As part of my involvement in all of Pinchgut Opera’s 2024 Season – I’m delighted to be singing in a reduced Consort of voices from Cantillation in this baroque gem that I haven’t sung for many years.

From the Pinchgut Opera Website

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Acclaimed for its insightful and unique interpretations of the lesser-known works from the Baroque period, Pinchgut Opera also relishes the opportunity to put its signature stamp on one of the best-known operas in the repertory.

Dido and Aeneas is the perfect operatic gem. Few stories capture the essence of tragic love, heroism and destiny as intensely as the tale of the Trojan hero Aeneas and the noble Queen Dido, the founder of Carthage.

It is this star-crossed love story, laden with the tumultuous interplay of duty, passion and fate, that Purcell, a master of music for the theatre, chose as the subject of his only true opera.

Australian star soprano Valda Wilson (Theodora, 2016) returns to Pinchgut in her role debut as Dido, with acclaimed baritone David Greco as Aeneas. Joining them is Kanen Breen (Ormindo, 2009; Platée, 2021) inhabiting the snarling malice of the Sorceress, and the ever-eloquent Sara Macliver (The Fairy Queen, 2003; Orfeo, 2004; Bajazet, 2015) as Belinda.

Dido and Aeneas features some of the most beautiful Baroque music of all time, including the final lament of Dido, darkly brooding and famously tragic, which was aptly featured in the final season of the HBO smash-hit series The White Lotus.

Musically resplendent and thrillingly fierce, Pinchgut’s presentation of Dido and Aeneas is not to be missed.

THEODORA IN CONCERT

BY HANDEL
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OPERA AUSTRALIA

8 & 9 FEB | JOAN SUTHERLAND THEATRE | SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

In a milestone collaboration with Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera makes its Sydney Opera House debut for Handel’s masterpiece.

Bookings and Information available here.

How strange their ends, and yet how glorious!

The Messiah might be Handel’s most famous work, but the composer himself held Theodora in higher esteem.

Judge for yourself which oratorio deserves the title of Handel’s greatest masterpiece when Pinchgut Opera and Opera Australia join forces to present Theodora in concert.

A series of sublime arias and powerful choruses, Theodora is a heavenly musical experience. Set in ancient Rome, it follows the plight of a courageous woman and bold young soldier who risk everything in the face of a tyrannical power.

This milestone collaboration with Pinchgut Opera is the first time the acclaimed Baroque specialists have performed in the Joan Sutherland Theatre.

It’s a wonderful chance to see the Orchestra of the Antipodes in their element, performing on period instruments, with Pinchgut’s charismatic director Erin Helyard leading from the harpsichord, and Cantillation as the chorus. Pinchgut has assembled a cast of early music specialists, including countertenor Christopher Lowrey who reprises his acclaimed performance of Didymus which he first sang in Pinchgut’s fully staged production of Theodora in December 2016.

After singing in six projects for Pinchgut Opera in 2022 (The Spiritual Forest, Consecration, Acis & Galatea, Orontea, Monteverdi Vespers & Medee) including appearances at the Adelaide Festival and Four Winds Festival - I am delighted to be singing in two major projects for their 2023 Season, the first being Buxtehude’s extraordinary Membra Jesu Nostri.

From the Pinchgut Opera Website

A cycle of seven cantatas composed by German composer Dieterich Buxtehude in 1680, each cantata is a Passion meditation, contemplating the different parts of Christ’s body on the cross. The music is loving: pure, balanced and deeply expressive, demonstrating an extraordinary attention to unity of conception.

Pinchgut’s presentation of this astonishing work brings together a stellar chorus of soloists, including Alexandra Oomens and Lauren Lodge- Campbell, who both return to Australia after performances throughout Europe with some of the world’s eminent Baroque ensembles, along with the sublime sounds of Andrew O’Connor, Hannah Fraser and Louis Hurley. Joining them will be a specially selected group of eight expert players of the Orchestra of the Antipodes, led by Erin Helyard.

This is sacred, meditative music of the highest order and beauty, presented with all the intimacy, emotion and power that inspired its creation over 300 years ago.

PROGRAM

Membra Jesu Nostri (1682) by Dieterich Buxtehude

CITY RECITAL HALL, SYDNEY
Sat 1 Apr 2pm | Sun 2 Apr 5pm

MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE
Tue 4 Apr 7pm | Wed 5 Apr 7pm

Sung in Latin with English surtitles

Running time 70 minutes, no interval
Tickets $62 - 169
Under 35s $35

I am delighted to be joining Pinchgut Opera and Cantillation for the final opera for what has been an extremely busy 2022 Season.

