Victorian Opera 2014 - The Riders Programme

Iain Grandage & Alison Croggon, based on the novel by Tim Winton

THE RIDERS Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse 23 September – 4 October 2014

Image: Charlie Kinross

Artistic Director & Conductor’s Message

Bringing this work to life has really been a great adventure and at once engaging and enticing for all of us at Victorian Opera. New work is at the centre of the artistic practice of the company.

We place a special emphasis on the creation of new Australian work and giving it the best context, support and opportunity to succeed. Stravinsky once famously remarked that “nothing is likely about masterpieces, least of all whether there will be any” – while this is true, artistic direction involves creation of a team whose elements at least indicate the possibility of the emergence of something of lasting value capable of speaking to an audience.

We have been fortunate to have promising ingredients; a great Australian novel by Tim Winton, one of our most loved and read storytellers; librettist Alison Croggon, who is a dramaturge and poet of real stature; and composer Iain Grandage, whose structured and theatrical sense is as masterly as his technical equipment. Writing a major work for the lyric stage involves many levels of musical, textual and dramatic discourse. The music of The Riders is a complex synthesis of different elements,

ranging from celtic folksong, bazouki musica, jazz referentialities and dodecaphonic processes woven into a logically-structured and effective work for the theatre. Our cast of fine actor/singers have embraced the piece and made it their own – a sure sign of its strength: a strength established by its sure-footed language, innate theatricality and consequent communicative power. Its creators are sensitive, able and generous collaborators, flexible and concerned only with the pursuit of creative artistic truth. Our co-production with Malthouse Theatre is a good example of what can be achieved by two institutions with a core commitment to the Australian story working in harmony. I thank Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director Marion Potts and her team for their dedication and willingness to embrace the conventions of our artform and I thank Neil Armfield who made important early contributions to the formulation of the libretto.

For their continued support of Victorian Opera’s new work commissions, I also extend sincere thanks to The Robert Salzer Foundation and the Victorian Opera New Work Syndicate.

The Riders is a subject from modern Australia, rich in its juxtaposition of the old and new worlds – yet with a story that is a deeply personal and spiritual journey by a man, led by his daughter, whose intuitive and innocent comprehension of a father’s need for love, enables him to begin anew.

Welcome and enjoy.

Richard Mills Victorian Opera Artistic Director & Conductor

Richard Mills / Artistic director & conductor's message

Artistic Director & Director’s Message

story that doesn't take place in Australia – that is in a constant search, elsewhere.

Creating an opera of The Riders carries in itself an interesting tension. Scully, the down-to-earth Australian male – a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy – is brought to life through this heightened and deeply enculturated operatic form, a form that would not routinely be part of his own lived experience. But the lens through which we encounter this story very much supports it: it provides for something both intimate and epic, physical and metaphysical, for something that conjures the mysterious ‘otherness’ of The Riders, and represents Scully's traumatised, pixelating brain – at the very same moment as it allows for the outpouring of high-stake human emotion.

Alongside librettist Alison Croggon, Iain Grandage is the Australian composer who synthesises these contradictions and gives their internal tension a final cohesive expression. His own personal connection to the story and his prodigious talent bring into focus aspects of our cultural consciousness: the Winton phenomenon and his representation of Australia via our experience of other countries, languages, and forms. At some level it's a nod to the hybridity of our European culture – an Australian

The creative team broached the design with a number of key ideas drawn from the text. It felt important to anchor the world in Scully's own experience of it. Building is a central activity, a vehicle for his devotion and his tenacious pursuit of an ideal – the small house in Ireland like a humble cathedral for the deification of Jennifer. It is dwarfed by Notre Dame, but is every bit as towering. Scully in it, is an ineffectual, galumphing Quasimodo.

Many of our conversations turned back to The Riders themselves, these strange preternatural creatures that seem to exist both inside and outside of Scully, but somehow channel his terror. Are they an extension of Scully himself, intruders into his nightmares, or real creatures of the night?

Finally, the globe no less, is the setting for this story.

We wanted to conjure its shape, its enormity, its liminality – as if we were almost trapped inside it as well as traversing its surface and always in danger of falling off it. It's an elusive world that like Jennifer is always just beyond our grasp, and that keeps re-setting its own horizon line. Journey, motion, became important things to address within the design.

All of these discoveries were borne of a proper collaborative environment. Malthouse Theatre is thrilled to join Victorian Opera in a project that expands the Australian repertoire in such exciting ways.

Marion Potts Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director & Director

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & Director's message / Marion Potts

Composer's Message

Accordion, Bouzouki and Recorders and the music not only intimates various vernacular musics – folk, cabaret, music hall – but also directly quotes folk songs, including the novel’s own linking refrain On Raglan Road.

