| Opera in the Domain | Opera Australia |
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On Saturday 2 February 2008 Opera Australia and Mazda will give a free performance of Puccini’s La bohème in the open-air auditorium of Sydney’s Domain, hosted by ABCTV personality Virginia Trioli with pre-show entertainment by Andy Lee from 2DayFM.
“La bohème is a must-see for anyone new to opera. Puccini’s irresistible music and moving story make it one of the world’s favourites. I can’t imagine a better setting, or a better work, to get your first experience of the power of opera,” says Opera Australia chief executive Adrian Collette.
He continued, “Mazda Opera in the Domain is one of our most important performances of the year. It is our chance to show to the people of Sydney the outstanding quality of the Opera Australia Chorus, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and our fine ensemble. It is just one of a number of initiatives which allows us to take great opera to a wider audience. Forget your preconceptions of a stuffy, boring evening. Bring a picnic, bring your friends, cross your fingers for balmy weather and, I promise, you will fall in love with this glorious art form.”
Puccini’s La bohème is an operatic best seller, second only to Madama Butterfly in terms of frequency of performance (according to Opera America). The story tells of a group of friends – a poet, a philosopher, a musician and a painter – living in Paris at the turn of the century. Money is tight but love is free and the romance between the poet, Rodolfo, and seamstress, Mimí, inspires some of the most touching music ever written. Indeed many of the arias appear on the operatic hit parade, including ‘Che gelida manina’ (Your tiny hand is frozen) and Musetta’s Waltz.
Director Simon Phillips originally conceived this production as ‘a bohème for the twenty-first century’, updating it to the modern day with the help of set and costume designer Stephen Curtis. Besides the arias and duets, which everyone knows and loves, this contemporary interpretation features wheelie bins, laptops and a beanbag plus some riotous crowd scenes and even a break-dancer.
La bohème is performed by the same cast currently appearing at the Sydney Opera House throughout January and February 2008, including Hye Seoung Kwon as Mimì and Aldo Di Toro as her lover, Rodolfo; the bohemians José Carbó as Marcello, Jud Arthur as Colline and Warwick Fyfe as Schaunard with John Bolton Wood as their landlord Benoit. And the show-stealing role of Musetta goes to Opera Australia favourite, Amelia Farrugia under the baton of brilliant young Italian maestro Giovanni Reggioli.
Opera in the Domain has been part of summer in Sydney for more than twenty-five years. The initiative was inspired by New York's series of park concerts staged by the Metropolitan Opera. The first free concert in 1982 starred Joan Sutherland in Verdi's La traviata, conducted by Richard Bonynge. It was almost a disaster with rain forcing the event to be postponed. It finally went ahead two days later with 25,000 people sitting on damp ground under threatening skies. There was a downpour at the end of Act II but the show went on with orchestra, cast and audiences sheltering under umbrellas. Since then the annual event has become a Sydney tradition, attracting crowds of up to 100,000.
Mazda Opera in the Domain
Puccini’s
La bohème
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
Venue: The Domain, Art Gallery Road
Date/Time: 8pm, Saturday 2 February 2008
Duration: 2 hours & 30 minutes including one 20-minute interval
FREE
Visit: www.opera-australia.org.au
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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