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

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

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.