Edition 1 :: June 2024
A monthly newsletter about all things new opera & opera adjacent in Australia.
We attempt to round up all the new work on stage, the stories of people finding new ways to present, consume and digest opera, and tidbits of some of the most exciting things happening overseas.
JUNE
(and a little bit of May)
UNLEASHED
Australian Contemporary Opera Company.
Featuring 6 young voices from the ACOCO's fine stable going rogue for a night and spreading their wings into, dare I say, CABARET! All our dreams come true! And it is FREE!
Starring: Callum Warrender, Sophie Bisset, Alexandra Amerides, Olive Cullen, William Grant, and Troy Castle, with Joyce Chahine on piano.
DATE: TUESDAY, 28 MAY, 2024
TIME: FROM 5:30 PM - 7 PM
PLACE: SOFITEL ON COLLINS, LOBBY BAR
FREE!
Go to https://www.acoco.org.au/unleashed for more information.
WATERSHED
Opera Australia
This piece premiered to great acclaim at the Adelaide Festival earlier this year.
Called an Oratorio, it is staged (which in my mind is still OPERA, no?). It concerns the death of Dr Duncan, which led South Australia to be the first state to decriminalise homosexuality.
It is a successful collaboration between acclaimed librettist/writer Alana Valentine (Barbara and the Camp Dogs, Flight Memory), Author Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap), and multi-talented composer Joe Twist (writing for Bluey AND the new wave of genre-pushing Australian opera?!).
All pulled together by one of the most proven masters of Australian theatre and opera direction, Neil Armfield.
DATE: 14 – 16 JUNE 2024
TIME: 7:30 PM, 12:30 PM, 2 PM
PLACE: SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Go to https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/opera-australia/2024-season/watershed for more information.
INTERNATIONAL
This month, our international shout-out is to Tété a Tété Opera Company in the UK. Tête à Tête was founded in 1997 by its current Artistic Director, Bill Bankes-Jones, and the conductor Orlando Jopling. Since then, they have produced over 100 new operas and founded a festival of new work that runs in August every year. They have an incredible archive of contemporary opera and tools for producers to assist in doing new work.
This month, they are working with composers from the Royal College of Music on a night of new work entitled REVOLUTIONS.
July is jam-packed full of new work, so make sure to subscribe to this monthly newsletter/blog.
Please inform us of any new work being presented on Australian opera stages—both big and small—by emailing ali@fluxus.com.au or simply commenting below.
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