The Marriage of Figaro Program 2021

MARRIAGE FIGARO

THE

OF

MOZART

WESF1486 9/2019

MARRIAGE FIGARO

THE

OF

AN OPERA QUEENSLAND PRODUCTION. This production first premiered on 15 July 2021 in Brisbane.

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte Conductor Christopher van Tuinen Director Patrick Nolan Assistant Director Margrete Helgeby Chaney Associate Director Heather Fairbairn Choreographer Elise May Set and Costume Designer Marg Horwell Lighting Designer Bernie Tan-Hayes Figaro Jeremy Kleeman Susanna Prudence Sanders Count Almaviva Teddy Tahu Rhodes Countess Almaviva Lisa Harper-Brown Cherubino Amy Yarham Doctor Bartolo Robert Hofmann Marcellina Nicole Youl Don Basilio Matthew Lester Don Curzio Ry Charleson Barbarina Brianna Louwen Antonio Callen Dellar Featuring West Australian Opera Chorus Featuring West Australian Symphony Orchestra Repetiteur & Fortepiano Tommaso Pollio Production Manager Mandy Farmer Stage Manager Karen Farmer Deputy Stage Manager Jacinta Wajon Assistant Stage Manager Erryn Hanson Head of Wardrobe Sue Kerr Wardrobe Assistant Nora Stelter Wardrobe Assistant Jemma Eton Dresser Sacha Mahboub OAM Head of Wigs Virginia Hawdon Wigs Assistant Christopher Lyons Head of Make Up Sharon Kyrwood Surtitle Operator Allison Fyfe

Information is correct at the time of publication but may be subject to changes.

Director’s Notes

The Marriage of Figaro was the first collaboration between Mozart and the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was written in 1786 on the eve of the French Revolution, inspired by Beaumarchais’ play of the same title.

Mozart suggested the play to Da Ponte – an unusual choice, as it had been banned due to the political nature of the plot, which contains a monologue by Figaro in which he states: Because you are a great Lord, you think your talents are infinite!… Nobility, fortune, rank, influence: they all make a man so proud! What have you ever done to earn such wealth? You took the trouble to be born, and that’s the sum total of your efforts.

This questioning of the status quo was not embraced by those in power. Da Ponte, however, convinced Emperor Joseph II of Austria that he could write an opera libretto in Italian, with none of these subversive qualities.

Looking back at this from 2021, the warm embrace of the opera after its premiere is somewhat confounding. Even though Da Ponte removed the explicit political references, it still reads as a criticism of the nature of power and a plea for a society founded in the principals of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. While the politics of class are present, they become a backdrop to the politics of gender and identity. What defines a healthy relationship? What does fidelity mean? How does money influence behaviour?

What do men fear in women? Are women more emotionally intelligent than men? These are ideas that prevail in different ways in all three of the operas they created together.

In Figaro, they present us with characters that resonate with as much intensity in 2021 as they did in 1786. This is perhaps where the revolutionary energy resides. The emotional lives of the characters are expressed in Mozart’s music in a complex psychological way – every note reveals something about each character and every harmony something about their relationship with each other.

While the French Revolution brought change, it did not bring resolution. The characters in the opera are dealing with dilemmas we continue to wrestle with. Divisions of class may not be institutionalised as they were in the late 18th Century, but inequality and oppression are still part of the world we live in. The production’s contemporary setting illustrates the questions that continue to be asked and continue to precipitate revolutions.

At the end of the opera, the Count kneels before the Countess and his community and asks forgiveness for his disrespectful, selfish behaviour. Forgiveness is given and in the music that follows Mozart suggests that if we listen to each other, genuinely listen to what is needed to bring about a greater good, perhaps there is hope for change.

As the rest of the opera reveals, that is by no means a straightforward or easy process, rather it is messy, funny, ridiculous, painful – full of all the rich complexity that is life.

Patrick Nolan Director

Designer’s Notes

When we began the design process for this production it was via Zoom, just after I had completed two weeks hotel quarantine and it was incredible to be able to go outside again.

