Victorian Opera 2013 Maria de Buenos Aires Program

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA & HORACIO FERRER

MARIA BUENOS AIRES

DE

TANGO AND FATAL PASSION 21 - 24 August 2013

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’s MESSAGE RICHARD MILLS

‘...a new genre of extraordinary originality that speaks across cultural boundaries.’

After five years as Managing Director for Victorian Opera, Lucy Shorrocks has announced her departure.

Victorian Opera would like to thank Lucy Shorrocks for her tireless dedication in ensuring this extraordinary art form continues to remain accessible and reach more Victorians each year. Her championing of bold new Australian work and art form collaboration has helped nurture this company’s innovative and distinct voice, and increased its profile in a vibrant performing arts landscape.

Thank you.

Richard Mills

I am delighted to introduce this wonderful piece to our city – its intoxicating melodies, infectious rhythms and fantastical text make it a masterwork. The central role of Maria requires a singer/dancer/actress capable of sending a tour de force progression from innocence and sensibility, frailty and despair to hope and of recreating the spirit of tango itself – we have found such a performer in Cherie Boogaart.

It is a special pleasure to welcome Leigh Warren to the company. Leigh has been one of the greatest dancers to come out of Australia, so much of the brilliant work of the great choreographer William Forsythe was made on him. He then led Australian Dance Theatre and Leigh Warren & Dancers with distinction, notably at the last Edinburgh Festival. He has a great fascination for this work, and I know he has captured its spirit through his unique talent.

The wonderful Andrea Katz, herself Argentinian, has shared her great knowledge of Astor Piazzolla with all the cast and orchestra in her weeks of musical preparation and we are fortunate to have the unique talent of James Crabb to lead the ensemble in our performances.

Maria, born one day when God was drunk, in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires undergoes fantastic metamorphosis and assumes many identities and associations: “Maria tango, Maria from the suburb Maria night, Maria fatal passion Maria of love, of Buenos Aires, that’s me.”

The female embodiment of the richness of Buenos Aires is given imaginative life by a dense surreal text fused with music of strength and originality – memorable for its atmospheric power.

In this work Piazzolla has created something unique – a new genre of extraordinary originality that speaks across cultural boundaries, combining good and evil, seduction, allure and inspiration: a metaphysical dimension over and above mere local colour that makes art important and lasting.

Welcome and enjoy.

Richard Mills Artistic Director

LEIGH WARREN

LUCY SHORROCKS

MANAGING DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE ‘Victorian Opera takes artistic risks and there is nothing like the exhilaration when they pay off.’

Lucy Shorrocks

This is my last program introduction as Managing Director of Victorian Opera before relocating interstate. I regularly describe this role as the best job in the world - to lead the State’s opera company through such a crucial period of development and growth has been both exciting and slightly terrifying. I leave full of many very happy memories.

Victorian Opera takes artistic risks – and there is nothing like the exhilaration when they pay off. Throughout its life Victorian Opera has collaborated with a range of partners.

These collaborations provide most of the highlights for my tenure: from Chunky Move co-production Assembly opening the Melbourne Festival, to cross art-form casting with the Malthouse Theatre with The Threepenny Opera – just one of many initiatives bringing opera to a new audience.

Maria de Buenos Aires continues this tradition, and extends our collaboration with dance companies to Leigh Warren & Dancers, who give us the chance to catch a glimpse down the dark alleyways of Buenos Aires through this powerful and moving piece of tango-opera.

Our company takes pride in its willingness and aptitude in being flexible, which is none-the-more apparent when you look at the works of composers we have performed. Handel, Bach, Monteverdi and now Piazzolla have all been performed

by Victorian Opera in the beautiful acoustic environment of the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.

Finally I’d like to thank all the current and previous artists, staff, musicians, donors and sponsors whose commitment to and passion for Victorian Opera inspires us all.

Lucy Shorrocks Managing Director

DIRECTOR’s MESSAGE ‘The picture Horacio Ferrer paints is exquisitely delicate, yet powerful, and is steeped in superstition and surrealism...’

Leigh Warren

Maria de Buenos Aires was originally conceived as music with poetry and slowly evolved into its current form. With that in mind and the fact that there is no conventional narrative sequencing, my staging is a series of tableaux or mise-enscene for each poem/song.

Unravelling the mystery of Maria de Buenos Aires has been an incredible journey. Luck threw me into the paths of a number of intense, intelligent and generous Argentinians who gave me insights into this unusual melding of music and poetry. Who was Maria? Did she ever exist, or is she the composite of all the women of the night that prowl the streets searching for lust and reward? I believe Maria is part urban myth and part of the patina of the city of Buenos Aires. She and the band act as a medium through which we catch a glimpse of the surrealistic Latin imagination and its marriage with reality in this fantastic South American city.