MÉDÉE  BY MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER

The greatest opera of the entire French Baroque era.

Originally scheduled in Pinchgut Opera’s 2020 season, the greatest opera of the French Baroque era finally takes the stage in 2022. Médée is high drama and emotion: French tragédie lyrique in its most classic form. The sorceress Médée is driven by desperation and the abandonment of her lover Jason to do the unthinkable, and ultimately murder her own children.

Charpentier’s sensual lyricism and dramatic insight take us deep inside the mind and heart of this powerful and damaged woman who refuses to be a victim – even at the cost of her own flesh and blood.

Returning to Pinchgut after her star turn in The Return of Ulysses, mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby takes on the role of the tortured Médée, with the brilliant Michael Petruccelli, who was thrilling in 2019’s Farnace, as her lover Jason. Cathy-Di Zhang, Andrew Finden and Adrian Tamburini are joined by Cantillation and the inimitable Orchestra of the Antipodes to tell this passionate and unforgettable story.

In the brilliant hands of Artistic Director Erin Helyard, Médée’s legendary story will finally be brought to the stage for the first time in Australia, with all the sophistication, eloquence and power of the French Baroque era.

PROGRAM

Médée by Marc-Antoine Charpentier

City Recital Hall, Sydney
Thu 1 Dec 7pm | Sat 3 Dec 2pm | Sun 4 Dec 5pm | Tue 6 Dec 7pm | Wed 7 Dec 7pm

Sung in French with English surtitles

Running time 3 hours including interval
Tickets  $59 - $223
Under 30s  $55

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VESPERS BY MONTEVERDI REGIONAL TOUR 

Taken from the Pinchgut Opera website

We are thrilled to perform our acclaimed concert, Monteverdi’s Vespers, when we embark upon our first regional tour in 2022, thanks to support from Create NSW.

Monteverdi’s Vespers blends the grand traditions of Venetian sacred music with the new world of the Baroque: opulent choruses, dramatic solo arias and duets, and some of the most ambitious instrumental music the world had ever heard.

First performed in Sydney and Melbourne in 2021, we are proud to take this extraordinary work to Armidale and Newcastle.

ARMIDALE

FRI 29 JULY 7:00PM | SAT 30 JULY 2:30PM 
ARMIDALE TEACHERS' COLLEGE

The first stop on Pinchgut Opera's much-anticipated regional tour of the spectacular masterpiece of sonic grandeur, Monteverdi's Vespers. 

Pinchgut Opera presents Monteverdi's Vespers in partnership with Create NSW and the New England Conservatorium of Music. 

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NEWCASTLE

MON 1 AUG, 7PM
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

Pinchgut Opera is pleased to be making its debut at the Newcastle Music Festival in 2022 with Monteverdi's Vespers. 

Tickets to our performance at Christ Church Cathedral will go on sale shortly. 

Pinchgut Opera presents the program in partnership with Create NSW and Newcastle Music Festival. 

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PINCHGUT OPERA

CITY RECITAL HALL, SYDNEY

THU 26 MAY 7PM | SAT 28 MAY 2PM |

SUN 29 MAY 5PM | TUE 31 MAY 7PM |

WED 1 JUN 7PM

ORONTEA BY ANTONIO CESTI

“Duty and passion, old flames and new flings, music and wine all come head-to-head in a riotous night at the opera.” Constantine Costi

Irresistibly charming and wickedly funny, Orontea deftly combines Cesti’s melodic inventiveness with Cicognini’s clever and comic libretto.

Despite renouncing love, Queen Orontea finds herself falling for a handsome refugee artist, Alidoro, only to discover that she has most of the women in her court as rivals. Add to the mix her moralistic councillor Creonte, the scheming courtesan Silandra, and the maidservant Giacinta, who disguises herself as a boy – only to accidentally inspire the affections of Alidoro’s lascivious mother, Aristea.

Orontea features an artfully assembled cast led by stunning soprano Anna Dowsley – star of the film A Delicate Fire – together with Pinchgut fan-favourites David Greco and Andrew O’Connor. Roberta Diamond and Doug Kelly also return to the company. New Zealand tenor Jonathan Abernathy joins American soprano Sofia Troncoso and Domenica Matthews in their Pinchgut opera debuts.

