Opera Australia Podcast

The Honourable Don Harwin MLC has served as New South Wales' Minister for the Arts since the start of 2017, and has overseen some significant chapters in the state's artistic life. Harwin was born into a musical household and that great love of music has propelled him through his career. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Harwin talks about his ambitious plan to create a new hub in Sydney of rehearsal spaces, recording spaces and recital spaces for orchestras, particularly young and emerging orchestras. He also talks about his vision for the future of the arts in New South Wales and Australia, and the social goods performed by the arts.

Simon Mordant AO is one of Australia's leading champions of the arts and philanthropists. An investment banker by trade, Mordant has served on the boards of many of the country's major arts companies and has been key to the success of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. He has had a 30-year association with the museum, and provided essential support for the expansion and redevelopment which as seen it become the most-visited contemporary art museum in the world.   In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Mordant explains where his passion for the arts comes from and the role of a board at a major arts company. He also reflects on the way through the COVID crisis for Australian arts companies.

The Honourable Paul Fletcher MP has served as Australia's Minister for Arts since 2019, and has seen the sector through the immense challenges of 2020. His passion for the arts stretches back to his university days, when he co-wrote several plays, including The Fax of Life with co-creator of ABC's Rake, Peter Duncan and former Opera Australia CEO Craig Hassall.   In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Minister Fletcher reflects on Australia's artistic spirit, the rationales for funding the arts, how technology can make the arts more accessible to more Australians, and how the arts intersects with other areas of his portfolio: communications, urban infrastructures and cities.

The Honourable Bronwyn Bishop AO is known to Australians as a veteran of politics, but in this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, she reveals her artistic side. When Bishop was growing up, her mother was a dramatic operatic soprano, who taught her how to sing. Bishop recalls that she made her professional singing debut at the age of eight and has even performed a few duets with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. She also shares stories from her time in Australian politics, as the longest-serving female member of the House of Representatives, and explains the role music has played in her career.

Lighting guru John Rayment has created designs for events of all scales and styles over the course of his career, ranging from intimate dance works all the way to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. His work for Opera Australia includes several iterations of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, our enduring production of La Bohème, and our 2013 Ring Cycle. He's returning in 2021 to create a bold new lighting design for Bluebeard's Castle and our new Ring Cycle in Brisbane.   In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, John talks about the enormous technical challenges of the Sydney 2000 Olympics ceremonies, as well as creating Hong Kong: A Symphony of Lights, the world's largest permanent light show. He also talks about his plans for Bluebeard's Castle and the Ring Cycle.

Italian-born composer and conductor Andrea Molino has had a fabulously diverse career, working in major opera houses across the world. He's conducted productions for us including Wozzeck, The Nose, King Roger, Carmen and La Bohème, and is soon to return with Bluebeard's Castle.   His work as a composer includes a number of large-scale music and theatre projects performed across the world, such as Those Who Speak in a Faint Voice, Credo and Winners. Molino was also the Artistic Director of Fabrica Musica, the music department of the Italian communication research centre, Fabrica.   In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Molino talks about how his work as a conductor and composer intersects, reflects on his large-scale projects, and explains why he's excited to join our production of Bluebeard's Castle.

Renato Palumbo made his debut at just 18 years of age, conducting a full performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore. It was an auspicious start for the Italian conductor, who would go on to become one of the world's leading Verdi conductors.   Since then, Palumbo has worked with most of the world's great opera companies, including the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, where he was appointed Music Director, and Opera Australia, having conducted our productions of Attila, Anna Bolena, Rigoletto, Verdi's Requiem, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra.   In 2021, Palumbo conducted our production of Ernani. In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Palumbo talks about tackling Verdi's breakthrough opera for a contemporary audience, and what he learns from conducting Verdi every day. He also talks about his extraordinary debut and what drew him to music in the first place.

Chen Shi-Zheng is a visionary in the truest sense of the term. The Chinese-born director is known around the world for the extraordinary universes he brings to the stage in his deeply moving productions. In this conversation with Opera Australia’s Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Chen reveals the life experiences that have influenced his unique perspective as a director. Starting with his turbulent childhood in China, Chen explains how he went from studying to be a Chinese opera singer to creating his own productions on the world stage. He also talks about his landmark production of the 22-hour Chinese epic The Peony Pavilion, and how it led him to direct Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Later this year, Chen will become the first Chinese director to ever take on the Ring Cycle. In this conversation, he shares his vision for the production and the eclectic influences he’s drawing on to create a surprising new experience for audiences. Chen also performs a popular Mongolian song, accompanied by Tahu Matheson.