The week we started talking about the opera was the same week footage went viral of protesters tearing down a statue of Edward Colston in Ireland and throwing it in a river.

Since, we’ve seen a lot of images of crowds pulling down public statues and monuments, footage of peaceful protests and vigils, tens of thousands marching for women’s rights and enormous protests against racism, not forgetting the unbelievable documentation of the Capitol riots in the US. While we wanted to make sure we designed a space that could be filled with humour and joy we also wanted the design to resonate with the deeply political origin of this opera, that the world we created could speak to the tension that immediately preceded the French Revolution when this opera was written. We also know the aftermath of a riot and that of a great celebration can often look very similar.

So our design started with the toppled head of a statue. While it isn’t necessarily the Count’s head it could be the one before him, or the one before that one…

and people and life until nature forces its way in.

Set over a single evening, there’s an increasing sense that the very foundation needs to be torn down to progress again.

It is also a world in deep denial and although the rooms they occupy are crumbling, they’ll continue on as though everything is just fine.

They dress as each other, men dress as women and servants dress as royalty, they hide from each other in plain sight. It is a collapse of the public and the private, it is an upheaval of class structure, it is also enormous fun.

We begin with Figaro and Susanna moving house, their belongings in boxes, furniture leaning against walls. It’s more of a thoroughfare than a room with people traipsing through their space.

We move to the Countess’ bedroom, shopping strewn across an unmade bed, chandeliers on the floor, ready to be hung or perhaps fallen from the ceiling.

As we prepare for the wedding, a once grand reception room with chairs waiting to be set or waiting to be removed, the doors have been blasted off their hinges and are resting against the wall. We finish in the garden, nature comes flooding in and we see the body of our beheaded statue.

The set is a series of incomplete spaces in a state of repair or a state of decay, designed to It’s a new day. evolve throughout the opera. We have situated it in the shell of a formerly grand and resplendent Marg Horwell house and over the course of the production it Designer opens up again and again, and fills with objects

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Lessons are suitable for children 8-12 (and adults of all ages!)

Vice Regal Patron’s Message

Executive Director’s Message

As Vice Regal Patron of West Australian Opera I welcome you to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, an opera that explores the idea that love is life’s most valuable gift.

We are fortunate to be able to present Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro during these uncertain times, knowing that our peers in the arts in other states and countries are still unable to perform.

This is a new production of an operatic classic, and one that comes to Western Australian audiences from Opera Queensland.

I am grateful to welcome the interstate artists and creatives who agreed to quarantine for 14 days. I acknowledge our creative team, singers, the West Australian Opera Chorus and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra who have all worked with patience and passion in uncertain times.

West Australian Opera continues to make an outstanding contribution to the arts in Western Australia by presenting worldclass opera on stage at His Majesty’s Theatre, as well as offering education and community programs, workshops and regional tours.

I commend the creators and artists who work so hard to adapt, develop and evolve in often challenging and uncertain times whilst continuing to always deliver world class productions.

It is this excellence that is recognised through the generous support of State and Federal governments, Principal Partner Wesfarmers Arts, and the private donors and corporate supporters.

I know you will enjoy this wonderful production.

The Honourable Kim Beazley AC Governor of Western Australia Vice Regal Patron West Australian Opera

I am appreciative to the whole team who have worked under constant threat of border closures and lockdowns, and I thank each of them but especially Chris van Tuinen, Patrick Nolan, Margrete Helgeby Chaney and Mandy Farmer.

Thank you for continuing to support West Australian Opera. We are proud to share the joy of music with you through colourful tales of humour and hope.

Please stay connected to your state opera company through the website, newsletter, and social media channels as we release details for our 2022 season later this year.

Carolyn Chard AM Executive Director West Australian Opera

To be added

Chairman’s Message

On behalf of the board of West Australian Opera I am proud that we are able to present Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in His Majesty’s Theatre in a new production from Opera Queensland directed by Patrick Nolan and conducted by Christopher van Tuinen.

