Victorian Opera (Melbourne) - 2008 Season

2008 Season

The opening performance of the year was a Gala Concert on 16 February at Hamer Hall. Entitled Puccini ~ The Sacred and Profane, it consisted of the Messa di Gloria, several well-known arias from Puccini operas, and the complete Act II of La bohème.

The season's new contemporary production was the chamber opera Through the Looking Glass by Alan John and Andrew Upton, directed by Michael Kantor, and performed at the Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse, South Melbourne, 17–31 May. The small cast of David Hobson, Dimity Shepherd, Suzanne Johnston, Margaret Haggard, Gary Rowley and Kanen Breen, sang multiple roles, and a small on-stage ensemble was conducted by Richard Gill. (Won 2008 Green Room Award for Best New Opera.)

Monteverdi's baroque work The Coronation of Poppea, directed by Kate Cherry, was presented at the Australian National Academy of Music, South Melbourne Town Hall, 18–26 July. The orchestra, arranged in 17th Century fashion on either side of the performance space were led by Richard Gill, conducting from one of the two harpsichords. Artists performing in one of the earliest of all operas (1643) were: Tiffany Speight (Poppea), countertenors David Hansen (Nerone) and Daniel Goodwin (Ottone), Sally Wilson (Ottavia/La Fortuna), Jacqueline Porter (Drusilla/La Virtù), Paul Hughes (Seneca), Isabel Veale (Arnalta/Nutrice), Adrian McEniery (Luciano/Primo Soldato), Jessica Aszodi (Damigella), Edmond Choo (Liberto), Laurence Meikle (Mercurio/Littore) and Jacob Caine (Secundo Soldato). (The production shared the 2008 Green Room Award for Best Opera with Opera Australia's Arabella, and Tiffany Speight received a Helpmann Award for Best Female Opera Performer in a Principal Role.)

Between 11–21 August, the Donizetti opera The Elixir of Love was presented at the Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse, South Melbourne. Directed by Stephen Medcalf, with Orchestra Victoria conducted by Warwick Stengards, with alternating casts of David Hobson/Roy Best (Nemorino), Antoinette Halloran/Elena Xanthoudakis (Adina), Christopher Tonkin/Samuel Dundas (Sergeant Belcore), Roger Lemke/Roger Howell (Dulcamara) and Danielle Calder (Gianetta).

Rounding off the 2008 season were five performances by the Victorian Youth Opera, when they presented Malcolm Williamson's The Happy Prince, based on the story by Oscar Wilde, between 3–5 October at the Victorian College of the Arts.