Greetings from Valhalla (aka Bendigo) where 6 leading singers from Patrick Togher Artists' Management are enjoying brilliant success in Melbourne Opera’s Ring Cycle. Antoinette Halloran - Brünnhilde "An actor of exceptional emotional intelligence… Antoinette Halloran...
Siegfried has been described as the Scherzo of the Ring cycle. While it certainly has its amusing moments, it also lays the groundwork for the culminating end of the world. This is heralded by Wotan’s recognition of the inevitable and Siegfried’s destruction of his...
One hundred and seventy years after thousands of desperadoes and gold-cravers trekked to a place called Sandhurst, Wagnerites set off to Bendigo on Friday afternoon (in rather more orderly fashion it must be said, along the potholed Calder Freeway) for Melbourne...
"This first night of a complete production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the first of three cycles, took place in the Ulumbarra Theatre created out of a 19th-century gaol, boasting a large stage by Australian standards, complete with fly tower and all the...
Melbourne Opera’s Ring cycle hits its stride with an energising second instalment of Wagner’s tetralogy now playing at the Ulumbarra Theatre in Bendigo, Victoria. "As in Rheingold, conductor Anthony Negus drew wonders from the Melbourne Opera Orchestra which he...
A full program of festival events across all three Ring Cycles, including recitals, talks, gala dinners on stage at the Ulumbarra Theatre, and even an intimate concert 60 metres underground in a mine, is now available. Wagner enthusiasts will have the opportunity to...
The Royal Academy of Music is pleased to announce the musicians and performers who will be conferred honours at its 2022 graduation ceremony. This is a particularly important year, as it marks the conservatoire’s bicentenary. Honorands include a wide range of people...
Peter Craven The Spectator, Australian Arts. May 29th, 2021. It’s an extraordinary thing that a director of Bruce Beresford’s reputation should be directing for Melbourne Opera until you remember that opera is one of the performing arts the famous film director lives...
Written by: Michael Shmith, Opera Magazine. An almost year-long live-opera hiatus came to an end with a new production of Das Rheingold from the everenterprising MELBOURNE OPERA (February 3). There was certainly much to relish in this welcome emergence from the Covid...
Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard International Melbourne Digital Concert Hall (MDCH) is the brainchild of co-directors Chris Howlett and Adele Schonhardt and has been ‘created by musicians, for musicians, to support our fragile industry and connect communities everywhere...
After the difficulties of 2020 the Richard Divall Emerging Artists Programme members are very happy to be back at work and continuing to develop their craft. Two distinguished singers, recent Herald Sun Aria award winner, Georgia Wilkinson and Eleanor Greenwood join...
By Nick Miller, Sydney Morning Herald. Soon after she nearly died from COVID-19 in London last April, Australian opera singer Helena Dix sat down at her piano to see how much of her voice was left. Her go-to warm-up piece is Mozart’s aria Porgi amor: “O Love, give me...
Melbourne Opera is pleased to announce that the Federal Government has recognised the significance of its embarking on Wagner’s Ring Cycle by supporting Das Rheingold in the first round of RISE grants. These grants are particularly geared towards arts projects which...
Stephen Marsh, Richard Divall Emerging Artists Programme Associate Artist, has been awarded the Michael Stubbs and Malcolm Roberts Opera Prize. It really does take a village to raise a singer, especially in these difficult times. Stephen was an inaugural member of the...
After pandemic mayhem and postponements throughout this extraordinarily challenging year, we are pleased to report that Melbourne Opera was able to conduct the live audition component of the Richard Divall Emerging Artists Programme in the final week of November 2020...
We are very pleased to announce that soprano Louise Keast is the 2021 recipient of the Rotary Melbourne Central Next Generations Service Exchange. This opportunity is awarded annually in collaboration with the Richard Divall Emerging Artists Programme to an...
Everyone knows the arts have been hit hard by the pandemic, says leading philanthropist Maureen Wheeler. And we need to help."It's a bit like a natural disaster," she says. "You don't see the wreckage, but you do feel the loss. It's definitely a time when we're going...
Melbourne Opera is announcing the end of the world – in 2023. The company is to climb opera’s Everest: Wagner’s Ring cycle. It starts February 2021 with Das Rheingold, the 160-minute bite-sized kickoff for the epic story of gods, giants and the curse of love. And it...
Melbourne Opera’s new production of The Flying Dutchman is in the inspired hands of director Suzanne Chaundy, whose productions of Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Tristan and Isolde received resounding acclaim and several awards. Chaundy is an incredibly experienced...
Did you know, the central role of Norma is considered by many to be one of opera’s most challenging soprano roles? It requires superior technical, dramatic and musical artistry. Helena delivered on every count and unleashed her formidable bel canto to the delight of...
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