I grew up in Western Australia, a first generation Australian of English parentage. The world of my youth was filled with dunes and beaches, boulderclambering and desert trips, and whilst these places were mine to experience, the stories contained within them weren’t. Having since had the privilege of working extensively with Indigenous Australians and seeing this inescapable connection between country and culture first hand, I found myself seeking my own family’s ancient stories from within my Anglo – Celtic heritage.

So it is that I was drawn to Tim Winton’s The Riders – a novel that draws on aspects of ancient European mythology as seen through the eyes of an Australian – Scully – a ‘desert Irishman’ as Winton puts it.

Given my long relationship with Tim (starting with the stage adaptation of Cloudstreet and moving through his first play Rising Water and film of The Turning) this felt like it could be my story to tell.

When conceiving The Riders, I wanted a musical palette that could speak as much to other musical traditions as to a conventional operatic language.

To this end, the orchestration includes Piano

The interlocking harmonic languages of the characters utilize elements of Serialism, hexachordal tropes, Minimalism and fin-de-siècle Romanticism. Scully’s melodic motifs center on the interval of the Perfect 4th, which when cycled, generates the key structure for the work. Jennifer’s music is dominated by harmonies created from expanding and contracting 10ths, stacked and striving upwards, given their most direct utterance in Act 3 Scene 1. Billie’s music takes on versions of both her parents’ musical worlds, but is invariably closer to Scully’s than Jennifer’s.

The Riders themselves owe their rhythmic life to 12/8 galloping figurations (think Schubert’s Der Erlkönig) while their harmonic language is derived from a tone row that turns ever inwards.

I’ve been blessed by the quality of my collaborators on this project, and would like to thank: Neil Armfield, Alison Croggon, Richard Mills, Marion Potts and the amazing cast.

At its heart, The Riders is about the nature of love.

It deals with questions of how well we can truly know someone; how well we can truly know ourselves. Writing The Riders has been just such a process of self-examination for me. There’s a lot of me in it. My hope is that it feels like your story too.

Iain Grandage Composer Iain Grandage / COMPOSER'S MESSAGE

Librettist’s Message

The Riders is about a man whose wife inexplicably abandons him and his daughter. Scully, one of Winton’s bluff, emotionally inarticulate men, is renovating a house in Ireland, waiting for his wife Jennifer and his daughter Billie to arrive from Perth and complete the home he is making for them.

But when he goes to the airport, only Billie, traumatised and silent, is waiting for him. The novel consists of what unravels after this event, as Scully hunts frantically through Europe for his wife.

Although I’ve written a number of libretti, I’ve never adapted a novel before. They’re not the most obvious form for opera. Tim Winton’s The Riders is more than a hundred thousand words long; in order to turn it into a work of music theatre, I’ve had to boil that down into something less than five thousand.

In effect, I’ve attempted to translate The Riders into another form. Early on, Iain Grandage and I decided that the most important thing was to be true to the emotional narrative of The Riders, and in order to do that, we’ve approached the book with a free hand.

Perhaps the most obvious change we’ve made is the presence of Jennifer. In the book she is simply an absence; in the opera, mindful that it’s hard to stage an absence, we’ve given her a voice.

The Riders are Scully’s hauntings, a band of horsemen who first turn up at the castle near his bothy. They are both real and phantasmagoric. For us, they are our chorus: both witnesses to and symptoms of Scully’s panic and paralysis.

Mostly, we’ve tried to write a work that brings the emotional power of music and poetry to Winton’s story, to open up some of the complexities of love. An opera. I hope you enjoy it.

Alison Croggon Librettist

LIBrETTIST's message / Alison Croggon

THE RIDERS 23 September – 4 October 2014, Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Scully

Barry Ryan

Composer Iain Grandage Librettist Alison Croggon Based on the novel, The Riders, by Tim Winton

Jennifer

Jessica Aszodi

Billie

Isabela Calderon

Marianne

Dimity Shepherd

World premiere, 23 September 2014, Melbourne

Alex

David Rogers-Smith

Arthur

Jerzy Kozlowski

Running time approximately 1 hour & 45 minutes The Riders is presented by Victorian Opera and Malthouse Theatre

ORCHESTRA VICTORIA Concertmaster

Sarah Curro

Supported by Victorian Opera New Work Syndicate

Violin

Edward Antonov

Viola

Susanna Ling

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Cello

Daniel Curro

Projection Design and Equipment by David McKinnon, CVP Events, Film & Television.

Double Bass

Nic Synot

Recorders

Genevieve Lacey

Bass Clarinet

Brendan Toohey

Horn

Evgeny Chebykin

Trumpet

Callum G'Froerer

Trombone & Bass Trombone Guitars

Charles MacInnes

Special thanks, with reference to sound effects for the show: Janet Holmes à Court AC. The Federation Handbells are managed by Museum Victoria on behalf of Arts Victoria.