Known best for his performance as Javert in the original Australian cast, the complete symphonic recording and 10th anniversary gala concert of Les Misérables, Philip has worked on some of the world’s most prestigious stages in both plays and musicals. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times and is the only actor to have achieved this feat. Philip’s career is extraordinary eclectic; he spent 16 years as a presenter on Play School, has appeared in plays for Australia’s biggest theatre companies, and even starred as Georges Seraut in the London premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. He has recently been working with opera singers from our Young Artist Program, helping them unlock their dramatic talents and bring their characters to life. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Philip talks about juggling Les Misérables, Play School and home renovations, and why a team of actors and creative talents are more like an NRL team than you might imagine. He recalls some pivotal performances and explains why a “warm down” might be even more important for a singer than a “warm up”. 

Melbourne-born tenor Nick Jones is quickly developing a fabulous career in opera, but it was through musical theatre that he first worked with Opera Australia. In 2012, he appeared in the ensemble of our production of South Pacific, but soon found himself drawn towards opera. Since then, he’s performed roles in a wide range of operas, and recently won the Green Room Award for his portrayal of David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In this conversation with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Nick talks about learning his craft on our regional tour, perfecting the art of the good bow, and the differences between performing in long-running musicals and opera. He also performs the Serenade from The Student Prince, accompanied by Tahu Matheson.  

If you don’t work in the theatre, stage management can be a bit of a mysterious art. Garry Alcorn is one of our stage managers at Opera Australia, responsible for ensuring that our performances go off without a hitch. He’s responsible for calling hundreds of cues every night, for lighting, sets, sound, cast and much more. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Garry explains the work of a stage manager, his unusual musical background, and why stage management results in premature greying. He also talks about how he was personally responsible for bringing Opera Australia to his home town of Murwillumbah in northern NSW.

UK-born director Andy Morton has worked with us since 2013, when he assisted Gale Edwards on her celebrated production of La Bohème. Since then, he's been revival and assistant director on many of our most popular productions and in 2018 created a new production of La Bohème for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. In 2021, he returns to Opera Australia to create a new production of Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, our first ever production of the curious and mysterious masterpiece. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Morton talks about how he's approaching this incredibly beautiful but difficult opera with a 21st century lens, as well as how he came to work at Opera Australia.

Since launching his own company less than a decade ago, Michael Cassel has become one of Australia’s most influential and visionary theatre producers. The Michael Cassel Group has been responsible for award-winning local productions such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Kinky Boots, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Les Misérables. Cassel is currently gearing up for the Australian premiere of Broadway juggernaut Hamilton, the most celebrated musical of the last decade.   In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Cassel reflects on the 1992 production of Jesus Christ Superstar which inspired him to enter the world of showbusiness, the enormous Christmas carols event he produced when he was just 15 years old, and learning his trade working for Disney. He also talks about the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, starting his own company, and his plans for the future.

Anna Bligh made history in 2009 when she became the first woman popularly elected as Premier of an Australian state. For almost five years she served as the Premier of Queensland and achieved much for her people in that time. She was also a staunch advocate for the arts in her state, taking on the Arts Ministry and overseeing a major period of transformation for the state’s major cultural institutions. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Bligh talks about what’s required for a government to commit to supporting the arts, building Brisbane’s ambitious Gallery of Modern Art, and bringing both Mikhail Gorbachev and the Paris Opera Ballet to Queensland.    

Rebecca Ritchie is Opera Australia’s Head of Wardrobe, responsible for the team of experienced craftspeople who create the beautiful costumes and wigs you see on our stages. Rebecca started at Opera Australia when she was just 19, working on Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Bohème. After that introduction to our world, she further developed her skills studying at NIDA and worked her way up to the position she holds today.   In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Rebecca talks about how her team work with costume designers, the international search for costume talent, and the art of wig-making.

