La Bohème returned to Melbourne this week in a new production by Opera Australia under the direction of Gale Edwards. While perhaps not as ‘over the top’ as the previous production by Baz Luhrman, it did have some Luhrman echoes. Overall this was an excellent production of an audience favorite which has stood the test of…Read More
One of Opera Australia’s gifts to opera education is its schools program. The Schools Company gives around 400 performances a year to tens of thousands of children and have been doing it for years. Many opera goers first came to this art-form via the program. This year the show is By the Light of the…Read More
Love, sex, jealousy, betrayal, murder, greed, misogyny – all standard fare in opera, and we accept it with equanimity. But menacing evil is something else, and when faced with it, as in this Australian Opera version of Puccini’s Tosca it becomes disconcerting. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling. In this wonderful production of one of the…Read More