| A Masked Ball | Opera Australia |
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"When I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes…" Giuseppe Verdi
The music of Verdi shines once more at the Sydney Opera House when Dennis O'Neill, Michael Lewis, Natalie Jones, Nicole Youl and Bernadette Cullen perform his evocative, political thriller, A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera). This famous production, created for Opera Australia by director John Cox, opens on 20 February 2008.
Deception and disguise rule at the Swedish court of King Gustav III. While the benevolent ruler plans a grand masquerade, his subjects, a band of conspirators, plot to kill him. The traitors, however, will only succeed if they can enlist an ally close to the king. So when King Gustav and Amelia, wife of the king's closest friend, fall in love, fate has played straight into the conspirators' hands.
Dennis O'Neill, Michael Lewis, Bernadette Cullen and Nicole Youl have established themselves as the Australian Verdi specialists. Dennis O'Neill has sung twenty-one of Verdi's heroic tenor roles and was awarded the 2005 Verdi Medal by the Amici di Verdi. Bernadette Cullen joined Opera Australia in 1979 and has since performed every major mezzo-soprano role. In 2007 she appeared as Azucena in Il trovatore in Sydney and Melbourne.
Michael Lewis has chalked up twelve Verdi roles in his wide-ranging international career, including the title roles in Rigoletto and Nabucco. Nicole Youl who sang Leonora in this year's Il trovatore, is also winning acclaim for the purity and power of her voice.
Nicole Youl and Michael Lewis, who play Amelia and Anckarstroem, are real-life partners, so A Masked Ball is a perfect opportunity for them to work together. However, in a world where the tenor usually gets the girl, their vocal range – soprano and baritone respectively – means that on stage they are more often at each other's throats than in love.
Natalie Jones, who appeared in Alcina, The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Gondoliers in 2007, completes this formidable cast in the role of the young courtier Oscar. To conduct is Sicilian maestro Andrea Licata, who since his Australian debut in 2003 has become a regular visitor, specialising in Italian repertoire.
A Masked Ball is considered one of Giuseppe Verdi's 'middle period' operas. Although it has a tragic ending, it is full of irony and wit, and also contains a love duet (between Gustav and Amelia) considered by many, including Verdi, to be one of the most romantic ever written.
The plot is loosely based on the real life murder of Gustav III, King of Sweden, who in 1792 was shot by political enemies while attending a masked ball. Verdi's version fell foul of the Italian censors so when it opened in Rome in 1859 the setting was changed to British colonial Boston, of all places, and the two main protagonists renamed Riccardo and Renato. This production, created by director John Cox, returns to the original names and period setting with extravagant costumes and detailed sets.
Conductor – Andrea Licata
Director – John Cox
Scenery Designer – John Gunter
Costume Designer – Michael Stennett
Lighting Designer – Nigel Levings
Rehearsed by – Luise Napier
Revival Choreographer – Matthew Barclay
Gustavus (Riccardo) – Dennis O’Neill
Anckarstroem (Renato) – Michael Lewis
Amelia – Nicole Youl
Arvidson (Ulrica) – Bernadette Cullen
Oscar – Natalie Jones
Christian (Silvano) – Andrew Moran
Ribbing (Samuele) – Jud Arthur (to 10/3/08) Richard Anderson (from 13/3/08)
Horn (Tomaso) – Richard Alexander
Judge – Geoffrey Harris
Servant – Jin Tea Kim
Opera Australia Chorus
Chorus Master – Michael Black
Assistant Chorus Master – Kate Golla
Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra
Opera Australia
A Masked Ball
Verdi
Performed in Italian with English surtitles
Venue: Opera Theatre | Sydney Opera House
Evenings: February 20, 23, 26, 29; March 10, 13, 19, 29 @ 7.30pm
Matinee: March 8 at 1.00pm
Free Opera Talks: February 23; March 13 - 45 minutes before performances
Tickets: $65 - $246
Duration: 2 hours and 55 minutes including two 20-minute intervals
Bookings: Opera Australia Ticket Services on (02) 9318 8200 or www.opera-australia.org.au, Sydney Opera House Box Office on (02) 9250 7777 and Ticketmaster 1300 136 166
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Thursday, 04 December 2008
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