Art, Opera & Theatre

Welcome to our newest magazine

Avoca’s Art, Opera & Theatre!

We love that we can bring to you multi-million dollar opera productions from the New York Met Opera; incredible, cutting edge stage plays from London’s National Theatre and the latest in art exhibitions through insightful new documentaries about artists who have changed the world!

We have been presenting these for over 15 years and we know you love them, and others will too. We want to let others know about them, encourage them to come and share in the glory that is presented on screen, to be enriched, excited and reinvigorated by these incredible works. You can’t travel to London, New York, Amsterdam and beyond on a weekly basis, however we can enjoy them regularly together on screen right here on the Central Coast.

This new magazine brings these all into one handy magazine for you to take home with you; to take multiple copies so you can share it with your friends and acquaintances, perhaps in your village, with your neighbours, or at other groups or clubs you are a part of.

Thank you for being a part of this wonderful world!

ny Met Opera: the hours

mon 30th jan from 12pm - $25/$23

The Opera Event of the Year!

Playing to sold out audiences, the compelling production THE HOURS marks Renée Fleming’s return described as “a stunning triumph” (Variety).

With a trio of superstars - sopranos Renée Fleming & Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato –this is a moving, powerhouse adaptation of acclaimed novel & Oscar-winning film THE HOURS: the story of a day in the life of three women from different eras who grapple with their roles in society. “Prima Donnas and Emotions Soar - Achingly pretty, relentlessly stirring (NY Times).” Noon Monday 30th.

mon 6th mar at 12pm - $20

ny met opera: fedora

mon 27th feb at 11am - $25/$23

Packed with memorable melodies, showstopping arias and explosive confrontations, Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama FEDORA returns.

FEDORA requires a cast of thrilling voices to take flight, and the Met’s new production delivers with Soprano Sonya Yoncheva, one of today’s most riveting artists, singing the title role of the Russian princess who swears vengeance after her fiancé is killed.

FEDORA is about as opera as opera gets and so, the plot thickensThe killer, Count Loris Ipanov sung by star tenor Piotr Beczała, was taking his own revenge. Layer upon layer of intrigue, jealousy and enmity that turns to lust!

Director David McVicar delivers a detailed and dramatic staging based around an ingenious set that, like a Russian nesting doll, unfolds to reveal the opera’s three distinctive settings—a palace in St. Petersburg, a fashionable Parisian salon, and a picturesque villa in the Swiss Alps.

nt live: the crucible

mon 6th mar at 12pm - $20

Arthur Miller’s gripping parable of power and its abuse returns in an urgent new staging by director Lyndsey Turner.

A witch hunt is beginning in this captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Brendan Cowell (Yerma).

Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women in Salem suddenly find their words have an almighty power. As a climate of fear, vendetta and accusation spreads through the community, no one is safe from trial.

Lyndsey Turner (Hamlet, Under Milk Wood, Top Girls) directs this new staging, designed by Tony Award-winner Es Devlin (The Lehman Trilogy). Captured live from the Olivier stage at the National Theatre.

art: mary cassat painting the modern woman

mon 13th mar at 12pm - $20/$18

Mary Cassatt made a career painting the lives of the women around her. Her radical images showed them as intellectual, feminine and real, which was a major shift in the way women appeared in art.

Presenting her astonishing prints, pastels, and paintings, this film introduces us to the often-overlooked Impressionist whose own career was as full of contradiction as the women she painted. She printed, sketched, and painted dozens of images of mothers and children yet she never married or had children herself. She was a classically trained artist but chose to join a group of Parisian radicals –the Impressionists – a movement that transformed the language of art.

The world’s most eminent Cassatt curators and scholars help tell this riveting tale of great social and cultural change; a time when women were fighting for their rights and the language of art was completely re-written. Mary Cassatt and her modern women were at the heart of it all.

ennio - the maestro

mon 20th mar at 2pm & sun 26th at 6:30pm- $15 ENNIO explores the life & work of legendary composer, Ennio Morricone, who dramatically altered the landscape for music in the movies. Taking you deep into the mind and imagination of an astonishingly audacious music-maker interspersed with a fascinating mosaic of cinematic and musical moments for which he was the co-creator.

This awe-inspiring, engaging film will satiate lovers of all artforms who wish to further understand the creative process and mindset of one of the most iconic creative figures of modern times. You will leave understanding just why he is revered.

Includes interviews with renowned filmmakers & musicians, recordings from Morricone’s acclaimed world concert tours, clips of classic films scored by Morricone & exclusive footage of scenes and places that have made up Morricone’s life.