Neil Armfield, Humphrey Bower, Jenny Darling, Josh Hogan, Resolution X, Melanie Robinson, UWA School of Music.

Doug de Vries

Piano Accordion Joe Chindamo & Sampler Piano Simon Bruckard Percussion

Jennifer Morrish

CREATIVE TEAM Conductor

Richard Mills

Director

Marion Potts

Set & Costume Designer Dale Ferguson Lighting Designer

Matt Scott

Sound Designer

Jim Atkins

Assistant Director

Cameron Menzies

Stage Manager

Andrea Corish Jessica Smithett

Production Manager

Michele Bauer

Principal Repetiteur

Phillipa Safey

Repetiteur

Simon Bruckard Phoebe Briggs The Riders / PRODUCTION INFORMATION

1 O th A N N I V E R S A R Y

NEW WORLDS SEASON 2015 Find your world at victorianopera.com.au

SYNOPSIS ACT ONE

Act Three

Scully is renovating his house in Ireland, waiting for his wife Jennifer and his daughter Billie to join him from Perth. Jennifer, Billie and Scully sing together, and we hear the hint of shadows in the marriage.

Scully has his first vision of The Riders. We glimpse Billie seated with Jennifer on a plane, reading her favourite book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Meanwhile Scully waits at Shannon Airport.

Only Billie arrives.

Billie and Scully travel to Italy where they discover that Jennifer is in Paris. Billie is increasingly ill from the dog bite and a desperate Scully visits Jennifer’s Parisian friend Marianne. She taunts Scully, accusing him of beating Jennifer, and he steals her wallet and runs off. Drunk, Scully glimpses Jennifer and chases her into Notre Dame, where he has a vision of Jennifer as the Madonna. In his darkest despair, Billie saves him. They return to Ireland, where Scully sees The Riders for the last time.

Act Two In Greece, Arthur, a British expatriate, stands in a bar thinking of the Australian family who left six weeks before. Scully turns up with Billie in tow, aggressively questioning Arthur about his suspicions that Jennifer has left him for the painter Alex. Mad with jealousy, Scully drags Billie off to confront Alex, but Jennifer isn’t there. When he returns to the bar, he is told that Alex is dead and the police believe Scully is responsible. He is about to flee with Billie when she is attacked by a dog.

© Alison Croggon

The Riders / SYNOPSIS

BIOGRAPHIES

IAIN GRANDAGE Composer

Alison Croggon Librettist

RICHARD MILLS Conductor

Iain Grandage is an award-winning composer, including Helpmann Awards for Cloudstreet, The Secret River and When Time Stops and Green Room Awards for Lawn, In the Next Room, Babes in the Wood, The Odyssey and The Blue Room for theatre companies including Belvoir, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. Iain’s concert works have been performed by many Australian orchestras including Australian Chamber Orchestra, string quartets including the Brodskys and Australian String Quartet, the Australian Brass Quintet, and soloists including JeanYves Thibaudet and Sara Macliver.

Future work includes a collaboration with Kate Miller-Heidke on her opera The Rabbits. Ian is currently Musician-in-Residence at the UWA School of Music, where he is Honorary Research Fellow.

Alison Croggon is a Melbourne writer. She writes in many genres, including criticism, poetry and prose. She has written several opera libretti, most recently Mayakovsky with Michael Smetanin, which premiered with the Sydney Chamber Opera in August to critical acclaim and sell-out houses. She is the author of the internationally best-selling epic fantasy quartet The Books of Pellinor which has received critical and popular acclaim in the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Poland, and the Gothic novel Black Spring. Alison was formerly the Melbourne theatre critic for The Australian and The Bulletin and currently is theatre critic at large for ABC Arts Online.

Richard Mills is one of Australia’s most prolific and internationally recognised composers. He pursues a diverse career as a composer, conductor and artistic director. He has held numerous prestigious posts, and received many scholarships, fellowships and awards including an AM in 1999. He was Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera 1997 to 2012, Director of the Australian Music Project for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra 2002 to 2008 and Musica Viva’s Composer of the Year in 2008. Richard has been Artistic Director of Victorian Opera since 2013. Richard regularly conducts the leading orchestras and opera companies of Australia and has an extensive discography of orchestral works including his own compositions.

BIOGRAPHIES / Creative & Cast

MARION POTTS Director

DALE FERGUSON Set & Costume Designer

MATT SCOTT Lighting Designer

Marion is Malthouse Theatre’s Artistic Director. For Malthouse Theatre, Marion has directed Ugly Mugs, The Dragon, Hate, Wild Surmise, Blood Wedding, Meow Meow’s Little Match Girl and its return season at the Southbank Centre in London, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Sappho… in 9 fragments and Venus & Adonis (with Bell Shakespeare).