The goblin poet calls back the already dead Maria to re-awaken her spirit enabling him to create his epic poem on the existence of the ephemeral Maria. El duende is the name given to a spirit that lives in us that allows us to be who we really are – it must be nurtured and cared for or it will abandon us, never to return.

The picture Horacio Ferrer paints is exquisitely delicate, yet powerful, and is steeped in superstition and surrealism that even lends sentient states to the bandoneon. Ferrer says “Maria grew up in seven days” this refers, I believe, to her loss of innocence – yet the child Maria was blessed with a charisma, style and talent to mesmerise through song and dance, and to inspire a myth.

My interpretation follows and flows around the music, juxtaposing mise-en-scene to reflect the text and the situation.

The venue is a bar on the waterfront brimming with patrons, escorts, waiters, tango dancers, street walkers and entertainers in a web of pleasure. The card games are an indication of destiny as much as gambling; the alcohol loosening restraint and setting minds adrift while the women offer pleasure and escape.

Working with live music is one of our priorities and to have the chance to work with these singers and musicians has been fantastic.

Leigh Warren Director

SYNOPSIS MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES

‘The girl born on a day when God was drunk - born with a curse in her voice.’

Part 1, Scene 3

PART I

PART II

Scene 1: Alevare, Night In Buenos Aires El Duende (the Goblin) loves Maria and, from deep in the memory, conjures up the forgotten image of Maria de Buenos Aires.

Scene 10: Funeral Countermilonga for the first death of Maria The Goblin tells of Maria’s bizarre funeral rites.

Maria was buried by two beggars to the toll of the tips in the dregs of an espresso... Maria de Buenos Aires cried for the first time.

Scene 2: Maria’s Theme Maria’s language is the tango, and her image appears as the dance begins.

Scene 3: Lame Ballad for a Crazy Hurdy-Gurdy Accompanied by the Goblin and the Voices of the Men who returned from Mystery, the Cantor begins Maria’s story – the girl born on a day when God was drunk - born with a curse in her voice. She was loved and loathed, and frequented the brothels of Buenos Aires.

Scene 4: I Am Maria Maria sings of herself – Maria tango, slum Maria, Maria night, Maria fatal passion!

Scene 5: Carriegan Milonga for the Child Maria A Sleepy Sparrow (a poor, young city tramp) is the first man to love Maria and tells of her origins – of the street which dealt her cards to hate; of a mother weaving idleness and a father beset by failure. But Maria doesn’t love the Sparrow. But he says that, although she will leave the suburbs of Buenos Aires, she will always hear his voice.

Scene 6: Fugue and Mystery, Instrumental Scene 7: Waltzed Poem Maria embraces a life of obscurity, allowing herself to be seduced by the bandoneón and the tango, while sensing her imminent death.

Scene 8: Accusation Toccata The Goblin becomes caught up in his story and accuses the bandoneón of having seduced, corrupted and insulted Maria.

The Goblin splits the bandoneón down the middle – “so that you may die sad, in a sort of tango nausea”.

Scene 9: Canyengue Miserere of the Old Gutter Thieves Maria has descended into the city’s underworld. The Old Thieves and brothel keepers are waiting for her and celebrate a grotesque Mass. Maria is condemned to death, but her shadow can return to the streets of Buenos Aires and be tormented by the sunlight.

Scene 11: A Letter to the trees and the chimneys Maria’s shadow is unaware of its former owner.

Lacking any memory, it wanders, writing messages on trees and chimneys – anywhere there’s shade from the sun – predicting that people will hear its tango for the first and last time when “wind, asthma of the south... starts digging his Tango Still in Buenos Aires.” Maria’s shadow finally remembers who it once was.

Scene 12: Aria of the Analysts Like a kind of bizarre side-show attraction, Maria becomes caught up with a group of psychoanalysts. Maria’s shadow doesn’t understand and can only recall a mystery – one that said “Be born”, smiled while she lived, and then finally said “Drop dead!”

Scene 13: Romance of the Drunken Goblin The Goblin is sprawled drunkenly in a “magical, spellbound bar”. Three Marionettes Drunk on Things are propping up the bar and comment on the Goblin and his pain at the loss of Maria.

Scene 14: Allegro Tangabile, Instrumental Scene 15: Milonga of the Annunciation The creatures from the magic bar have found Maria’s Shadow which tells them how the symbols of motherhood were implanted in it. The Shadow will give birth, even if nothing wants to be born of it, but all that is brought into the world is an old boot.

Scene 16: Tangus Dei (a cross between tango and Agnus Dei) The Goblin and the Cantor (a voice on that Sunday) describe a normal Sunday in Buenos Aires, but something is different. The hands of the Pasta-makers tremble in the dough. The olives in the aperitif turn into little gold stars. The Goblin describes the birth of all births. Maria has given birth to a child – not another baby Jesus, but a girl – another Maria – one who will be a Maria for all women.

