Dear Friends
Welcome to our third newsletter of the year with many interesting things to read we hope!
If you can't view the newsletter properly please click here
This link may not be operational until a few days time.
If you'd rather not receive these email any more please reply with the word 'Remove' in the subject line.
Best wishes
Alison
|
Idomeneo Box Office Some dates for your diary. The box office will open for newsletter subscribers on Monday 3 July. You will have two weeks priority before it opens to the general public on Monday 17 July. We’ll have a special offer which we’ll announce in the next newsletter and here are the performance dates and times : Wed 6 December 7.30 pm Tickets will be sold through the box office at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place. |
June 2006
Newsletter No. 3
Dear Friends,
In our third newsletter for the year we want to tell you about some more Pinchgut People. We would like you to meet two young musicians - one uses a bow and the other her voice.
|
Nicole Forsyth Nicole leads the viola section in the orchestra. She is one of Australia’s busiest freelance-ers and plays regularly with the Sydney Symphony, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and ACO and has been a member of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Nicole is a Sydney Conservatorium graduate and is planning to begin research for a PhD next year. But, best let Nicole speak for herself: Name - Nicole or Nic, Nikki, Niccles & ’Cole, SC (Surfy Chick) and Grotty, from AYO/SYO mates who went on tour with me and watched me trying to eat without spilling something right down my front. |
Music - Lots and lots! Different orchestras/ensembles every week. Some recent highlights - a Monteverdi project with Ludovico’s Band, launching Halcyon’s 2006 season, Telemann concertos with Salut, Mahler 7 with SSO & Edo; teaching viola and violin at MLC Burwood and chamber music at the Con High; and delightfully, each week, tutoring Sydney Con’s Early Music Ensemble with Neal & Danny. The biggest project recently was Bach's St Matthew Passion; EME provided the 2nd orchestra. Looking forward to a Mozart Requiem recording with the ABC, chamber music/crossover projects and to Pinchgut.
Inspiration - students/musicians of Sydney Con EME. They have recently changed to playing at A=415 on original instruments, and their enthusiasm, sense of discovery, fun and professionalism is infectious. My colleagues in the performing and creative arts, both here in Oz and o/s. Cutting edge ideas, research and brilliant performances. And terrific people to boot. Ruth Park and Melina Marchetta. Playing Beatie Bow and Looking for Alibrandi are amongst my favourite books. Park’s autobiography A Fence around the Cuckoo and Fishing in the Styx provide constant reminders that life, love, and living in a place like Sydney are amazing.
Place - In the water… any water! Surfing northern beaches breaks; swimming endless laps at pools round Sydney; late afternoon swims in golden twilights at harbour pools.
Food - Breakfast, for sure. Scrambled eggs, bircher muesli, good coffee and great friends around the table - preferably in a waterside café.
Film/Play - Etre et Avoire (To Be and To Have), The History Boys - Alan Bennett
Favourite words of the week? Flow, falling, fun, and …. yes.
Jane Sheldon Among the musical things I think are wonderful are - early music, 20th and 21st century song, Bjork - who is just a genius, my colleagues in the Yarts in Australia for surviving against adversity and the audience members who come to see the results, the B-52s, Dawn Upshaw, the fact that Aussie hip-hop is so political, Tom Waits, Unkle Ho, Halcyon, John Zorn, Jaimie Leonarder and the Mu-Mesons, Joanna Newsom, Charles Mingus, Radiohead, Meredith Monk, and dancing! I also love Sydney Children’s Choir for so wonderfully pushing me toward music while my back was turned. |
|
Some of my moonlighting musical activities - being one half of the go-go-dancing support act for fried chicken-lovin’ US trashabilly band Southern Culture on the Skids, singing with experimental pop band Gauche (4 stars from Rolling Stone!), and putting together a cabaret show about gluttony with fellow Pinchgutter Anna Fraser.
Odd things I have in common with more than a couple of Cantillation members - I am originally from Newcastle, I’m from a dairy farming family, I’m a fan of Icelandic band Sigur Ros.
Why I’m looking forward to Pinchgut this year - Same reasons as every year - it’s always exciting to work with new principals, directors, and designers who are highly-skilled specialists and whose expertise bring new ways of listening and thinking; it’s such a ball being in costume; and primarily because I just love all my musical colleagues to bits and I always feel very honoured and privileged to work with them. Every year I learn such a great deal from them all and I can’t wait to do it again.