Director Guiseppe Tornatore, who gave us such great films as Deception, Cinema Paradiso and The Legend of 1900 amongst many others, had the foresight to make this film with Ennio Morricone before Ennio died, giving us incredible insight into this absolute genius!

mon 24th apr at 12pm - $20/$18

nt live: life of pi

mon 3rd apr at 12pm - $20

Puppetry, magic and storytelling combine in a unique, Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of the best-selling novel and film.

After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?

Filmed live in London’s West End and featuring state-of-the-art visuals, the epic journey of endurance and hope is bought to life in a breath-taking new way.

“It will make you believe in theatre. A triumph.” (Sunday Times)

“Breath-taking. It will make you believe in the power of theatre. Roar it out: this is a hit.” (The Times)

“Extraordinary. One of the most visually stunning shows I have ever seen.” (Time Out)

art: vermeerthe blockbuster exhibition

mon 24th apr at 12pm - $20/$18

In 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will open its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history with loans from across the world. This major retrospective brings together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance.

You are invited to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of Rijksmuseum and the curator of the exhibition. Plus discover some of what the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis in the Hague have uncovered about Vermeer’s artistry, his artistic choices and motivations for his compositions, as well as the creative process behind his paintings.

Includes for the first time the newly restored Girl Reading a Letter at the Open Window on display.

mon 3rd apr at 12pm - $20

vermeer the blockbuster exhibition

mon 1st may at 12pm - $25/$23

ny met opera: LOHENGRIN

mon 1st may at 12pm - $25/$23

Wagner’s soaring masterpiece makes its triumphant return to the Met. His shimmering invocation of the Swan Knight and the ethereal realm from which he comes, marks a crucial stage in Wagner’s development as a composer. On the one hand, it is rooted in the genres of French & Italian grand opera that still dominated. On the other it bears the seeds of the radically ambitious new genre, the music drama, with which Wagner was about to change the course of operatic history.

In a sequel to his revelatory production of Parsifal, director François Girard unveils an atmospheric staging that weds his striking visual style and keen dramatic insight to Wagner’s breathtaking music, with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct a supreme cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role of the mysterious Swan Knight.

Sopranos Tamara Wilson and Elena Stikhina, as the virtuous duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murder, go head-to-head with soprano Christine Goerke as the cunning sorceress Ortrud, who seeks to lay her low. Bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin is Ortrud’s power-hungry husband, Telramund, and bass Günther Groissböck is King Heinrich.

nt live: othello

mon 8th may at 12pm - $20

An extraordinary new production of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy with a breathtakingly radical half-hour at the end when Dyer reveals another play beneath the story we know about jealousy and mistrust. Giles Terera (Hamilton) stars in a thrilling production with a radical climax that explores domestic violence whilst Rosy McEwen (The Alienist) is quietly radical in her role as Desdemona - never simpering or scared. She appears as Othello’s equal, and there is a tenderness and mutual respect between them.

This sub plot within the play is about the tragedy of domestic violence. The women are NOT reduced to victims here while the men, including Othello, are controlling, toxic abusers. Instead, this is an almost obvious interpretation, once we have seen and heard it, yet it makes the play feel utterly new.

mon 8th may at 12pm - $20

Never has the speech about wives and husbands (“If wives do fall”), delivered by Desdemona’s maid, Emilia (Tanya Franks), made better sense.

Othello is filmed live on the Lyttleton stage of the National Theatre. Directed by Clint Dyer

mon 22nd may at 12pm - $25/$23

ny met opera: falstaff

mon 22nd may at 12pm - $25/$23

Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy features a brilliant ensemble cast in Robert Carsen’s celebrated staging.

Falstaff is a comic opera, the very last of his 28 operas, as he approached the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following Macbeth and Othello.

The tale of FALSTAFF revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands’ wealth.

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s outstanding take on this Shakespearean comedy.

Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park, Ailyn Pérez, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

art: tokyo stories

mon 29th may at 12pm - $20/$18

Based on a major exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford, Tokyo Stories spans 400 years of incredibly dynamic art – ranging from the delicate woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige to Pop Art posters, contemporary photography, Manga, film, and more.

The exhibition was a smash-hit 5 star success, and a launchpad to travel to Tokyo to explore the art and artists of the city more fully.

This celebration of Tokyo, one of the world’s most creative, dynamic and fascinating cities, tells the stories of the artists and people who have made Tokyo famous for its boundless drive for the new and innovative.

tokyo stories

mon 29th may at 12pm - $20/$18

A beautifully illustrated and richly detailed film, set in a city which has undergone constant destruction and renewal over its 400-year history, resulting in a vibrant interesting culture.

mon 5th jun at 12pm - $20

nt live: best of enemies

mon 5th jun at 12pm - $20

David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) play feuding political rivals in James Graham’s (Sherwood) multiple award-winning new drama BEST OF ENEMIES.