Program note reprinted courtesy of The State Opera South Australia and Leigh Warren & Dancers from their original 2010 Adelaide co-production.

Image: © Tony Lewis

MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES ASTOR PIAZZOLLA & HORACIO FERRER 21 – 24 August 2013 Elizabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre Composer Astor Piazzolla Librettist Horacio Ferrer First performed in 1968, Buenos Aires.

Running time approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes including one interval.

Maria de Buenos Aires is presented by Victorian Opera in association with Leigh Warren & Dancers and State Opera of South Australia, by arrangement with Warner Chappell Music (Argentina).

Conductor Director & Choreographer Music Preparation & Supervision Set & Lighting Designer Costume Designer Sound Designer Production Manager Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Repetiteurs Language Coach

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With thanks to: Adelaide Festival Centre, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Norwest, Opera Australia, Resolution X, State Opera of South Australia - costumes & set and Timothy Sexton for rearrangement of score.

Argentine wines supplied by Untapped Fine Wines.

James Crabb Leigh Warren Andrea Katz Nigel Levings Kathryn Sproul Jim Atkins Michele Bauer Rebecca Gibbs Jess Nash Andrea Katz Phoebe Briggs Andrea Katz Carlos E. Bárcenas

CAST (in order of appearance) Maria Cantor Narrator Tango Dancer Magician Contortionist Leigh Warren & Dancers

Cherie Boogaart Nicholas Dinopoulos Alirio Zavarce Andrew Gill James James Jacinta Rohan Rebecca Jones Elizabeth Vilmanis Glen McCurley Michael Pappalardo

ORCHESTRA Victorian Opera Tango Nuevo Ensemble 1st Violin 2nd Violin Viola Cello Double Bass Flute Guitar Percussion Piano Classical Accordion

Elizabeth Jones Lerida Delbridge Jason Bunn Teije Hylkema Rohan Dasika Wendy Clarke Doug de Vries Peter Neville Andrea Katz James Crabb

VICTORIAN OPERA CHORUS Carlos E. Bárcenas, Paul Batey, Kerrie Bolton, Georgia Brooks, Frederica Cunningham, Teresa Duddy, Jeremy Kleeman, Nicholas Renfree-Marks.

Image: © Tony Lewis

RUSH HOUR OPERA's BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS 1 & 2 OCTOBER 2013 Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse Theatre 03 9685 5111 victorianopera.com.au

ESSAY THE PASSION OF MARIA

‘As it is often the case with great artists, only after [Piazzolla's] death was he truly recognised as the master creator and innovator he was.’

Andrea Katz

Together with Alberto Ginastera, Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla is Argentina's most famous and internationally performed composer. As it is often the case with great artists, only after his death was he truly recognised as the master creator and innovator he was.

Piazzolla had an unconventional upbringing. His parents were immigrants from Italy, exchanging the harshness of post WWI for the endless possibilities of the New World. Very soon his restless father, Nonino, took the family to New York.

They settled in Brooklyn, in the midst of a cultural melting pot. Here Astor learnt piano with Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninov, and discovered his first bandoneón and an undying love for tango and jazz.

Much later, after his first disappointments as a composer of classical music in Buenos Aires, he travelled to Paris to study with the legendary Nadia Boulanger. With her he consolidated his extraordinary technique, but also accepted that his creation should be channelled through tango.

He developed a new form of instrumental composition, incorporating the great influences of Bach, Bartok and Italian Opera, known as Tango Nuevo.

The third character of this blasphemous trinity is the Cantor, a singer in countless guises. Partly troubadour, partly pimp, he also brings 20th century psychosis to the plot by impersonating a psychoanalyst. His style of singing evokes the payada, improvised poetry accompanied by guitar, that first appeared around the soldiers' camp fire during the Argentinian War of Independence which broke out at the beginning of the 19th century.

Together, they dream up a child-like woman that embodies Tango, poetry and the city of Buenos Aires. Her life plays out like a mockery of the Passion of Christ: she grows up in seven days (a reference to the biblical Creation), is killed for no reason, is reborn and gives birth to the image of herself. In the opera's final scene, she is sanctified and put to sleep in a litany reminiscent of the Hail Mary: '...of oblivion art thou amongst women, of portent art thou amongst women'.

Andrea Katz © 2013

The only opera amongst his output, María de Buenos Aires, is the result of a momentous meeting with Uruguayan poet and writer Horacio Ferrer and his love affair with popular singer Amelita Baltar.

It is a magical cauldron where they conjure a place made of atavistic memories and folkloric tales.

The conventillo is a tenement with a central patio where workers, artists, drunks, dreamers and prostitutes meet in a semblance of family life. There lives and works María, the archetypal fantasy of every misogynist Italo-Argentinian male.

She is child, mother, whore, martyr and saint.