Kelley Abbey creates dance that's eclectic, highly stylised, beautiful and extraordinarily energetic. The choreographer, actor and dancer has been working since the 1980s, when she got her start in the Australian Youth Ballet company. Over the decades, she's filled all played all sorts of parts in the arts industry, from starring roles in major musicals like Sweet Charity, Hair and Grease, to a role on the soap opera E Street, and choreographing everything from opera singers in our productions of Salome and Carmen to dancing penguins in the movie Happy Feet.   In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Abbey reflects on the "glorious mistakes" that have been key to her career and explains her creative process.

For an astonishing 41 years, baritone John Pringle was a regular and much-loved performer on our stages. Known as a fabulous singer with the dramatic chops to match, Pringle racked up 102 roles over the course of his career. He was celebrated for his performances as Marcello in our early productions of La Bohème and Figaro in both The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, and later on received acclaim for roles such as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Leporello in Don Giovanni.   In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, John talks about his favourite roles, how to be a great actor for the operatic stage, and all he learned from the great singers he performed alongside, including most prominently Tito Gobbi.

Creating a perfect sound design for any musical event is no easy feat. But what about when it’s an enormous outdoor performance for 3,000 spectators, with a full orchestra, a huge cast of singers, a pop-up grandstand and all sorts of natural sound to compete with? This was the challenge facing sound designer extraordinaire Tony David Cray when he joined the team for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Cray shares the secrets behind his sound design for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, and the ways he manages to simulate the feeling of being enclosed in an auditorium in the great outdoors. Cray’s rich and varied career has seen him work with sound in all capacities; as a composer for major theatre companies and film, an engineer and producer for orchestras and world-famous pop acts, and in developing new technologies for live performance. In 2008 he won a Grammy Award for his work on a Chuck Corea and Gary Burton album recorded live in Sydney, and most recently he’s been working for the NRL to create an appropriate sense of atmosphere while crowds aren’t able to fill stadiums.

Constantine Costi is one of our most exciting emerging talents at Opera Australia, and has been honing his craft by working alongside many of our most experienced directors, assisting on large-scale productions and reviving celebrated stagings. In 2020, he was due to tackle his biggest project for us yet: directing Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Costi was about to move his production of La Traviata (based on Francesca Zambello’s 2012 staging) from the rehearsal room to the harbour-side stage when COVID-19 restrictions forced the cancellation of the season.   In this conversation with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Costi talks about growing up working in the family business, De Costi Seafood, and how he’s still on call to work at peak times. He also talks about some of his early adventures in opera — including a production of Il Tabarro staged in a commercial kitchen in Enmore — and explains why directors are “glorified stage mums”.

Anna-Louise Cole began her association with Opera Australia as a member of our chorus back in 2013, performing in operas from across the whole repertoire. But it soon became clear that Anna-Louise was meant to step out in front and perform some of the great soprano roles; in particular the great Wagnerian soprano roles. She soon became a member of our Young Artist Program, and is continuing to develop an extraordinary instrument. In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, she explains how she fell in love with music as a young Melburnian, and the path she took as a musician, choosing her voice over the cello, and preparing to sing Wagner. She also gives a gorgeous performance of Joseph Marx’s romantic lied ‘Hat dich die Liebe berührt’, accompanied by Opera Australia’s Head of Music, Tahu Matheson.

You may not know John Frost, but if you’re a musical theatre fan living in Australia, there’s a good chance he’s been responsible for some of your favourite nights out. Known in the industry as ‘Frosty the Showman’, John is Australia’s most prolific theatre producer, having been in the business of producing large-scale musicals since the 1980s. Since 2012, we’ve collaborated with Frosty on some of our most successful musicals: South Pacific, The King and I, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes and Evita. Frosty has also staged countless national tours of beloved musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, The Sound of Music, Chicago, Cabaret and The Book of Mormon. In 1996, he won a Tony Award for his revival of The King and I on Broadway, and in 2003 won again as a co-producer of the original Broadway production of Hairspray. In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Frosty recalls how he broke into the theatre industry as a 15 year old in Adelaide and built his showbiz empire. He also talks about what motivates him as a producer and reveals the one musical he’d love to stage.