Other theatre directing credits include: King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare); The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Playgrounds, Volpone and Don Juan (Sydney Theatre Company); Grace (Melbourne Theatre Company); and Equus and The Torrents Gary’s House (State Theatre Company of South Australia).

Marion received the Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2006.

Dale graduated from NIDA in 1989. Recent opera work; Otello for Cape Town Opera, Western Australia Opera and Queensland Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Houston Opera and Chicago Opera, Ariadne of Naxos for Welsh National Opera and Canadian Opera, The Marriage of Figaro and Eugene Onegin for Opera Australia. Theatre credits include; Night on Bald Mountain, Dance of Death, Exit the King, Rapture; The Speechmaker, The Crucible, Top Girls, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Life Without Me, God of Carnage, The Sapphires, and August: Osage Country which received the Helpmann Award for Best Design.

For the past 20 years Matt has lit over 200 productions for theatre, opera and dance. Companies he has worked with include Victorian Opera, Malthouse Theatre, Opera Australia, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Belvoir, Bell Shakespeare, Expressions Dance Company, Queensland Ballet and New Zealand Opera. He has been nominated for and received numerous awards. He received a 2005 Helpmann Award for his lighting on Urinetown for Melbourne Theatre Company which followed his 2003 Helpmann Award win for The Blue Room, also for Melbourne Theatre Company.

Creative & Cast / BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHIES

JIM ATKINS Sound Designer

CAMERON MENZIES Assistant Director

JESSICA ASZODI Jennifer

Jim Atkins has a long career in audio production with credits on over 100 major label CDs, including several Aria awardwining recordings. Jim worked with the ABC from the midseventies and has pursued a freelance career since 2010.

Regularly working with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as sound designer and engineer, Jim was the sound designer for En Masse and the 2011/2012 national tour of Namatjira.

Recent Victorian Opera productions include Nixon in China and Sunday in the Park with George.

Cameron has worked with Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Australian National Academy of Music, Oper Köln and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Diva Opera UK. He received the 2011 Berlin New Music Opera Award, 2008 Bayreuth Opera Award, Opera Foundation Australia and DAAD, The Besen Family Artist Program (Direction), Malthouse Theatre.

In 2014 Cameron made his international debut with the critically acclaimed Don Giovanni for Diva Opera UK, and returns in 2015 to direct two new productions.

He is associate director of Pecan Summer. In 2015 will direct Victorian Opera’s The Grumpiest Boy in the World and Seven Deadly Sins.

Soprano Jessica Aszodi is an alumna of Victorian Opera’s Artist Development Program and holds a Master of Music performance from the University of California. Her practice encompasses opera, chamber music and experimental, conventional and contemporaryclassical music. Jessica has performed with the Center for Contemporary Opera New York, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, La Jolla Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in New York and Chicago, Bang on a Can and Eighth Blackbird.

Festivals include: Aldeburgh (UK), Tanglewood (Summer Festival of the Boston Symphony), Macau (China), Music X (Switzerland), Melbourne International Arts Festival, the International Festival of Exploratory Music and the Vivid (Sydney).

BIOGRAPHIES / Creative & Cast

ISABELA CALDERON Billie

JERZY KOZLOWSKI Arthur

DAVID ROGERS-SMITH Alex

Isabela Calderon has been studying classical singing since she was 7 years old. She has performed in numerous school productions with the Adamson Theatre Company including Pirates of Penzance, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Urinetown.

Isabela is currently in Year 12 completing the Victorian Certificate of Education and as part of her VCE is studying Music Performance – Classical Voice. Isabela is a member of the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble (VOYCE).

Jerzy has performed in over sixty operas as soloist and chorus member. Choral music also plays an important part in his career – he is a regular soloist in the Bach Cantata Project at St John’s Lutheran Church, Mebourne, and also with the Astra Chamber Music Society. Recent solo appearances include Martin Friedl’s Underworld Songs and Max Reger’s Hebbel Requiem.

With Victorian Opera he has performed Christus in Bach’s St John Passion, Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, bass soloist in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and toured in Così fan tutte. Future engagements include Plutone in Euridice

by Jacopo Peri (1600) at the Woodend Winter Arts Festival.

David is a highly regarded concert, opera and musical theatre artist having appeared as Piangi in The Phantom of the Opera for Really Useful Company, as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables for Cameron Mackintosh, Canio in I Pagliacci, Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Don José in Carmen and as Faust all for Melbourne Opera and in principal roles in The Merry Widow and Funny Girl for The Production Company. Concerts include Barossa Festival, Australian Pops Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a major music theatre tour of China during 2013. He made his Victorian Opera debut as Jules and Greenberg in Sunday in the Park with George during 2013.

Creative & Cast / BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHIES

BARRY RYAN Scully

Dimity ShEPherd Marianne

Australian baritone Barry Ryan has performed with Europe’s leading opera companies including the Royal Opera Covent Garden, La Scala Milan, the Opera Comique in Paris and the Paris Opera Bastille.