She comes out of the hemorrhagic imagination of El Duende (The Goblin), the spirit of evocation. According to Federico García Lorca at least four elements can be identified in the duende: irrationality, earthiness, a heightened awareness of death, and a dash of the diabolical. In María de Buenos Aires he is part Evangelist, part Mephisto, narrating her life like a Passion punctuated by the demonic rituals of Macumba and Black Mass.

Image: © Tony Lewis

BIOGRAPHIES

CREATIVE & CAST

BIOGRAPHIES

CREATIVE & CAST Conductor James Crabb

MUSIC PREPARATION & SUPERVISION Andrea Katz

DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER Leigh Warren

SET & LIGHTING DESIGNER Nigel Levings

Background: Scottish born James Crabb studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with classical accordion pioneer Mogens Ellegaard and was awarded the Carl Nielsen Music Prize, Denmark in 1991. He was professor of classical accordion at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1995 - 2010 and also held a long-standing guest professorship at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. Now resides in Sydney with his wife and two sons.

Background: BAMus from Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Argentina. Further studies with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, Alexander Tamir in Jerusalem and Graham Johnson in London.

Background: Leigh received an Australian Ballet School Scholarship in 1969, and studied at Julliard School of Music in New York to complete a Churchill Scholarship (1974). Leigh has been a member of Ballet Rambert, under the direction of Norman Morris, and Netherlands Dance Theatre as Principal working with choreographers such as Glen Tetley, Lar Lubavitch, Christopher Bruce and Louis Falco. In 1987 he was appointed Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre, and formed the award-winning Leigh Warren & Dancers in 1993 as Artistic Director. In 2011, Leigh commissioned a new work from Indigenous choreographer Frances Rings Breathe, which was presented at WOMAdelaide 2011 and featured a specially commissioned score and live music by William Barton.

Background: Nigel Levings is one of Australia’s leading theatre lighting designers. He has lit over 460 original productions including 160 operas and 24 musicals. His lighting for the Baz Luhrmann production of La bohème on Broadway won all three 2003 Broadway Lighting Awards – the Outer Circle Critics Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design, and the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design as well as the Los Angeles Ovation Award for 2004. He is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society. He was awarded the Centenary Federation Medal by the Australian Government for his services to opera lighting.

Other companies include: BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish, Camerata Salzburg, Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, Irish Radio Symphony Orchestra Dublin (conductor), Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Nash Ensemble, Tero Saarinen Dance Company Finland, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Goldner String Quartet, Ensemble Offspring (conductor), Opera Queensland, Australia Ensemble.

Recordings: Astor Piazzolla in Portrait DVD (Opus Arte), Piazzolla works - Song of the Angel with Australian Chamber Orchestra (Chandos), Astor Piazzolla, the Quintets with Richard Tognetti and the Tango Jam quintet (Mulberry Hill recordings); James has also recorded transcriptions of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (EMI).

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Coach: Cosí fan tutte, Language Coach: Orphée et Eurydice.

Other Companies: Coach: Ring Cycle (Sydney Symphony), Coach/Language Coach: Pelléas et Melisande (Opera Australia), Coach: Elektra (West Australian Opera), Evgeni Onegin, Zaide, The Rake’s Progress (Aldeburgh Festival, UK), La Fanciulla l West (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Salomé, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier (Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra), Das Rheingold, Nabucco, Elektra (Auckland Philharmonia, NZ).

Concert Repertoire: Founder and Artistic Director of Songmakers Australia.

Recordings: Lest we forget, Tall Poppies Records, Fortune my Foe, Move Records.

Other Companies: Director and Choreographer: Maria de Buenos Aires (State Opera of South Australia and Leigh Warren & Dancers), Director: Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach Parts 3 & 4, Director: Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach Parts 1 & 2 (State Opera of South Australia and Leigh Warren & Dancers), Director: Akhnaten (State Opera of South Australia and Leigh Warren & Dancers).

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Lighting: Midnight Son. Other Companies: Lighting design for; Bliss (Opera Australia and Edinburgh Festival), Of Mice And Men, Lakme, Macbeth and The Love Of The Nightingale (at the Sydney Opera House), Maria De Buenos Aires (State Opera of South Australia) Roméo Et Juliette (Los Angeles Opera). Broadway production of The King And I, The Demon (Bregenz Festival and for Opera Zürich), Billy Budd (Welsh National Opera, Opera Australia, Canadian Opera, Houston Grand Opera and English National Opera), Wozzeck (Opera Australia), Orfeo (Innsbrucker Festwochen and Deutsche Staatsoper at Unter den Linden). The Baz Luhrmann productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La bohème (Opera Australia and Broadway) A Christmas Carol (The Royal Shakespeare Company), La Belle Vivette (English National Opera), Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Company), Simon Boccanegra (Royal Opera House), Simon Boccanegra (Washington Opera and Dallas) La Traviata, Hansel and Gretel and Don Carlos (Opera Australia), Orfeo (State Opera of South Australia).