We recognise, acknowledge and thank Principal Partner Wesfarmers Arts for their continued support. We thank Major Partners Lotterywest, Healthway, the Minderoo Foundation and Civic Partner the City of Perth. We are proud of the Wesfarmers Arts Young Artists and the Bendat Scholars.

We are grateful for the continued support of the Federal Government through the Australia Council and the State Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. We also acknowledge the federal government’s support through the RISE fund which will enable us to present Carmen at the WACA Ground this summer.

We acknowledge the valuable support that all donors, patrons and subscribers provide.

Your commitment enables West Australian Opera to play an invaluable role within the arts and cultural landscape of Western Australia, which we do not take for granted, especially during these challenging times. We look forward to rewarding your support through the continuing presentation of world-class productions.

Andrew Pascoe Chairman West Australian Opera

Photo by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society courtesy of Opera Queensland.

Christopher van Tuinen Patrick Nolan Conductor

Director

Christopher graduated with a B.Mus from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. In 2005 he completed a Masters in Conducting at the VCA. Experienced in both vocal and instrumental music he was awarded the John Williams Conducting Scholarship for 2004-5. He also holds a B.A. from the University of Queensland, an LLB from Q.U.T. and an A.Mus.A from the AMEB. He has been nominated by the Musical Theatre Guild for Best Music Direction and received a Green Room Award nomination in the ‘Best Conductor’ category.

Patrick has created productions for Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera, New Zealand Opera, Seattle Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St, Griffin Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, and all the major Australian capital city festivals.

From 2009 – 2014 he was Artistic Director of Legs On The Wall, creating works that toured Australia, UK, Korea, and Brazil.

These included: My Bicycle Loves You for the Sydney and Perth Festivals and The Voyage for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. He is currently Artistic Director and CEO of Opera Queensland.

During 2008 and 2009 he was a member of the Young Artists program as a Conductor with Opera Australia. In 2007 Chris was appointed as the inaugural Conducting Fellowship at the Australian Ballet. He has worked with the WASO, Orchestra Victoria, AOBO and the QSO. His previous roles include WA State Manager for Musica Viva, Classical Music Program Manager for Perth Festival, Chorus Director for WASO, Conductor of UWACS, Musical Director of Fremantle Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of Lost & Found Opera.

Chris is currently the Artistic Director of West Australian Opera.

In 2015 Patrick was awarded an Australia Council Theatre Fellowship to support research into large scale outdoor performance and the relationship between extreme physicality and storytelling.

As a theatre maker he is driven by a process in which a performer explores the extreme of their capacity to find a way of expressing an idea, a feeling, a sound, that takes the audience to a place of inquiry and perhaps, understanding.

Margrete Helgeby Chaney Assistant Director Current Chair, and a founding board member of Co3 Australia, Western Australia’s contemporary dance company, Margrete enjoyed a long career as a dancer in companies within Australia and abroad, including Rambert Dance, WA Ballet and the Chrissie Parrott Dance Company, and as an independent artist. She is a graduate of WAAPA. Throughout her career she also held teaching positions at WAAPA, founded the dance project ‘loaded’ with Stefan Karlsson which gained national acclaim, and expanded into administration, advocacy, and project management within the Arts sector. She holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees and recently completed her MBA at UWA. In 2005, she was awarded “Most Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer” by the Australian Dance Awards.

Her previous engagements with opera have included roles as Assistant Director at Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and West Australian Opera and Director at West Australian Opera.

Heather Fairbain

Marg Horwell

Bernie Tan-Hayes

Heather is an opera and theatre director. She has worked with Schaubühne Berlin, Royal Opera House, Festival d’Aix-enProvence, Royal Danish Opera, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Finnish National Opera, Opera Queensland, Opera Australia, La Boite Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare and Sydney Theatre Company.

Marg is a multi-award winning Set and Costume Designer.

This is Bernie’s mainstage debut for West Australian Opera, following an extensive international lighting career.