He was a principal artist with the Cologne Opera from 1988 to 1992 and, in 1993, made his Australian Opera debut in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

In 2007, he became a fulltime soloist with Opera Australia and has since sung Marcello (La bohème), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Amonasro (Aida) and George Milton in Of Mice and Men. In 2013, Barry Ryan sang the title role in Nixon in China for Victorian Opera and Gunther in Der Ring des Nibelungen for Opera Australia; he was also awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to music.

Dimity is one of Australia’s most established performers.

Victorian Opera credits include her Green Room award winning Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Orphee in Orphee et Eurydice, Alice in Through The Looking Glass, Arsamene in Xerxes, Nireno in Julius Caesar, her Helpmann Award nominated Lucy in The Threepenny Opera, Clara in Midnight Son, and appearances in Nixon in China and Sunday in the Park with George. She has sung Cherubino for Opera Australia, Rosina in Barber of Seville and Carmen for Oz Opera, major roles for Opera Queensland, the title role in The Ghost Wife at London’s BITE02, Melbourne and Adelaide Festivals, and premieres for Chamber Made Opera. Concert performances include Melbourne Symphony and Sydney Festival.

BIOGRAPHIES / Creative & Cast

Join us for SEASON 2015 ‘One of the most ambitious seasons we’ve ever programmed.’

— Marion Potts, Artistic Director

PACKAGES ON SALE 5 shows from $135

Explore the season at malthousetheatre.com.au

About Malthouse Theatre

Innovative and internationally recognised, Malthouse Theatre is Melbourne’s leading contemporary theatre company. Using highoctane performance as its currency, Malthouse Theatre presents a compelling annual program of multi-disciplinary works that actively engage with pressing issues in the zeitgeist.

Staging the most stirring and stimulating productions across our three theatres, as well as in the forecourt of our iconic building, we promise to leave you feeling exhilarated every time you visit. With works as provocative as they are fun, as visceral as they are affirming, you can be guaranteed to be taken on the most thrilling adventures.

And with year-round international tours, collaborations and exchanges, our footprint stretches far beyond Southbank. This year sees international presentations in Mexico and China, as well as the development of a new work in India. For our audiences at home, we’re excited to present productions with visiting artists from London, Ghent, Minsk and New York.

A melting pot of rich stories, a hub of innovative experiences and the perfect place to catch up with friends, Malthouse Theatre offers the most memorable nights out.

113 Sturt St, Southbank VIC 3006 PhoNE 03 9685 5111 Email boxoffice@malthousetheatre.com.au wEB malthousetheatre.com.au

The Team Board of Directors Michele Levine (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Frankie Airey, Ian McRae AO, Sarah Morgan, Nick Schlieper, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary

Executive Assistant Nicole Benson

operations Manager Dexter Varley

finance Manager Mario Agostinoni

Head of Lighting Stephen Hawker

finance Administrator Liz White

Head Mechanist Andy Moore

Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Scicluna

Theatre Technician Nathanael Bristow

Artistic Director Marion Potts

Digital strategy & Marketing Coordinator Alice Gage

Workshop supervisor David Craig

Executive Producer Sarah Neal Associate Artist (Direction) Matthew Lutton Associate Artist (Writing) Lally Katz Associate Artist (Composition) David Chisholm Dramaturg Mark Pritchard female Director in residence Clare Watson indigenous Engagement Jason Tamiru Associate Producer Josh Wright Company Manager Alice Muhling

Communications Coordinator Emily Fiori Graphic Designer Jane Roberts Development Manager Rachel Petchesky Development Coordinator Kim Brockett Building Manager Peter Mandersloot Ticketing Manager Emma Quinn Assistant Ticketing Manager Lauren White Production Manager David Miller Technical Manager Baird McKenna

Head of Wardrobe Delia Spicer

steel fabricator Goffredo Mameli Workshop staff Mitch O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Whitton scene Artist Patrick Jones front of House Managers Sean Ladhams, Anita Posterino Bar Manager Cherry Rivers Box office staff Abbey Barnes, Paul Buckley, Kate Gregory, Suzie Hardgrave, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Jade Thomson, Liz White, Fiona Wiseman, Benjamin Woolley

front of House/ Bar staff Matt Adair, Thomas Banks, Hannah Bolt, Jacqui Brown, Emma Corbett, Ray Chong Nee, Nadine Dimitrievitch, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Kate Gregory, Mark Hoffman, Kathryn Joy, Evona Lee, Ian Michael, Anna Nalpantidis, Ruby Nolan, Syrie Payne, Claire Richardson, Sanne Rodenstein, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold, Noel Turner, Matilda Woodroofe Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

Malthouse Theatre would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of its volunteers.