CREATIVE & CAST

CREATIVE & CAST

BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHIES COSTUME DESIGNER Kathryn Sproul

SOUND DESIGNER Jim Atkins

MARIA Cherie Boogaart

CANTOR Nicholas Dinopoulos

Background: A graduate in Stage Design from NIDA, Kathryn was Resident Designer for Magpie Theatre and State Theatre Company of South Australia from 1988 – 1993. Event designs include Flamma Flamma: The Fire Requiem, which opened the 1998 Adelaide Festival of Arts, Click! The Millennium Event, South Australia’s 1999 New Year’s Eve Celebration and Event Development and Design for Centenary of Federation South Australia in 2001. Film and television credits include Set Design for Talking Heads (ABC 2008 – 2010) and Poh’s Kitchen (ABC). Kathryn was Venue Manager & Designer for Queen’s Theatre, awarded Best Venue Adelaide Fringe 2012, and designer for Sons & Mothers for No Strings Attached, which won the Festival’s Best Show Award in the same year.

Background: Jim Atkins has a long career in audio production. He has credits on well over 100 major label CD releases. Jim worked with the ABC from the mid-seventies and specifically for ABC Classic FM since the early nineties and has been involved in many concert broadcasts and radio feature productions. Jim left the ABC at the beginning of 2010 and has since pursued a freelance career.

Background: Cherie Boogaart graduated from the Elder Conservatorium in 1998. She was Young Artist with State Opera of South Australia in 1999, and has since been a regular performer in opera, musical theatre, cabaret and festival productions.

Background: Studied at The University of Melbourne; The Opera Studio Melbourne. Prolific concert artist and recitalist. Core member of Songmakers Australia.

Other Companies: Designer: Muckheap (Polyglot Puppet Company, Shanghai tour 2011and Australia tour 2013); The Flood (Finucane & Smith, & Critical Stages tour 2012). Costume Designer: for Maria de Buenos Aires (Leigh Warren & Dancers and The State Opera of South Australia), Set Design for 42nd Street, Damn Yankees, Crazy for You and The King & I (The Production Company), Noises Off, Uncle Vanya, & Hamlet (State Theatre of South Australia). Second to None a collaboration between Kurruru Youth & Vitalstatistix; True West (Flying Penguin Productions) Melrose Under the Big Top (Country Arts South Australia and the community of Melrose SA). Event Designer: Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2005 – 2011, Adelaide Fringe 2006, Design/Making Team: Fringe Parade 2009-2011. Production Designer: Charters Towers: the Musical for Queensland Music Festival 2005, Paradise: the Musical and Coorparoo Sk8 for Brisbane Festival 2006, Other major festival work includes Event Designer for Adelaide Festival Centre’s OzAsia Festival & Moon Lantern Parade 2007-2013 & Adelaide International Guitar Festival 2007, 2008, 2010 & 2012.

Recordings: Jim has engineering credits on the Paul Kelly release Conversations with Ghosts and a live recording of Shane Warne - The Musical.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Sound designer: Sunday in the Park with George, Nixon in China.

Other Companies: Sound design/operator Namatjira (Big hART production); Sound operator Bliss and The Merry Widow (Opera Australia).

Other Companies: For State Opera of South Australia; Maria: Maria de Buenos Aires, Sandman: Hansel and Gretel, Wowkle: The Girl of the Golden West, Giovanna: Rigoletto, Messenger: Orfeo, Kasturbai: Satyagraha, Phil: The Station, Nefertiti: Akhnaten. For Co-Opera; Dorabella: Così fan tutte, Orlofsky: Die Fledermaus, Third Lady: Magic Flute, Peaseblossom: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For Bel Canto Opera; Carmen: Carmencita, Alisa: Lucia di Lammermoor. For Adelaide Cabaret Festival: Sonidos de España, Cindy: The Beauty Spot, Songs to make you feel Sexy. For Adelaide Festival Theatre: Ainadamar, Hot Box Doll: Guys and Dolls, South Pacific.

For Perth Cabaret Festival: He and She don’t go together. Singular Productions: Elegies I love you, you’re perfect, now change.

Concert repertoire: Messiah, Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), King David.

Other Companies: Keeper of the Madhouse: The Rake’s Progress (Auckland Philharmonia), The Poet: The Barbarians (World Premiere - Helpmann Award nomination, Best Opera category) (IHOS Opera/ MONA FOMA), The Goldsmith: The Juniper Tree (Australian Premiere), Martino: L’occasione fa il ladro, Mars/Styx: Orphée aux enfers, Leporello: Don Giovanni, Title role: Il Maestro di Cappella (The Opera Studio Melbourne), L’apparizione/ Il Medico: Macbeth (Heidelberg Choral Society), Caronte/Plutone: L’Orfeo (Melbourne Spring Early Music Festival), Bartolo/Antonio: Le Nozze di Figaro (Monash University).