Musical heir to Monteverdi and a younger contemporary of Cavalli, Cesti was one of the most popular composers of the 17th century. When it premiered in 1656, Orontea immediately captured the public’s attention through its brilliant and skilful combination of poetry and music.

Studded with memorable arias and remarkable duets, Cesti’s gifts for musical characterisation and melodic story telling are here on display for the first time in Australia.

In the spirit of Cavalli’s The Loves of Apollo & Dafne, Pinchgut Opera brings you another delicious taste of Italian opera made fresh for today’s audiences, with the promise of revelry, beauty and laughter.

PINCHGUT OPERA

CITY RECITAL HALL, SYDNEY

SAT 2 APR 2PM | SUN 3 APR 5PM

MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE

TUE 5 APR 7PM

THE SPIRITUAL FOREST BY CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

A concert featuring some of the most sublime sacred music ever written.

The Spiritual Forest is drawn from Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale (1641), his great anthology of liturgical works composed during his career in Venice. It was to be the last collection of Monteverdi’s music published in his lifetime, and represents the final flowering of his great genius.

These uniquely inspired works confirmed Monteverdi as the leading composer of his generation, exemplifying his consummate compositional prowess and his ability to put into music the deepest of human emotions.

Australia’s premier Baroque chorus of professional singers, Cantillation, will be joined by a band of 14 specialist orchestral players to deliver a transcendent sonic experience.

For more details please visit the Pinchgut Opera website.

PLATÉE

BY RAMEAU

Tickets and Information

CITY RECITAL HALL
Wed 1 Dec 7pm | Thurs 2 Dec 7pm | 
Sat 4 Dec 2pm | Sun 5 Dec 5pm |
Tues 7 Dec 7pm | Wed 8 Dec 7pm

A jewel of French baroque opera, Rameau’s comic masterpiece is brought to the Australian stage for the first time, directed by Neil Armfield

Celebrated Australian director Neil Armfield makes his Pinchgut debut in a deliciously twisted comedy by one of the greatest French baroque composers. Rameau clearly enjoyed himself composing this one-of-a-kind comédie lyrique, for the marriage of the Dauphin Louis XV to the Princess Maria Teresa of Spain – reputedly a woman of very little beauty – telling the story of the irresistibly ugly marsh nymph Platée being tricked into believing that Jupiter is in love and wants to marry her. 

Rameau takes aim at the very nature of French opera itself, turning tradition on its head with music of exceptional brilliance and wit, and sweeping away the studied elegance of set-piece ballets with ravishing melodies and striking shifts of mood and colour. Prepare to be utterly enchanted!

Artists 

Kanen Breen Platée

Cathy-Di Zhang | Amore, La Folie

Peter Coleman-Wright AO Jupiter 

Nicholas Jones Mercury I Thespis 

Adrian Tamburini Cithéron I Satire 

David Greco Momus 

Cantillation Chorus 

Orchestra of the Antipodes 

Erin Helyard conductor and keyboards 

Neil Armfield director

PURCELL AND CHARPENTIER 

CONCERT

“Arise, my muse, and to thy tuneful lyre
Compose a mighty ode
Whose charming nature may inspire
The bosom of some listening God."

Sat 11 Sept 2pm | Sun 12 Sept 5pm

City Recital Hall Sydney

Tues 14 Sept 7pm 

Melbourne Recital Centre

Tickets and Information

Purcell and Charpentier 

The first of our rescheduled performances from 2020, this is music fit for royalty. Charpentier’s majestic Te Deum was written in honour of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and its grandeur and elegance reflect the magnificence of his palace at Versailles. Across the Channel, written just one year later, Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art celebrates the birthday of Queen Mary with music of sheer pleasure. 

PROGRAM 

Charpentier Te Deum 
Charpentier Magnificat
Purcell Come Ye Sons of Art 
Purcell Welcome Glorious Morn

Running Time 2 hours including interval

Tickets $55 - $158
Under 30s $55

Myriam Arbouz soprano

Keara Donohoe mezzo soprano 

Max Riebl countertenor 

Nicholas Jones tenor

David Greco baritone

Andrew O’Connor bass 

Orchestra of the Antipodes

Erin Helyard conductor and keyboards

THE LOVES OF APOLLO & DAFNE

BY CAVALLI

CITY RECITAL HALL
Thurs 20 May 7pm | Sat 22 May 2pm | Sun 23 May 5pm | Tues 25 May 7pm | Wed 26 May 7pm

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“In its flowing eloquence and laments of exquisite beauty, this is a masterwork of the Italian baroque.” Mitchell Butel

Love is never a walk in the park.
But when Greek gods, river nymphs and mortals burning with passion all meet in the one place together, things are bound to get hot.