Long before Shanul Sharma fell in love with opera, he was headbanging to Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and Metallica. In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, he explains how his path led him to Opera Australia, where he's a member of the Young Artist Program, tackling some of the most fiendishly difficult tenor roles. Born in India, Shanul moved to Australia to study IT before joining a heavy metal band. Eventually he encountered opera and decided to audition for Opera Australia on a whim. Since then, he's covered and taken on some fabulous roles that are perfect for his talents. This video ends with two unique socially distanced performances of Nadir's Aria from The Pearlfishers.

In 2012, we set off on an adventure of operatic proportions: Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Celebrating opera in all its beauty and spectacle, the event brings together some of the world's greatest opera artists to create extraordinary productions staged in a one-of-a-kind outdoor venue. But the first year involved an enormous leap of faith for the cast, musicians and crew alike, as we brought Verdi's La Traviata to an enormous harbour-side stage. Conductor Brian Castles-Onion and singers Emma Matthews and Jonathan Summer share their experiences in this conversation with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini. They recall the thrill of seeing the first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour take shape and the challenges they had to overcome to deliver an unforgettable experience and launch this annual event.

Technical director Clif Bothwell is responsible for bringing all of our large-scale productions to the stage and ensuring they run smoothly at every performance. His job is to oversee the teams who make the seemingly impossible possible every night. In this interview with Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Clif explains how his path led him to working in the theatre, via a stint as a pilot and studying engineering. He also reveals what happens backstage at an opera, and how the technical team and state management keep everything on track. And he discusses how our new digital productions are changing the way his team works as they prepare to bring a digital Ring Cycle to Brisbane in 2021.

Paul Fitzsimon has been with Opera Australia since 2013, fulfilling a variety of roles including conductor and répétiteur. He’s currently our Chorus Master, responsible for ensuring that the glorious chorus you see and hear on our stages is prepared for any task. He’s also conducted performances for us, including Metamorphosis and The Merry Widow. In this interview, Paul talks to our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, about how he came to work at Opera Australia and explains the job and daily life of a Chorus Master. He explains how a chorus is constructed and the particular set of skills required to be a chorus singer.

Gale Edwards has had the sort of career most stage directors dream of. For more than three decades, she's been one of Australia's most influential theatre-makers, having worked across all variety of performances; from large-scale operatic spectaculars, including our Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour productions of Carmen and Aida, to the most intimate of plays. She's directed for all of Australia's major theatre companies, on Broadway and the West End, and was the first female director to create a work for the Royal Shakespeare Company's mainstage. She also won an Emmy Award for her filmed version of Jesus Christ Superstar. In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Edwards revisits the first opera she ever directed, The Labours of Hercules, performed in a circus tent and featuring Terracini. She also reflects on her 20-year working relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber, which had a less-than-auspicious beginning, and explains why she approaches Shakespeare and opera with a similar process.

Alexander Lewis is currently rehearsing for our production of The Merry Widow, returning as Count Danilo after originating the role in this production to great acclaim in 2017. The Australian tenor, known both for his performances in opera and musical theatre, has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Metropolitan Opera and Komische Oper Berlin. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Lewis talks about growing up with Australian operatic royalty, returning to rehearsals after an eight-month break, and finding his own way into the world of music.

Australian-Mauritian soprano Stacey Alleaume is one of our busiest singers, with an ever-growing list of leading roles to her name. She was rehearsing to star as Violetta in our production of La Traviata on Sydney Harbour when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the season. In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Stacey talks about her very musical upbringing, the opera traditions in Mauritius, and her recent experiences playing Gilda in Rigoletto at the prestigious Bregenz Festival in Austria. She also reveals what she’s been getting up to while in isolation, and performs a beautiful song by the Mauritian-born composer Francis Thomé.

Tahu Matheson has been with Opera Australia since 2007, and in 2017 became our Head of Music. In his time on our music staff, he’s taken on a diverse workload across a wide range of operas, overseeing rehearsals, preparing singers and conducting performances. In this interview with Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Matheson looks back to his early encounters with music and theatre, and explains how he came to be working in the world of opera. He also recalls his first few years working at Opera Australia, flying by the seat of his pants as he came to learn the great works of the canon and how to work effectively in a fast-paced opera company. More recently, Matheson has been working as a conductor, and explains how he works with the Opera Australia Orchestra to create magical musical moments for our audiences. The interview ends with a special performance.