Concert Repertoire: Extensive concert experience across a wide repertoire including the major works of Britten, Grainger, Puccini, Dvořák, Fauré, Schubert, Rossini, Mozart, Haydn, Händel, Bach, Buxtehude, Carissimi and Monteverdi. Nicholas has also performed in world premieres of several new works from among the rising generation of Australian composers.

Recordings: Grainger Tribute to Foster: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis (Chandos Records). Nicholas makes regular appearances on live-to-air broadcasts on ABC Classic FM and 3MBS FM.

CREATIVE & CAST

CREATIVE & CAST

BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHIES

TANGO DANCER Andrew Gill

MAGICIAN James James

CONTORTIONIST Jacinta Rohan

NARRATOR Alirio Zavarce

Background: Since 1999, Andrew Gill has been the principal dancer and choreographer with Southern Cross Tango. In Argentina, Andrew has studied intensively with Maestros of Argentine Tango, including Milena Plebs, Julio Balmaceda, Corina De La Rosa, Demian Garcia, Alejandra Mantinan, and Gustavo Naveira. Andrew has co-directed and produced 14 tango festivals in Victoria and South Australia, choreographed and directed over 30 theatrical tango shows, and taught over 5000 tango classes. With Southern Cross Tango, Andrew has performed, danced in milongas and taught classes in Buenos Aires, New York, Los Angeles and Oslo. Australian performance appearances include WORMAdelaide, various cabaret, fringe and music and art festivals.

Background: Whilst studying accounting, James’ real passion was magic; sleight of hand, particularly with cards, coins, and easy to obtain objects, that he could use to entertain himself and others around him. Reading many books and studying from video, he became proficient in the age old art of legerdemain. It wasn’t long before he realised his true calling, and began travelling internationally to entertain and amaze people from all over the world, and in different languages.Whilst living in Athens Greece, he created specific performances for large product launches including Ford Motor Company, Warner Lambert, Philip Morris, Leo Burnett, Reemtsma, National Greek Television, and L’Oŕeal, where he performed a levitating/vanishing woman act under the shadow of the Parthenon. James has performed in Maria de Buenos Aires since its premiere in Adelaide in 2010.

Background: Jacinta Rohan completed a Bachelor of Circus Arts at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA.) Trained from a young age in dancing and calisthenics, Jacinta specialised in contortion and hula hoop at NICA. Jacinta performed in the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and also was an ensemble member for the production of DIVINO which premiered in the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2006 and 2007 return season. Jacinta went on to perform across the P&O cruise liners as a guest entertainer for a number of contracts before returning to work with an number of independent contemporary circus companies. Jacinta is a world class contortionist combining hula hoops, handstands, and contemporary dance. Her acts include Lyra (singe and duo), Contortion (single and duo) and Hula Hoops.

Other Companies: Various festivals around the world, including and not limited to; Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Nelson (New Zealand) Street Festival, Clearwater (Florida) Sunset Festivals, Fremantle Street Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival Malaysian Street Theatre, Dubai/Oman, Halifax Canada Fringe Festival.

Other Companies: Petrouchka’s Nightmare (2009), Runtime Error (2009), Charlie Carbone’s Cotton Club (2011), Limbo (2011), Another Point of View (2013).

Background: Alirio was born in Caracas, Venezuela and migrated to Australia in 1992. In 2000 Alirio graduated from the Flinders University Drama Centre. Alirio is a founding member of the Border Project and has performed and co-created in all of its productions. He has developed and directed projects for: Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre, SYTE, Urban Myth, The Multicultural Community Council of SA, Flinders University Drama Centre, and the Community Arts Network.

For No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability Alirio has directed, written and performed: Trapped Winner of the 2011 Fringe Graham Smith Peace Trust Award and Sons & Mothers – Winner of the 2012 Fringe Best Theatre Production, Adelaide Festival Centre inSPACE development Award and The Adelaide Critics Circle Best in Fringe Award. In 2013 Alirio wrote and performed The Book of Loco – Winner of the 2013 Fringe Best Theatre Production, Adelaide Festival Centre inSPACE development Award and wrote & directed The Migration Project which was presented as part of Come Out Festival 2013.

Other Companies: Dancer: My Latin Heart (World Premiere) Grigoryan/Adelaide Cabaret Festival (2013), Dancer: The Night is Tango, St Johns Feast of Music (2013), Dancer/Tango Mystique: Buenos Aires in the Vales Southern Cross Tango (2013), Dancer/Vintage Tango/Buenos Aires in the Vales Southern Cross Tango (2012), Tango Dancer: Maria de Buenos Aires Leigh Warren & Dancers Brisbane Festival (2011), OzAsia Festival Adelaide (2010), Choreographer: Speaking in Tongues, State Theatre Company of South Australia (2011), Dancer and Choreographer: Tango Poetica, Melbourne Tango Poetica (2011), Dancer and Choreographer: The Mystique of Tango Organs of Ballarat Goldfields (2010), Dancer: Tango Futur Canberra International Music Festival (2008), Dancer: Music to inspire Musica Viva (2006), Dancer: Tango Noir Australian Tango Festival (2005), Dancer: Street Corner Man Sidewalk Tango (2002), Dancer: Intersecting Worlds Melbourne (2001).