In this sensual pastoral fable, drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, worlds collide: heaven meets earth and music becomes magic. Apollo loves Dafne, Dafne loves her space. Titone loves Aurora, Aurora’s got her eye on Cefalo. Amore loves making mischief with them all. Hearts yearn as the sun and moon turn. Cavalli lets his creative genius soar, offering a new vision of opera: an inspired marriage of words and music that reveals the inmost thoughts and feelings of gods and mortals alike. In its bold passion, its flowing eloquence and its laments of exquisite beauty, this is a masterwork of the Italian baroque.

Artists

Alexandra Oomens Dafne / Aurora 

Max Riebl Apollo / Morfeo / Titone / Cirilla / Cefalo

Stacey Alleaume Amore / Itaton / Eco / Procris

Jacqueline Dark Venere / Filena / Musa

David Hidden Sonno / Alfesibeo / Pan

Andrew O'Connor Panto / Giove / Peneo

Orchestra of the Antipodes 

Erin Helyard conductor

Mitchell Butel director

Jeremy Allen set designer

Melanie Liertz costume designer 

Alexander Berlage lighting designer 

PROGRAM

The Loves of Apollo & Dafne  by Cavalli

Music by Francesco Cavalli (1640)
Lyrics by  Giovanni Francesco Busenello 

Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Running Time 3 hours including interval
Tickets $55 - $215
Under 30s $55 - $65

“A pillar of Baroque sacred repertoire"

- Gramophone UK

Sat 20 March 2pm | Sun 21 Mar 5pm

City Recital Hall Sydney

Thurs 25 Mar 7pm

Melbourne Recital Centre

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

A spectacular masterpiece of sonic grandeur, Monteverdi’s Vespers blends the grand traditions of Venetian sacred music with the new world of the Baroque: opulent choruses, dramatic solo arias and duets, and some of the most ambitious instrumental music the world had ever heard.

Grand yet intimate, prayerful yet sensual, Vespers is a musical experience like no other: a dazzling array of textures and sonorities that will amaze and delight.

PROGRAM

Monteverdi Vespers

Running Time 75 minutes, no interval

Tickets $55 – $158

Under 30s $55

[CANCELLED] Purcell and Charpentier

Music fit for royalty: Charpentier’s majestic  Te Deum was written in honour of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and its grandeur and elegance reflect the magnificence of his palace at Versailles. Across the Channel, written just one year later, Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art celebrates the birthday of Queen Mary with music of sheer delight

PROGRAM

Charpentier Te Deum 
Charpentier Magnificat 
Purcell Come, Ye Sons of Art 
Purcell Welcome Glorious Morn

Sung in French and English with English surtitles

Melbourne Recital Centre | Fri 11 Sept 7pm  

City Recital Hall Sydney | Sat 12 Sept 5pm  |  Sun 13 Sept 5pm 

This performance will run for approximately 2 hours including an interval.

More details and tickets available here.

Médée by Charpentier

Médée’s passion for Jason turns to murderous fury when he shifts his attention to a younger woman. Is there anything she won’t do to get her revenge? 

Charpentier’s sensual lyricism and dramatic insight take us deep inside the mind and heart of this terrifying woman who refuses to be a victim – even at the cost of her own flesh and blood.

Pinchgut favourite mezzo-soprano Caitlin Hulcup takes on the role of the tortured Médée with French haute-contre Cyril Auvity as her lover Jason. Alexandra Oomens, Andrew Finden and Adrian Tamburini are joined by Cantillation and the inimitable Orchestra of the Antipodes to tell this passionate story.

In the brilliant hands of Artistic Director Erin Helyard, Médée’s legendary story will be brought to the stage for the first time in Australia, with all the grace, eloquence and power of the French Baroque era.

PROGRAM

Charpentier Médée

Sung in French with English surtitles

Thurs 18 June 7pm | Sat 20 June 2pm | Sun 21 June 5pm | Tues 23 June 7pm

City Recital Hall Sydney

This performance will run for approximately 3 hours including an interval.

There will be a talk about the history of the piece 45 minutes before each performance on level 3, City Recital Hall.

https://www.pinchgutopera.com.au/medee