Some capricious things I would like more of - overseas travel, a more direct acquaintance with the Australian landscape, books, dancing, cheese, shoes, and always music.
 |
Overseas news Liz and Ken are overseas visiting Pinchgut artists working in the US and some US opera companies. Director Justin Way (Semele, Fairy Queen and Dardanus) and designers Andrew Hayes and Kimm Kovac (Fairy Queen) opened a new production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio at Chicago Opera Theatre, and Ken and Liz saw a performance, and met Brian Dickie, the General Director of the company. The production was a great success with the Chicago Tribune saying “The work has had to wait 22 years to be mounted by a major Chicago company. It was worth the wait.” COT is a very interesting company and has many fine productions which you can see at www.chicagooperatheater.org |
Liz and Ken then went off to see Antony Walker conducting the American premiere of Laurent Petitgirard’s The Elephant Man for Minnesota Opera. Liz says that she wept throughout this very moving portrayal of the story of Joseph Merrick, and a review just out in Opera-Opera says “An impressive and sensitive production of a most curious opera.” Ken and Liz also caught up with baroque violinist Dominic Glynn who - in his other life - works for Pixar in San Francisco. photo courtesy of Minnesota Opera |
 |
 |
Idomeneo’s First Home Idomeneo was commissioned by Elector Karl Theodore. It was first performed in the Residence Theatre Munich in 1781. The theatre had been built between 1751 and 1755 for the Elector Max III Joseph from plans prepared by a French architect Francois Curvillies the Elder. It opened in 1755 with a performance of Ferrandini’s opera Catone in Utica (still sometimes, but not often, performed). |
 |
The theatre was considered the greatest example of rococo style anywhere. It was used for performances of Italian opera almost continuously until 1944. The theatre was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. Fortunately, the boxes and much of the interior fittings had been removed for safe keeping so the theatre was able to be rebuilt, on a nearby site, in 1958. It is currently closed for extensive renovations and will reopen in 2008 when, we hope, it will again be used for performances of music of the baroque.
Pinchgut on tour? © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung / www.schloesser.bayern.de
Idomeneo Synopsis
Principal Characters:
Idomeneo, King of Crete; Idamante, his son; Ilia, Trojan princess, daughter of Priam, King of Troy; Elettra, princess, daughter of Agamemnon, King of Argos; Arbace, the King's friend; High Priest of Neptune; Voice of the Oracle
The Trojan war has ended. The victorious Greeks, among them Idomeneo, King of Crete, are on their way home after many years. Before Idomeneo's fleet reaches the shore, the ships are destroyed in a terrible storm. Idomeneo makes a bargain with Neptune, the god of the sea: in return for his life he will sacrifice the first person he meets on the shore.
Act I Crete: a dungeon in the royal palace
Ilia, daughter of the defeated King Priam of Troy, is among the Trojan prisoners held captive on Crete. She is torn between her hatred of the Cretan enemy and her love for Idamante, son of Idomeneo, but fears that he loves Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon, who has taken refuge on Crete. Idamante releases Ilia and the other prisoners and then confesses his love to her, but she hides her own feelings. Arbace arrives with news of Idomeneo's death at sea. Elettra, who had hoped that Idomeneo would marry her to Idamante, is desperate, especially so after seeing the behavior of Ilia and Idamante. The dilemma and the triangle have now been created.
On the beach
Idomeneo has got safely to the beach. Idamante, looking for the body of his father among the shipwrecked, sees him, but neither recognizes the other. Idomeneo knows only that this young man must be the sacrifice promised to Neptune. The truth of each’s identity gradually dawns on them, and Idomeneo pushes his son away and rushes off in desperation, leaving behind a confused and unhappy young man.
Act II The royal palace
Idomeneo tells Arbace of his promise to Neptune and both ponder on what to do. Arbace tells the king to send Idamante and Elettra to Argos. With Idamante safely out of the way, they will find another way to placate Neptune. Ilia asks Idomeneo whether he approves of his son's action in freeing the Trojan prisoners. His reassurances calm her fears. The desperate king, however, realizing that Idamante and Ilia are in love with each other, begins to suspect that Neptune's wrath is fanned by this love, and by the release of the captives, and laments the fact that now there will be three victims: Idamante, to be struck down by the sacred axe, himself, and Ilia probably driven to death by grief.
An open place
Elettra bids farewell to Crete, confident that once he is away from Ilia, she will win Idamante's love. But before their ship can sail, a violent storm breaks out, the earth splits open and a gigantic monster rises up from the boiling sea. The Cretans are terrified at the renewed anger of Neptune, and they wonder about the cause. Idomeneo admits to his people that it is his fault, but does not tell of his terrible promise. The crowd flees in horror.