In 1968 America, as two men fight to become the next president, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal.

During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a shattered nation. As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever.

Jeremy Herrin (All My Sons) directs this blistering political thriller, filmed live in London’s West End.

5 Star reviews!

‘James Graham’s dynamic, intoxicatingly thoughtful play’ (Evening Standard); ‘Stupendous. An absolute must-see’ (Guardian); ‘A scintillating, perfectly-timed play’ (Financial Times); ‘A compelling, human drama’ (The Times).

ny met opera: der rosenkavalier

mon 19th jun at 12pm - $25/$23

Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier written in 1911 was a huge success that within a few short years had been translated to Italian and played in the very best of Opera Houses.

This production is a dream cast assembled for Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy, with incredible sets and costumes too.

A stellar trio assembles to take on the lead roles of Strauss’s comedy, with soprano Lise Davidsen as the Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in as Octavian, and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie.

Bass Günther Groissböck returns as Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s father, Faninal.

Maestro Simone Young takes the podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging.

mon 19th jun at 12pm - $25/$23

mon 26th jun at 2pm - $20

nt live: good

mon 26th jun at 2pm - $20

David Tennant (Broadchurch, Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences. Professor John Halder is a ‘good’ man. But must ‘good’ men adapt to survive?

‘It’s not so much a play about the banality of evil as the apathy of evil, the hypocrisy of evil. The title refers to the fact John is a ‘good’ man… but is he? In Tennant’s portrayal there’s always a hole where there should be a conscience.’ (Time Out)

David Tennant returns to the West End in this powerful and timely reimagining of C.P. Taylor’s acclaimed play, directed by Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke.

Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

art: i, claude monet

mon 17th jul at 12pm - $20/$18

Revealing the heart and soul of arguably the world’s most loved artist; and after premiering to huge, enthusiastic audiences, I, CLAUDE MONET is back by popular demand.

Monet’s life is a gripping tale of a man who, behind his sun-dazzled canvases, suffered from feelings of depression, loneliness, even suicide.

However, as his art developed and his love of gardening led to the glories of his Giverny garden, his humour, insight and love of life are fostered, developed and then revealed to us through his work and through this film.

mon 17th jul at 12pm - $20/$18

Told through Monet’s own words and shot on location at the very spots he painted, I, CLAUDE MONET features his most loved paintings in an unforgettable, immersive art experience.

This feel good film is not to be missed!

mon 24th jul at 12pm - $25/$23

ny met opera: champion

mon 24th jul at 12pm - $25/$23

Six time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones made history in the 2021–22 season.

Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past.

Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzosoprano Stephanie Blythe is the bar owner Kathy Hagan.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to the podium to conduct Blanchard’s second Met premiere.

Director James Robinson, whose productions of Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Porgy and Bess brought down the house, oversees the staging. Camille A. Brown, whose choreography electrified audiences in Fire and Porgy, also returns.

ny met opera: DON GIOVANNI

mon 31st jul at 12pm - $25/$23

Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with a new staging of Mozart’s tragicomedy Don Giovanni.

For opera’s own Casanova, it’s just another day of pleasure seeking. Seducing a bride on her wedding day. Breaking into a woman’s bedroom in the dead of night. Killing her furious father.

When Don Giovanni hears a voice from beyond the grave, warning of impending punishment, he still has no fear. We have revealed to us the darkness in opera’s most compelling anti-hero - a psychological thriller on a grand scale.

mon 31st jul at 12pm - $25/$23

Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei as a magnetic Don Giovanni, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang are Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina—and tenor Ben Bliss sings Don Ottavio.

mon 21st aug at 12pm - $25/$23

ny met opera: die zauberflote (the magic flute)

mon 21st aug at 12pm - $25/$23

One of opera’s most beloved works receives its first new Met staging in 19 years—a daring vision by renowned English director Simon McBurney that The Wall Street Journal declared “the best production I’ve ever witnessed of Mozart’s opera.”

The sublime fairy tale THE MAGIC FLUTE moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism & is told in a singspiel (song-play) format with the musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, navigating the diverse moods of the story and score.

McBurney lets loose a volley of theatrical flourishes, incorporating projections, sound effects, and acrobatics to match the spectacle and drama of Mozart’s fable. The brilliant cast includes soprano Erin Morley as Pamina, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, baritone Thomas Oliemans in his Met debut as Papageno, soprano Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, and bass Stephen Milling as Sarastro.

Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the Met Orchestra, with the musicians visible to the audience allowing interaction with the cast.

(THE MAGIC FLUTE)