Australia whose audience will die in their seats’ in which the Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, lambasted Opera Australia, has prompted passionate responses from opera lovers. Some readers seemed to take Foley’s criticism of OA’s perceived lack of innovation, well, almost personally. ‘Joanna’, who appears to have a working
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By Raymond Gill
Victoria’s Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, has called on Opera Australia to “honour the deals they have with Victoria” and to urgently do something about its repertoire and ageing audience. “They have progressively constricted their appearances in Victoria and have gone from (producing) original, commissioned work to increasingly (staging) the big musical blockbusters. They need to be here more
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By Daily Review
Victorian Opera’s concert presentation of Bellini’s La Sonnambula, starring Jessica Pratt, is the first Australian production to be made available on the free streaming website The Opera Platform. The Opera Platform was launched in May 2015, curated by Opera Europa, a body with 170 opera companies across the world in its membership. Victorian Opera is its first Australian member.
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By Daily Review
Trudy Dalgleish is one of the most experienced lighting designers in the the country. The NIDA graduate in technical design has won numerous awards for her work that includes theatre, opera, circus, ballet, rock concerts and sporting events. She has recently been the lighting designer for Melba, The Bodyguard, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Six Dance Lessons in
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By Daily Review
Opera Australia today announced its seventh annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour will be a new production of Puccini’s La Boheme. The national opera company revealed the production is part of a new three-year arrangement with Destination NSW. The new production will be directed by Andy Morton, who has worked on the last five events on Sydney Harbour
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By Ben Neutze
Like many people who work with Australia’s live performance industry, I have conflicting feelings about the Helpmann Awards. On one hand, I think it’s important to celebrate the significant achievements of a vibrant industry, and I appreciate that the Helpmann committee and Live Performance Australia try pretty hard to make a national performing arts award consistent and representative.
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By Daily Review
Australian composer Brett Dean’s operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet has premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival in England to strong reviews. The opera, Dean’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2010 adaptation of Peter Carey’s novel Bliss, is directed by Australian Neil Armfield and features a set by Ralph Myers. Dean is certainly not the first composer to try his hand at Hamlet, but few
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