Since completing his masters of operatic and symphonic conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatoire in 2012, Australian conductor Vladimir Fanshil has built a richly varied career with some fantastic orchestras, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Odessa National Philharmonic and the State Hermitage Orchestra. In this interview, Fanshil talks about swapping the warm beaches of Bondi for the bitterly cold St Petersburg winter, studying with tough teachers in Russia, and the intersection of art, literature, poetry and music. He also talks about the differences in music culture between countries, and being based in Vienna.

Australian soprano Eleanor Lyons has an extraordinary career, which has taken her all over Europe and further abroad. Most recently, she’s performed as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem and Britten’s War Requiem with Philippe Herreweghe and the Antwerp Symphony; at the Grafenegg Festival with conductor Leon Botstein in two roles: Maria in Der Diktator by Krenek and in Hindemith’s Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen; and with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice as soloist at their New Year’s Eve Gala with Australian conductor Matthew Coorey. In 2020, Lyons made her Opera Australia debut as Donna Anna in our production of Don Giovanni.

Australian soprano Julie Lea Goodwin has been one of our busiest singers since she joined Opera Australia in 2015. Last year alone, she performed an extraordinary range of roles: Maria in West Side Story on Sydney Harbour, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Musetta in La Bohème, and Madame Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims. She also impressively created the role of Wendy Whiteley in the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin's opera, Whiteley. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Julie Lea talks about handling such diverse repertoire, making her way to opera via musical theatre, and what attracts her to certain roles. She also offers a special preview of The Merry Widow, which she'll be starring in at the Sydney Opera House in January 2021.

From 1970 until 2004, Anson Austin was one of our audience’s favourite singers. He tackled some 50 leading roles in his 34 years at Opera Australia and partnered with singers such as Dame Joan Sutherland and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in everything from Puccini to Mozart and contemporary opera. Known for his effortless upper register, extraordinary versatility and professionalism, Anson has remained an essential part of our company since his retirement as a singer, and served on the Opera Australia Board from 2005 to 2016, lending his expertise and experience to the company. In this interview with our Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Anson reflects on the highlights of his career, starting with his early days in New Zealand, discovering his voice as a high school student. He also discusses his experiences learning with legendary teacher Dominique Modesti and the secrets to longevity as a singer.

Chen Shi-Zheng is a visionary in the truest sense of the term. The Chinese-born director is known around the world for the extraordinary universes he brings to the stage in his deeply moving productions. In this conversation with Opera Australia’s Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Chen reveals the life experiences that have influenced his unique perspective as a director. Starting with his turbulent childhood in China, Chen explains how he went from studying to be a Chinese opera singer to creating his own productions on the world stage. He also talks about his landmark production of the 22-hour Chinese epic The Peony Pavilion, and how it led him to direct Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In 2021, Chen will become the first Chinese director to ever take on the Ring Cycle. In this conversation, he shares his vision for the production and the eclectic influences he’s drawing on to create a surprising new experience for audiences. Chen also performs a popular Mongolian song, accompanied by Tahu Matheson.

Armenian-Australian singer Natalie Aroyan is one of the country’s leading sopranos, having taken on some of the biggest roles in the opera repertoire. But it wasn’t always her dream to be an opera star – instead, she had singers like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Tina Arena in her sights. In this fascinating conversation with Lyndon Terracini, Natalie reveals her journey from budding pop singer to centre stage at the Sydney Opera House. She talks about making her professional debut as Mimì in La Bohème, tackling the enormous demands of the title role in Aida, and learning her craft from opera world royalty. Natalie’s roles at Opera Australia also include Desdemona (Otello), Micaëla (Carmen), Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra) and Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg). The conversation finishes with a special performance of ‘Krunk’ a song by Armenian composer Komitas, accompanied by Opera Australia’s Head of Music, Tahu Matheson.

For five decades, Brian Thomson has been one of Australia’s most influential designers. He started his career in close collaboration with the director Jim Sharman and created designs for three of the biggest rock musicals of all time: Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair and The Rocky Horror Show. In the years since, he’s had an extraordinarily varied career, working on projects ranging from small-scale indie theatre to the biggest live performance events in the world. He designed the world’s most enduring cult film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and in 1996 won a Tony Award for his design for The King and I on Broadway. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Brian talks about discovering his love for set design as a young architect and creating the extraordinary visual concept for our first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, La Traviata. He also shares stories from his time as the production designer for the Sydney 2000 Olympics Closing Ceremony, and working with Australian icons.

