Melbourne's six opera companies are preparing a bigger, beefier year of diverse works across an array of fine city theatres in 2016 with no less than 25 fully staged productions set to hit the stages.
Everything in scale from the titanic staging of Wagner's four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, in a revival of Opera Australia's first Ring Cycle in 2013, to a small boutique staging of Malcolm Williamson's Our Man in Havana, as part of Lyric Opera of Melbourne's continuing Australian Opera Series, will invigorate local audiences with the ineffable power of opera.
As 2015 draws to a close, only Opera Australia and Victorian Opera have full details of opening nights, season runs and cast lists. Opera Australia will present three operas in the autumn season, of which Bizet's The Pearlfishers and Verdi's Luisa Miller are new productions. Victorian Opera's growth continues with a palatable mix of established repertoire and new works as they lead the way in innovation into a promising 11th year.
Melbourne Opera will kickstart the opera calendar in February with W.A. Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio but details are yet to emerge on the cast and creative team. A move from the Athenaeum Theatre to the colossal Regent Theatre for a new production of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser in August is a great sign of optimism ahead.
From the smaller operatives, details are sketcky except that we know that Lyric Opera of Melbourne is building on its strengths to present three exciting productions in 2016. CitiOpera have indicated dates for their first production, Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and we should expect a second production later in the year.
Most pleasingly, Gertrude Opera have set dates for a return to regional Victoria for the second Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival, featuring the Australian premiere of Jake Heggie's To Hell and Back. They have also indicated both a revival of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul and David Lang's The Difficulty of Crossing a Field.
Below is a list of opening nights throughout the year and links to either the production, with full details if known, or the the company's home page. Take a look and put them in your calendar.
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| Dominica Matthews, Jane Ede & Lorina Gore as The Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold; photo Jeff Busby |
Wed 3rd Feb: Abduction from the Seraglio (1782) W.A. Mozart
Melbourne Opera
http://www.melbourneopera.com/events/abduction-seraglio
Mon 15th Feb: Voyage to the Moon (2016) Calvin Bowman and Alan Curtis
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/voyage-to-the-moon/
Tue 1st Mar: Banquet of Secrets (2016) Paul Grabowsky and Steve Vizard
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/banquet-of-secrets/
Sat 2nd Apr: Ariadne auf Naxos (1916) Richard Strauss
CitiOpera
http://www.citiopera.com.au/whats_on.html
Tue 12th Apr: Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) Gaetano Donizetti
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/lucia-di-lammermoor/
Tue 3rd May: La bohème (1896) Giacomo Puccini
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/la-boheme-melbourne
Sat 7th May: The Pearlfishers (1863) Georges Bizet
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/pearlfishers-melbourne
Mon 16th May: Luisa Miller (1849) Giuseppe Verdi
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/luisa-miller-melbourne
May: HMS Pinafore (1878) William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Melbourne Opera (date yet to be announced)
http://www.melbourneopera.com/
Mon 20th Jun: The Darkest Night
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/the-darkest-night/
Sat 16th Jul: Cinderella (1899) Jules Massenet
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/cinderella/
Thu 28th Jul: The Pied Piper (2016) Richard Mills
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/the-pied-piper/
Aug: Tannhäuser (1845) Richard Wagner
Melbourne Opera (date yet to be announced)
http://www.melbourneopera.com/
Sat 13th Aug: Laughter and Tears
Featuring Arie Antiche and Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci (1892)
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/laughter-and-tears/
Fri 2nd - Sun 4th Sep: Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival
Including Jake Heggie's To Hell and Back (2006) and Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth (1847)
Gertrude Opera (Awaiting information on further production programming)
http://www.nagambielakesoperafestival.com.au/
Fri 30th Sep: Four Saints in Three Acts (1933) Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/what-s-on/season-2016/four-saints-in-three-acts/
Oct: Anna Bolena (1830) Gaetano Donizetti
Melbourne Opera (date yet to be announced)
http://www.melbourneopera.com/
Mon 21st Nov: Das Rheingold (1869) Richard Wagner
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/das-rheingold
Wed 23rd Nov: Die Walkurie (1870) Richard Wagner
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/die-walkure
Fri 25th Nov: Siegfried (1876) Richard Wagner
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/siegfried
Mon 28th Nov: Götterdämmerung (1876) Richard Wagner
Opera Australia
https://opera.org.au/whatson/events/gotterdammerung
Details of opening dates yet to be announced:
Pygmalion (1748) Jean-Phillippe Rameau
Pygmalion (1748) Jean-Phillippe Rameau
Lyric Opera of Melbourne
Our Man in Havana (1963) Malcolm Williamson
Lyric Opera of Melbourne
Il Signor Bruschino (1813) Gioachino Rossini
Lyric Opera of Melbourne
The Consul (1950) Gian Carlo Menotti
Gertrude Opera
http://www.gertrudeopera.com.au/
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (2002) David Lang
Gertrude Opera
http://www.gertrudeopera.com.au/
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (2002) David Lang
Gertrude Opera
http://www.gertrudeopera.com.au/
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