Act III The royal palace
Idamante farewells Ilia: he is determined to fight the sea monster and does not expect to return. At last Ilia admits her love for him. The happy couple's duet is disturbed by the arrival of Elettra and Idomeneo, and the king once more orders his son to leave Crete immediately, without telling him the reason for his apparently unloving and cruel behavior. Arbace brings news of the Cretans' uprising. Led by the High Priest, they are storming the palace, demanding to see the king. The High Priest tells of the sea monster devastating the island, of streets running with blood. Idomeneo tells them the victim's name. On hearing that Idamante must be sacrificed, the crowd is horrified.
An open place
As the sacrificial ceremony is being prepared, sounds of rejoicing in the distance tell of Idamante's defeat of the sea monster. The young man, realizing now that all along his father had acted out of love, arrives and offers himself up for sacrifice to fulfill Idomeneo's promise. The axe is about to come down on Idamante when Ilia rushes up to receive the fatal blow herself. At this, a great noise fills the air and the voice of the Oracle declares that 'love has triumphed'. Idomeneo must give up the throne and install Idamante as the new king, with Ilia as his queen. Everyone rejoices except Elettra who, upon seeing that all her hopes of marrying Idamante are gone, flies into a mad rage. Idomeneo tells the crowd how much he is looking forward to retirement. The people of Crete sing and dance the praises of the new royal couple.
Begging Bowl Since our last newsletter, we have received many donations and quite a few people have joined our list of Heroes. Thank you! We do need more. We operate on a very thin cost structure. Our money, apart from rental for City Recital Hall, advertising and some very low administrative costs, goes on the productions. Box office pays for a large part of that, but not all. We need donations and corporate sponsorships to close the gap between our costs and box office. Government grants, though welcome, will never do that. If you like what Pinchgut is doing and you want us to survive, the best thing you can do is buy tickets and bring your friends to our shows. But also, if you can manage it, please consider making a donation. Donations over $2 are tax deductible and receipts will be issued for you tax records. Cheques payable to Pinchgut Opera Public Fund should be sent to us at PO Box 239 Westgate 2048. Any questions to Liz Nielsen at 9908 1962. Please? |
So what is Pinchgut about?
We have had many people joining our newsletter list over the past few months. Welcome all! We thought they might be interested in reading about Pinchgut’s aims. Everyone else can skip this bit.
Idomeneo will be our fifth production. When we decided to set up Pinchgut – nearly seven years ago now – we agreed on some aims we had for the new company. We realized that if Pinchgut was to survive and grow it needed to do something that was not already being done in Sydney. So here is what we set out to do:
Present opera in a more intimate form, where the audience could feel close to an involved with the music.
Present operas that were not being performed regularly by the major companies. Operas that are not well known, but deserve to be.
Give audiences the chance to hear young artists not yet recognized and Australian artists living overseas.
Partly out of necessity but mostly because we believed it was the right thing to do, we set out to build the company on a simple cost structure. Grand opera as done in major opera houses has become hugely expensive to present and we believed that, while certainly not compromising on artistic matters, we could contain costs. “Creativity in place of big budgets” became the slogan. And we were determined to avoid bureaucracy.
We have stuck to these quite well and see no need to change them. We did not plan to concentrate on works from the baroque period – it is just that there are so many great baroque and early classical operas that deserve to be performed. And they suit the acoustic of City Recital Hall very well. Maybe we will venture into the 20th or 21st century soon. One aim that we have added is to be fun and enjoyable. We want everyone who becomes part of Pinchgut to enjoy the experience. That includes musicians, creative people and others involved in the production as well as the audience.
Pinchgut Opera is very pleased to be associated with Sydney Children’s Choir and Gondwana Voices who are developing the next generation of singers for us all. Sydney Children's Choir is looking for all alumni of the children's choir or Gondwana Voices to keep them in touch with the choir and its wonderful work. If you were, or know of, a former chorister, please contact them at admin@gondwanavoices.com.au or call (02) 9251 4226 for more information and to register your contact details. You can also check out there new websites www.sydneychildrenschoir.com.au and www.gondwanavoices.com.au. |
And that’s all from us. Best wishes from Ken, Alison, Liz, Anna and Andrew.
“It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.” Tom Lehrer
Pinchgut Opera Ltd ABN 67 095 974 191
www.pinchgutopera.com.au
email : liz@pinchgutopera.com.au
PO Box 239 Westgate NSW 2048
ph. (02) 9518 1082 fax (02) 9572 8881
Sponsors
photo by John Doughty 