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Celebrating 70 years of bringing opera to the people, elegance, expertise, experience and soaring entertainment were the order of the evening for Opera Australia\u2019s (OA) 70th Anniversary Gala on Sunday. In an exclusive Melbourne-only event, the company\u2019s achievements stood out proudly while the city\u2019s palatial Regent Theatre seemed the perfect venue to bask in opera\u2019s glory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Introduced by current CEO Alex Budd and warmly hosted by beloved ABC Classic FM broadcaster Mairi Nicolson, two acts of thoughtfully curated works stirred a capacity audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the European birthplace of opera to homegrown operatic composition \u2013 encompassing works from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Australian composer Richard Mills \u2013 everything about the evening showcased the ensemble nature of the company splendidly in a program that catered generously for a raft of exceptional talent without resorting to the usual overdone opera highlights. It was pure class all the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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As the largest arts company in the country, it was not surprising that numbers matched. Orchestra Victoria held the floor with almost 50 musicians, playing their very best as they have done for decades in supporting the national company. <\/p>\n
Around 60 choristers of the OA Chorus sang with beautifully calibrated vocals while also demonstrating the impact they make as actors in dramatic storytelling. And 19 principal artists bejewelled the stage as equals in a well-primed performance that did honour to one of Australia\u2019s most important cultural institutions.<\/p>\n
With the company\u2019s new production to Melbourne of Verdi\u2019s La Traviata\u00a0wrapped up just days ago, six principal artists formed part of the evening, including opening night leads Stacey Alleaume, Filipe Manu and Andrii Kymach. So, too, did Italian conductor Giampaolo Bisanti\u00a0who turned on a treat with his emotively lush, arabesque orchestral styling and helmsmanship.<\/p>\n
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Rossini\u2019s epic symphonic\u00a0Overture\u00a0from his last opera,\u00a0Guillaume Tell,\u00a0made a perfect starting impression with its four contrasting moods and galloping (The Lone Ranger) finale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The vocal program began with a tribute to the company\u2019s origins as The Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1956 when a touring season of four of Mozart\u2019s operas began. The season included\u00a0Don Giovanni, from which the chaotic Act I Finale, Ecco il birbo\u2026 here brought a suitably exhilarating sense of drama, culminating with baritones Kymach as Don Giovanni and Luke Gabbedy as Leporello in superlative form as part of a whirling septet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thereafter, focus was given to good-sized operatic scenes, predominantly featuring thrilling quartets, quintets and sextets, etc. It was also a night without surtitles, which didn\u2019t seem amiss at all \u2013 a move that clearly placed emphasis on opera\u2019s ability to stimulate and beautify the soul through the language of music.<\/p>\n
Highlights were aplenty as the program coasted through the acrobatics of bel canto coloratura from Rossini and Donizetti, Verdian dramatic emotional intensity, French fare with Offenbach\u2018s The Tales of Hoffmann\u00a0and\u00a0Bizet\u2019s Act II Quintet from\u00a0Carmen, Wagnerian heroics and Britten\u2019s haunting darkness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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As one of just two solo performances, it was a treasurable moment to hear soprano Emma Matthews continue to impress with her cut-crystal translucency and dancing trills in a role Mills wrote for her, singing the wordless\u00a0The Nightingale\u2019s Song\u00a0from his 2007 opera\u00a0The Love of the Nightingale.<\/p>\n
Kymach also brought a sensational urgency and coerciveness in the titular role of Verdi\u2019s\u00a0Simon Boccanegra,\u00a0pushing his towering, oaky baritone in every direction for Act I\u2019s\u00a0Plebe, Patrizi, popolo, with soprano Olivia Cranwell in notably radiant voice as Amelia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alleaume\u2019s penetrating soprano of persuasiveness and subtlety captured attention on several occasions, including from the sextet\u00a0Chi mi frena in tal momento\u00a0in Donizetti\u2019s\u00a0Lucia di Lammermoor and Gente appressa\u2026 Maffio Orsini signora son io\u00a0from\u00a0Lucrezia Borgia.<\/p>\n
The Ride of the Valkyries\u00a0from Wagner\u2019s Die Walk\u00fcre greeted Act II dramatically as each Valkyrie released their potent calls from various points in the auditorium. The deceit and forgiveness embedded in the Act IV\u00a0Finale\u00a0of Mozart\u2019s\u00a0The Marriage of Figaro\u00a0was a divinely rendered scene while Verdi\u2019s\u00a0Scena del Trionfo\u00a0from\u00a0Aida brought pomp to the evening in majestic style \u2013 lacking the brightness of Egyptian trumpets in the brass highlights but nonetheless realised with precision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Young Australian conductor Sam Weller took the reins confidently for Act I\u2019s\u00a0Dite, chi \u00e8 quella femmina\u2026\u00a0from Rossini\u2018s Italiana in Algeri\u00a0but it was his return in Act II with\u00a0Old Joe has gone fishing\u00a0from\u00a0Peter Grimes\u00a0that revealed his particularly strong command and sense of the tumultuousness of the affair. <\/p>\n
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With Mexican-Australian tenor Diego Torre blazing through a compelling turn as the titular character \u2013 better known for his Italian repertoire and who had earlier ticked the \u201cfavourites\u201d with a fine Nessun dorma\u00a0from Puccini\u2019s\u00a0Turandot \u2013\u00a0many in the audience were no doubt begging for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Directed with much sensitivity by current Victorian Opera Artistic Director Stuart Maunder, who has long associations with OA, the staging remained simple yet carried an unmistakable sumptuousness, assisted in no small degree by Alex Lynn\u2019s cocktail of lighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Concluding with the grand, patriotic might of the\u00a0Finale\u00a0from Rossini\u2019s\u00a0Guillaume Tell, every individual artist across the ranks deserved the rich applause given.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was an encore \u2013 the Brindisi\u00a0from\u00a0La Traviata, strikingly sung, but given Johann Strauss\u2019 absence from the list, the jubilant ensemble Champagne Song from his operetta,\u00a0Die Fledermaus\u00a0would have gone down nicely. Happy 70th Anniversary Opera Australia! Here\u2019s to your good heath and prosperity!\u00a0<\/p>\n