Born in Mexico City, Diego Torre has been a leading tenor for Opera Australia for many years. Diego’s most celebrated roles include Radames (Aida), Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana), Canio (Pagliacci), Calaf (Turandot), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Gustavus (Un ballo in maschera), The Duke (Rigoletto), Gabriele Adorno (Simon Boccanegra), Rodolfo (Luisa Miller) and the title role in Don Carlo. In this conversation with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Diego shares stories from his life and career, starting with his days as a young singer in Mexico City. Diego reflects on his career and performs the very well known song 'Granada' by Agustín Lara in his native language.

Elena Kats-Chernin is one of Australia’s most successful and prolific composers, working across opera, concert music, ballet and film. She even composed our first opera for television, The Divorce, which aired on ABC TV across four episodes in 2015. Most recently, she won rave reviews for the score of Whiteley, our 2019 opera about the life and work of Australian painter Brett Whiteley. Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan (at the time part of the Soviet Union) and studied in Moscow before moving to Australia in 1975. She studied piano and composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Soon after graduating, she moved to Europe where she worked in some of the world’s most innovative theatres, before returning to Australia in 1994. Since then, she’s composed for many of Australia’s leading orchestras, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and for the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In this interview with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Kats-Chernin talks about her composition process, the advantages and disadvantages of being born with perfect pitch, and how the world of theatre and her many collaborations keep her inspired.

The Opera Australia Orchestra is the busiest of all Australian orchestras, giving around 300 performances every year. This extraordinary group of musicians is led by Concertmaster and Orchestra Director Jun Yi Ma. In this conversation with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Jun shares stories from his life and career, starting with his days as a young violin prodigy. At just 12 years of age, Jun travelled from his home in Shanghai to perform for President Ronald Reagan at the White House. He would go on to be tutored by one of the greatest violinists of all time, Jasha Heifetz. Jun also reflects on his career, the role of a Concertmaster, and performs the beautiful Méditation from Massenet's opera, Thaïs.

There are few singers who have achieved the same career longevity as Graeme Macfarlane. For 47 years, he’s been singing tenor roles from across a broad repertoire, and is still going strong. In this interview with Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Graeme discusses making his Opera Australia debut in 1973 in War and Peace, our first production at the Sydney Opera House. He also speaks about making the career move from baritone to tenor, the key to his long career, the changes he's seen over almost five decades as an opera singer, and explains how a police choir brought him back to the stage. The interview also features a performance of an art song by Australian composer Vera Black, accompanied by Tahu Matheson.

In this interview, Head of Props Manufacturing Mat Lawrence talks about Julie Taymor's The Magic Flute. He discusses puppets, props and polar polar bears from the floor of Opera Australia's workshop.

He's charismatic. He's sexy. He's so, so dangerous. His sweet serenades go to your head like champagne, but his total lack of remorse is hard to swallow. One moment the music is dark and ominous, the next it flies high on adrenalin. Don Giovanni loves the thrill of the chase, but his deeds are beginning to catch up with him. He can outrun a jilted lover and dodge a jealous boyfriend but a figure from beyond the grave? That might stop him in his tracks. Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a principal artist with Opera Australia, here he discusses how he prepares and performs as Don Giovanni, as well as his thrill at working with Conal Coad (Leporello).

Opera Australia's Wardrobe Production Manager, Rebecca Ritchie, discusses the process for creating the costumes featured in our 2011 production of Lakmé featuring Emma Matthews as Lakmé and Aldo Di Toro as Gerald.

In this interview, our choreographer for The Merry Widow in 2011 discusses the famous Merry Widow Waltz and why this form of dance was so controversial in its day.

Cheryl Barker discusses her role as the Countess Madeleine in Opera Australia's 2011 production of Capriccio by Richard Strauss, showing at the Sydney Opera House in July 2011.

Audience and cast reactions to the new Gale Edwards production of Puccini's La boheme, showing as part of Opera Australia's 2011 season and on at the Sydney Opera House until 24 October 2011.

Taryn Fiebig tells us a little about the rehearsal process for La boheme, and what she has learnt about herself in the process and insights into her character Musetta.