facebook.com/MalthouseTheatre @MalthouseMelb @MalthouseTheatre

malthousetheatre.com.au

Our Supporters Thank you, Malthouse Muses, for supporting our artistic vision and helping us to create a unique and dynamic environment for artists and audiences.

urAniA—Muse of the stars—$25,000+ Annamila Fund, Michele Levine, Mary-Ruth & Peter McLennan, Craig Reeves, Maureen & Tony Wheeler CLio—Muse of History—$10,000+ Betty Amsden OAM, John & Lorraine Bates, Carol & Alan Schwartz AM THALiA—Muse of Comedy—$5,000+ Marc Besen AO & Eva Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Neilma Gantner, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Berry Liberman & Daniel Almagor, Anonymous (1) MELPoMEnE—Muse of Tragedy—$2,500+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, D.L. & G.S. Gjergja, Colin Golvan SC, Val Johnstone, Sue Kirkham, Naomi Milgrom AO, Janine Tai, Jon Webster, Anonymous (1) EuTErPE—Muse of Music—$1,000+ John & Sally Bourne, Sally Browne, Diana Burleigh, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Dominic & Natalie Dirupo, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, William J. Forrest AM, John & Helen Gibbins, Marco Gjergja, Alan Kenworthy, Michael Kingston, Virginia Lovett, Jenny Schwarz, Maria Solà, Gina & Paul Stuart, Rotru Investments Pty Ltd, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Jenny Werbeloff, Anonymous (2) TErPsiCHorE—Muse of Dance—$500+ Graham & Anita Anderson, Ingrid Ashford, Rowland Ball, Sandra Beanham, Min Li Chong, Mark & Jo Davey, Carolyn Floyd, Taleen Gaidzkar,

Paul & Genevieve Gardner, Brian Goddard, Scott Herron, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Irene Irvine, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, Gael & Ian McRae, Robert Peters, Right Lane Consulting, Katherine Sampson, Morry & Anna Schwartz, Barbara & Neil Smart, Thea & Hayden Snow, Fiona Sweet & Paul Newcombe, John Thomas, Kerri Turner & Andrew White, Jan Williams, Phil & Heather Wilson, Dr Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Anonymous (1) ErATo—Muse of Love—$250+ Simon Abrahams, Stephen & Diane Alley, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Douglas Butler, Ros Casey, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Ros & Bill Chandler, Diane Clark, Chris Clough, Patricia Coutts, Tania de Jong AM, Joanne Griffiths, Peggy Hayton, Roberta Holmes, Chree Kearney, Irene Kearsey, Patricia Keith, Ruth Krawat, Liquorice Studio, Kim Lowndes, William Lye, John Millard, Dr Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, Tony Oliver, Orla & Rachel, James Ostroburski, Gerard Powell, Wendy Poulton, Anita Roberts, Ernie Schwartz, Jill Sewell, Lisl Singer, Janice Taylor, Rosemary Walls, Jan Watson, Henry Winters, Barbara Yuncken, Joanne Whyte, Anonymous (7) CATALysT synDiCATE Warwick & Lida Bray, John Carruthers & Rosie Purcell, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Nick Glenning & Jenny Proimos, Sarah Morgan, Corrie Perkin & Peter Loder, Maria Prendergast OAM, Robert Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Simon Westcott & Dr Ben Keith

you too can make a difference on our stages and behind the scenes. Please call 03 9685 5162 or visit our website and contribute to the development of new work.

Our Partners Government Partners

Venue Partner

Prompt Education Partner

Media Partner

Accommodation Partner

Regional Program

Company in Residence

Trusts and Foundations

The Danielle & Daniel Besen Foundation

Australian Communities Foundation Creative Partnerships Australia The Ian Potter Foundation The Pierce Armstrong Foundation The R E Ross Trust The Robert Salzer Foundation The Slome-Topol Family Charitable Trust Vera Moore Foundation

Corporate Partners

Corporate Associates

Company Supporters

Program Partners The Suitcase Series

Artist Program

New Australian Commissions

Indigenous Theatre Program

Tom Kantor Fund

Directors Exchange Project

Regional Performance Project

International Program

Female Director in Residence

Maureen & Tony Wheeler

Craigmel Investment Pty Ltd

Image: Charlie Kinross

CONNECT WITH VICTORIAN OPERA

FIND YOUR WORLD Are you looking for musical inspiration, seeking beauty or craving thrilling adventure? Perhaps you are keen to experience a little bit of magic, a great escape or wonderful traditions. Create your own unique world at victorianopera.com.au

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY Be a part of our online community and make our world your own. Share the excitement and join in the conversation from rehearsal room to the stage. Follow our news and help us celebrate our achievements! @victorianopera #victorianopera

JOIN IN OUR CONVERSATION



victorianopera.com.au

Victorian Opera support green printing initiatives

victorianopera.com.au/blog

 

facebook.com/vopera



instagram.com/victorianopera

twitter.com/victorianopera youtube.com/victorianoperapage

STAY IN THE LOOP Keep up to date with our upcoming events, activities and special offers. Sign up to our e-news and mailing list victorianopera.com.au/contact

This programme has been printed using vegetable based inks with alcohol free printing initiatives on 100% recycled carbon neutral paper by Printgraphics under ISO 14001 Environmental certification.