Other companies: Over the last 13 years Alirio has numerous performance credits with many theatre companies across Australia including Windmill, State Theatre of South Australia, Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre.

PATRONS VICTORIAN OPERA Victorian Opera acknowledges with great appreciation the gifts and pledges it has received from the following donors:

Founding Patrons The Late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE Lady Potter AC

Patron in Chief The Honourable Alex Chernov AC QC Governor of Victoria

Victorian Youth Opera Patron Betty Amsden OAM

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE Jennifer Brukner William J Forrest AM John & Diana Frew Richard & Isabella Green Peter & Anne Laver Mrs Jane Hemstritch Hans & Petra Henkell

Victorian Opera Education Syndicate Betty Amsden OAM Buckett Family Hans & Petra Henkell

Victorian Opera New Work Syndicate Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM Ken & Marian Scarlett Joy Selby Smith Felicity Teague

Living Bequest Susan Harley

Diamond Patrons ($10,000+) Betty Amsden OAM The Late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE Schapper Family Foundation

Platinum Patrons ($5,000+) Neilma Gantner Paul Little AO & Jane Hansen Joy Selby Smith Dr John & Elizabeth Wright-Smith Anonymous (1)

Gold Patrons ($2,500+) Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM Lynda Campbell Bruce Curl Craig D’Alton & Peter Sherlock Marj & Eduard Eshuys Dr Gavan Griffith AO QC David & Megan Laidlaw Joan & George Lefroy Dimity Reed Judith Rodriguez

Paul & Sandra Salteri Gregory Shalit & Miriam Faine Felicity Teague Betty Teltscher OAM John & Gail Ward Anonymous (1)

Silver Patrons ($1,000+) Joanna Baevski Lesley Bawden Laurie Bebbington & Elizabeth O’Keeffe Kirsty Bennett Sheila Bignell Buckett Family Ms Corrie Calegari & Mr Ian Law Jim & Diana Carlton Caroline & Robert Clemente Mary & Frederick Davidson Martin Dickson AM Stephanie Dundas Gareth & Merran Evans Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking Susan & Don Fry AO Mr Greig Gailey & Dr Geraldine Lazarus Bob Garlick John & Gaye Gaylard Anthony Grigg & Paul Williamson Brian Goddard Stuart & Sue Hamilton Geoff & Anthea Hone Simon L Jackson & Brian Warburton Stuart T Jennings Ian Kennedy AM & Dr Sandra Hacker AO Sue Kirkham in memory of Ian Kirkham Kemp Family John & Lynne Landy Kwong & Joanne Lee Dow Anne Lierse Barbara Loft Professor John AO & Ms Kerry Lovering OAM Duncan & Lorraine McGregor Kaye E Marion Margaret Mayers & Marie Dowling Ann Miller Ken Muirden AO Ruth & Tom O’Dea Sam Ricketson & Rosemary Ayton Michael Rigg Elžbieta & Tomasz Romanowski Joseph Sambrook & Mary-Jane Gething Michael Sassella John & Elisabeth Schiller Aubrey G Schrader

Phillip & Sue Schudmak Tim & Lynne Sherwood Bernadette Slater Lady Southey AC Michael Troy Liz & Peter Turner Catherine Walter AM Andrea Walton John & Gail Ward Lord & Lady Wilton Anonymous (6)

Bronze Patrons ($500+) John & Nancy Bomford Jasmine Brunner Neil Burns Pam Caldwell Kathie Convery Annette Cook Tanya Costello Professor Daryl & Nola Daley DJ & LJ Delaney Catrionadh Dobson & Charles Windeyer Elizabeth Douglas Jean Dunn Dennis Freeman Nance Grant MBE Jill & Robert Grogan April Hamer Sue Humphries Dr Anthea Hyslop David Jones AO OBE Angela Kayser Irene Kearsey Dr Marion Lustig David & Barbara McSkimming North East Newspapers Pty Ltd Kenneth W Park Philanthropy Initiative Australia (L Copley) Provincial Press Group John Rickard Judith Robinson Mary Ryan Margarita & Paul Schneider John & Thea Scott Mr Sam & Mrs Minnie Smorgon Hugh Taylor & Elizabeth Dax Caroline Vaillant Robyn Walton Russell Waters & Marissa Barter-Waters Ian A. Watts Anonymous (8)

If you would like to get more involved in the work of Victorian Opera through our individual giving program, please contact Catrionadh Dobson, Individual Giving Manager on 03 9001 6405 or catrionadhd@victorianopera.com.au.