Associate Director

Her staging of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is regularly revived throughout Europe. Directing credits include: Elekra/Orestes (Metro Arts); Women Beware Women directed reading (Bell Shakespeare); Silk Moth (Arcola Theatre London/Grimeborn Festival); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again, The River, Die Winterreise (NIDA); Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Aridane auf Naxos conducted by Simone Young (Queensland Conservatorium); The Mutant Man (The Space Arts Centre, London); Snappy Operas (Mahogany Opera Group); Sunnytown (La Boite); and Little Nemo and the Ice-Cream Witch (Bayerische Theaterakademie).

Heather directed the revival of Katie Mitchell’s Aridane auf Naxos at Royal Danish Opera, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and Finnish National Opera; and was associate director for Alcina and Aridane auf Naxos (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), and Lucia Di Lammermoor (Royal Opera House).

Set and Costume Designer

Recent credits include; Lorelei (Opera Queensland/Victorian Opera), Because the Night (Malthouse Theatre), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Sydney Theatre Company).

Other credits include: Salome (English National Opera); Avalanche (The Barbican); Unsere Kleine Stadt (Theater Basel); Leviathan (Circa); The Truth, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, The House of Bernarda Alba, Lilith the Jungle Girl (with Sisters Grimm), Birdland, I Call My Brothers, Peddling, Constellations, Marlin (Melbourne Theatre Company); How To Rule The World, Lord of the Flies, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Sydney Theatre Company); Melancholia, Caravan, Blasted, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again, The Testament of Mary, The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man, Edward II, I am a Miracle, The Good Person of Szechuan, The Histrionic (Malthouse Theatre); La Traviata (Sisters Grimm/Belvoir).

Marg has won eight Greenroom Awards and two Sydney Theatre Awards for her work in Theatre and Opera.

Lighting Designer

Bernie’s opera credits include: New Zealand Opera: La Boheme and Eugene Onegin. Pinch Gut Opera: Semele, The Fairy Queen, Orfeo, Dardenus, Idomeneo, Juditha Triumphans, David and Jonathan, Lormindo and Orpheus + Eurydice. Brisbane Festival: Miracle in Brisbane. Sydney Conservatorium of Music: Die Fledermaus, Dialogue of The Carmelites, Pirates of Penzance.

Opera Australia: Opera In the Bowl, Meet in Beijing Festival and the Yarrabah Community Opera.

His theatre credits include: Griffin Theatre Company: Quack, Strange Attractor, Modern International Dead, Tiger Country, October, King Tide. Sydney Theatre Company: Travesties, Macbeth. Queensland Theatre Company: God Of Carnage.

Ensemble Theatre Company: The Little Dog Laughed, Nintey, Brooklyn Boy, Are you there, Derrida in Love, The Busy World is hushed. La Boite Theatre Company: Amigos.

Bernie served as touring technical manager and lighting designer for Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company and Belvoir. He is currently APAC CEO and Head of Technology for FPOV, a large international lighting and AV design consultancy.

Elise May

Jeremy Kleeman

Prudence Sanders

Elise May is a nationally recognised dancer, choreographer and video artist whose career spans two decades. She has worked internationally and in Australia as an independent artist and performer. Elise completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at QUT in 2002 and began her career as a freelance dancer and choreographer, working with artists and directors such as Cheryl Stock, Clare Dyson, Chrissie Parrot, Mariana Verdaasdonk, Andrew Corey and Bonemap.

Jeremy Kleeman is a graduate of the Opera Studio, Royal College of Music London, Victorian Opera’s Developing Artist Program and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, a Melba Opera Trust Scholar, and recipient of the Dame Heather Begg Award.

“Sanders was exquisite as Fiordiligi...her elegant delivery of the mighty Come Scoglio was breathtaking”

Choreographer

Elise was invited to join Brisbane’s Expressions Dance Company (EDC) in 2008 and became Assistant Artistic Director to Natalie Weir.

Elise’s 2016 QUT Master of Arts (Research) investigated the use of the moving image and digital media in live performance.

Elise’s choreographic practice and research continues to investigate performance design, installation, moving image, sitespecific and interdisciplinary contexts for dance and digital media. Elise was appointed Associate Lecturer in Dance at QUT in 2019.

