La traviata, Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Tuesday 28 March 2017 Written by Deen Hamaker When Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata premiered at Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1853, theatre management insisted that the opera be set in the early 18th Century. Verdi had wanted his opera in portrayed in contemporary times….
In just under three weeks, Opera Australia’s reprise production of Wagner’s The Ring Cycle opens in Melbourne. Returning to the production from its 2013 debut, are heldentenor Stefan Vinke as Siegfried, Jud Arthur as Fafner/Hunding, Jacqueline Dark as Fricka, and Lorina Gore, Domenica Matthews and Jane Ede as the Rhinemaidens. Neil Armfield will again direct…
‘A feeble French travesty of a German literary monument.’ Such was Wagner’s view, in 1867, of Charles-François Gounod’s opera Faust which premiered in Paris in 1859. No matter that Faust was one of the most successful operas of its time, being performed at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, every season from 1863 to 1911 and…