Connect with Us / VICTORIAN OPERA

VICTORIAN OPERA PATRONS 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 AO Living Bequest Susan Harley Artistic Directors Circle ($10,000+) Deanne Bevan & Guy Russo Rob & Caroline Clemente William J Forrest AM John & Diana Frew Mrs Jane Hemstritch Hans & Petra Henkell Peter & Anne Laver Lady Southey AC Anonymous (1) Education Syndicate ($5,000+) Betty Amsden AO Hans & Petra Henkell Dr John & Elizabeth Wright-Smith New Work Syndicate ($5,000+) Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM Marian & Ken Scarlett OAM Joy Selby Smith Felicity Teague Diamond Patrons ($10,000+) Betty Amsden AO Anonymous (2) VICTORIAN OPERA / Patrons

Platinum Patrons ($5,000+) Neilma Gantner John & Elisabeth Schiller Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine Anonymous (1) Gold Patrons ($2,500+) Bruce Curl Craig D'Alton & Peter Sherlock Bob Garlick Peter & Jenny Hordern Sue Kirkham Kaye E Marion Judith Rodriguez Tim & Lynne Sherwood Silver Patrons ($1,000+) Dr Rosemary Ayton & Dr Sam Ricketson Ian Baker & Cheryl Saunders Laurie Bebbington & Elizabeth O’Keeffe Professor Simon Bell & Dr Jennifer Coghlan-Bell Kirsty Bennett Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM Buckett Family David Byrne Terry & Christine Campbell Lynda Campbell Tanya Costello & Peter Costello AC Mary Davidson & Frederick Davidson AM John Drury & Dianne Reilly Drury AM Stephanie Dundas Gareth & Merran Evans Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking Greig Gailey & Geraldine Lazarus John & Gaye Gaylard Brian Goddard Nance Grant AM MBE Anthony Grigg & Paul Williamson Stuart & Sue Hamilton

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.

Geoff & Anthea Hone Stewart & Denise Jackel Simon L Jackson & Brian Warburton Stuart T Jennings David C Jones AO OBE KSJ Rod & Daniele Kemp Ian Kennedy AM & Dr Sandra Hacker AO John & Lynne Landy Kwong & Joanne Lee Dow Joan & George Lefroy Anne Lierse Peter Lovell Professor John AO & Ms Kerry Lovering OAM Margaret Mayers & Marie Dowling Duncan & Lorraine McGregor I. F. Merrylees Dr Ken & Mrs Lesley Muirden Ruth & Tom O’Dea Jillian Pappas Jane Patrick & Robert Evans Dimity Reed Michael Rigg Judith Robinson & Michael Robinson AO Elžbieta & Tomasz Romanowski Joseph Sambrook & Mary-Jane Gething Schapper Family Foundation Aubrey G Schrader Phillip Schudmak Bernadette Slater Caroline Travers OAM Liz & Peter Turner Catherine Walter AM Andrea Walton Earl & Countess of Wilton Anonymous (6)

Bronze Patrons ($500+) John & Nancy Bomford Jasmine Brunner Pam Caldwell June Danks Deloitte Catrionadh Dobson & Charles Windeyer Dr M Elizabeth Douglas Jean Dunn Dennis Freeman Lesley Griffin Jill & Robert Grogan April Hamer Angela Kayser David & Barbara McSkimming Douglas & Rosemary Meagher Ann Miller Greg Noonan Patrick O'Duffy Kenneth W Park Lynette Payne John Rickard Mary Ryan John & Thea Scott Mr Sam Smorgon AO & Mrs Minnie Smorgon Liz & Hugh Taylor Neil Twist Caroline Vaillant Russell Waters & Marissa Barter-Waters Ian A Watts Anonymous (11)

Patrons / VICTORIAN OPERA

Orchestra Victoria T: (03) 9694 3600 orchestrainfo@australianballet.com.au www.orchestravictoria.com.au ORCHESTRA VICTORIA MANAGEMENT Artistic Director Nicolette Fraillon Director Orchestral Operations & Music Services Julie Amos Operations Manager Amelia Davies Operations Coordinator Margaret Lloyd Librarian Stephen Pyk Administration Assistant Elise Lerpiniere ORCHESTRA VICTORIA Board