VICTORIAN OPERA A BOLD NEW ADVENTURE

‘It is impossible to quantify the effects and influence of an encounter with the marvellous in art: such encounters change lives of all ages.’

Richard Mills

‘Great innovative theatrical productions that communicate how powerful the combination of words and music can be.’

Victorian Opera aspires to present distinctive and innovative opera and music theatre which captures the public imagination, develops artists and builds a reputation for excellence.

Victorian Opera is committed to presenting new opera each year and engaging the widest possible audience with accessible ticket pricing and regional touring. Victorian Opera is also committed to collaborating and co-producing with different partners (as well as festivals and other opera companies) and also maintains a vibrant education program.

The company nurtures Victorian Youth Opera, a strong youth development initiative, and presents popular community events.

As Victoria’s state opera company Victorian Opera has a unique role; to present professional opera in Victoria; maintain a commissioning program for new Australian work; create more employment and professional development opportunities for Victorian artists; and provide access to touring productions for regional Victorians. Victorian Opera has also established and maintains the only professional chorus in Victoria.

Audience member

Get Connected Share your love of opera with us, follow our behind-thescenes opera journey, hear the latest developments straight from the rehearsal room, read the latest news, reviews and exclusive artist interviews and enjoy the world of Victorian Opera with us!

Engage with us @ facebook.com/vopera

Join in the conversation @ twitter.com/victorianopera #victorianopera

See our snapshots @ instagram.com/victorianopera

View our opera journey @ youtube.com/victorianoperapage

Discover our 2013 Season @ victorianopera.com.au

Read behind-the-scenes @ victorianopera.com.au/blog

2013 STAFF VICTORIAN OPERA Conductor Emeritus Richard Gill OAM VICTORIAN OPERA BOARD Jane Hemstritch (Chairman) Francis Ebury Ross Freeman Greig Gailey Anne Gilby The Hon. Professor Barry Jones, AO Catherine Walter AM

Executive Artistic Director Dr Richard Mills AM Managing Director Lucy Shorrocks Finance & HR Manager Darren O’Beirne Finance Assistant Claire Voumard Executive Assistant Kate Stephens

Artistic AdminISTRATION/ Music/Education Artistic Administrator Elizabeth Hill Head of Music Phoebe Briggs Repetiteur Phillipa Safey Education Manager Melissa Harris Company Manager Jill Quin

Development and Marketing Development Manager Lynette Gillman Deputy Development Manager Melissa Grenville Individual Giving Manager Catrionadh Dobson Philanthropy Executive Caroline Buckley Development & Marketing Coordinator Nichole O’Duffy Marketing & Communications Manager Kanesan Nathan Marketing & Communications Coordinator Lisa Wallace Media Relations Executive Rohan Astley

Technical Operations Manager David Harrod Production Manager Michele Bauer Technical Coordinator/ Head Technican Peter Darby

COSTUME Costume Supervisor Ross Hall Cutter Tirion Rodwell Machinist Madeleine Somers

Victorian Opera 2013 Season Staff Stage Management Andrea Corish, Rebecca Gibbs, Armando Licul, Jessica Smithett, Melanie Stanton Head Mechanist Jim Henry Costume Department Maruska Blyszczak, Jane Jericho, Jung-Min Oh, Phillip Rhodes Surtitles Christian Smith

2013 SEASON PARTNERS VICTORIAN OPERA Victorian Opera is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria. Victorian Opera would also like to acknowledge, with great appreciation, the contribution of the partners listed on this page.

Government Partners

Major Sponsor and Community Partner

Foundation Partner

Discover Opera Across Victoria Partner

Supporting Partners

The City of Melbourne Triennial Program supports major and emerging festivals and arts companies, large and small.

This is just one way we ensure that Melbourne remains home to Australia’s most vibrant and diverse arts scene.

Education, Regional & Access Partners Sylvia Fisher Foundation Performance Partners

39 rEAsons Why mElBournE is thE Arts CApitAl

William Angliss Charitable Fund

University Partner

Victorian Opera creates tailored partnerships to enable businesses to meet their strategic priorities.

Partnerships are available at various levels and activity is adapted to align with each company’s objectives.

For a discussion about how your business can benefit from a partnership with Victorian Opera, please contact Lynette Gillman, Development Manager on (03) 9001 6408 or lynetteg@victorianopera.com.au.

melbourne.vic.gov.au/grantsandsponsorship

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it takes two.

The auction’s over. Enroque.

A stalemate. But hush.

Hear the compás.

A dance is about to begin.

A street dance. There’s the agent.

Here’s the bidder.

They engage. He leads with an offer. Rechazado.

She follows with a counter-offer. Bloque.

They dance some more.

Finally, connection!

The deal is done.

Like the tango, a post-auction negotiation can be a beautiful thing to behold. It’s also devilishly difficult to master.

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