Image: Charlie Kinross

Libby Christie Tony Osmond Peter Smedley

Principal Regional Partner

MAJOR GIFTS Robert Albert AO, RFD RD & Mrs Libby Albert Betty Amsden AOM Evelyn & Tom Danos Jane Edmanson OAM Neilma Gantner Gaye & John Gaylard Dr. Geoff Handbury AO Peter A. Kingsbury Heather McKenzie Judith & Alisdair McCallum Don Mercer Baillieu AC & Mrs Sarah Myer Lady Primrose Potter AC Margaret S. Ross AM Sarah Tehan Drs Victor & Karen Wayne PATRONS David & Cindy Abbey Maple-Brown Abbott J. Blain Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM Terry AO & Christine Campbell Kathryn Fagg Jane P Gilmour OAM Colin SC & Deborah Golvan Richard Hamer Peter Horsley Alastair Jackson Peter & Carmel Johnson John Lander

Peter McLennan Marilyn Meyer Lindsay Moore Michelle & Ian Moore Elizabeth Pender David Geoffrey Penington Kerryn Pratchett John Redman Katherine Shackell Libby Smith TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONs William Angliss (Victoria) Charitable Fund William Buckland Foundation Collier Charitable Fund Joan & Peter Clemenger Trust Henkell Family Fund The A.L. Lane Foundation Ray & Joyce Uebergang Foundation Australian Communities Foundation PRINCIPAL REGIONAL PARTNER Bendigo Bank Bendigo Bank’s strong community and regional focus has great synergies with Orchestra Victoria’s work across Victoria.

CORPORATE PARTNERS City of Melbourne Parks Victoria Government Partners Australia Council for the Arts Arts Victoria The support received from the Australian Government through the Australian Council for Arts and from the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria provides the foundation from which we present all our partner opera and ballet companies.

Further support from Local Governments assists our innovative Community & Education Programs.

Has your career dream turned into a waking nigHtmare?

Have you become an unwitting participant in a random uncontrollable journey?

Many women experience disillusionment

balance complex, demanding lifestyles,

in their careers as life's vicissitudes

so they can flourish in every sense.

undermine their professional success and personal contentment.

Make no mistake... the fate of your career lies firmly in your hands.

Career Eye specialises in helping

Connect with Principal, Monique Sasson

professional women articulate and

at info@careereye.com.au

prioritise their career aspirations and

Career mentoring for professional women . careereye.com.au

1 O th A N N I V E R S A R Y

P A R T N E R W ITH U S ‘Sofitel Melbourne loves the

involvement with Victorian Opera and admires the way they have engaged with Victorian audiences - always pushing the boundaries.’

Clive Scott, GM Sofitel Melbourne

If you are looking to extend the boundaries of hospitality and bring true meaning to long term corporate partnerships, call Victorian Opera today.

W h a t we c an o f f er • New audience markets that can extend your brand

• Unique & memorable experiences

• An alternative to sport hospitality & entertainment

• A visible community connection to the Performing Arts sector

• Creative brand & marketing stories

Con t a c t D e t a i ls sponsor@victorianopera.com.au Jo De Jong | Corporate Partnerships | 03 9001 6408

VICTORIAN OPERA STAFF Conductor Emeritus

Development and Marketing

Richard Gill OAM

Development & Corporate Partnerships Manager Jo De Jong

Victorian Opera Board Jane Hemstritch (Chairman) Greig Gailey (Deputy Chairman) Francis Ebury, Earl of Wilton Ross Freeman Anne Gilby The Hon. Professor Barry Jones, AO Penny Stragalinos Catherine Walter AM Executive Artistic Director Dr Richard Mills AM Managing Director Andrew Snell Executive Producer Libby Hill Artistic and Education Head of Music Phoebe Briggs Repetiteur Phillipa Safey Education & Community Engagement Manager Melissa Stark Artistic Administration Coordinator Kate Stephens Finance and Administration Finance & HR Manager Darren O'Beirne Finance Assistant Claire Voumard Office Administrator Kate Bailey

Business 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 & Public Affairs Executive Rohan Astley Production Production Manager Michele Bauer Technical & Operations Coordinator Peter Darby VICTORIAN OPERA 2014 SEASON STAFF Production Coordinator Luke Hales Artistic Administration Assistant Jack Fowles Head Mechanist Shane Lee Costume Supervisor Delia Spicer Wardrobe and Wigs Coordinator Linda Cowell

Staff / VICTORIAN OPERA

Victorian Opera Partners 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

Foundation Partner

University Partner

Regional Partner

Corporate Partners

Education & Access Partners

Sylvia Fisher Foundation

William Angliss Charitable Fund

Performance Partners

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 Jo De Jong, Development & Corporate Partnerships Manager on (03) 9001 6408 or jo@victorianopera.com.au.

VICTORIAN OPERA / Season Partners

Image: Andrew Curtis