Elise has worked as choreographer for previous productions with Opera Australia and Opera Queensland and with CIRCA as Choreographer-in-Residence in 2020 and 2021.

Figaro

Recent and upcoming engagements include the title role in The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera, recitals for Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, Music Viva and at the Northern Lights Festival in Trømso, Norway, Opera Galas with the Queensland and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, and Oscar and Lucinda (Gyger) with Sydney Chamber Opera.

Appearances with Victorian Opera include Walter Furst (William Tell), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia), Jonas Fogg (Sweeney Todd), and Badger/ Parson (The Cunning Little Vixen); Toby Raven (Cloudstreet) for State Opera South Australia; title role The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Australia Touring; The Coronation of Poppea for Pinchgut Opera; Nielsen Symphony No.3 and Messiah with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; and St. Matthew and St John Passions with Melbourne Bach Choir.

Susanna

Prudence made her role debut with the West Australian Opera in the Glyndebourne Festival production of Così fan tutte.

A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Prudence has performed Michaëla in Bizet’s Carmen and Cunegonde in Bernstein’s Candide with the Cambridge Philharmonic, Musetta in the Olivier award winning production of La Bohème, and covered the roles of Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo for Longborough Festival Opera and Jacqueline in Messager’s Fortunio for Grange Park Opera.

Other roles include Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Lisette in La Rondine and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.

She was a soprano soloist in Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht for Birmingham Opera, directed by Graham Vick and has performed at the Royal Opera House, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall.

For the 2022 season Prudence will be singing the role of Sandman in Hansel and Gretel (Freeze Frame Opera).

Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Lisa Harper-Brown

Amy Yarham

Teddy Tahu Rhodes has performed with the opera companies of San Francisco, Austin, Washington, Philadelphia, Dallas, Cincinnati, Houston, the Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper - Munich, Theatre du Châtelet - Paris, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera.

Lisa is a graduate of the University Of Western Australia and was a member of West Australian Opera’s Young Artist Program. She has studied at the Britten-Pears School and with Janice Chapman, Dame Joan Sutherland and New York vocal coach, Marlena Malas.

Australian mezzo-soprano Amy Yarham recently relocated home to Perth after living and studying in NYC for 3 years. Opera News described “a charming, sensitive Amy Yarham” and The New York Times pronounced “her mezzo bright and agile” in her appearance in the title role of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (L’Enfant).

Count Almaviva

Past seasons include Escamillo (Hamburg, Paris, Munich, Bilbao, Metropolitan Opera, OA), Don Giovanni (OA, WA Opera), Emille de Bec - South Pacific (OA Australian Tour) and The King and I (OA Australian Tour).

Teddy debuted the roles of Méphistophélès - Faust (SOSA and West Australian Opera) and Sweeney Todd (Victorian Opera), a concert tour From Broadway to La Scala (Australia, and NZ) and Scarpia - Tosca (WA Opera, Opera NZ). More recently Teddy has performed William Tell and I Capuleti ei Montecchi (Victorian Opera), Titurel (Parsifal, Victorian Opera), Lord Sidney (Il Viaggio a Reims, OA) and Enrico VIII (Anna Bolena, OA).

In 2021 Teddy has performed Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide Festival) and Festival of Outback Opera (Opera Qld).

Awards include an ARIA, two Helpmann Awards, a Limelight Award, a Green Room Award plus an MO Award.

Countess Almaviva

Lisa’s past roles for WAO include Soprano in Elijah, the title role in Alcina, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Venus in Orpheus In The Underworld, Frasquita in Carmen and Annina in La Traviata.

For Opera Australia her roles include Pamina and First Lady in The Magic Flute, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Elsa in Lohengrin, Diana in Orpheus In The Underworld, Belinda in Dido & Aeneas and multiple seasons of Countess Almaviva in The Marriage Of Figaro.

Other operatic appearances include Musetta in La Boheme for Opera Qld, Ortlinde in Die Walküre for State Opera Of South Australia, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Opera NZ and First Lady in The Magic Flute for Hamburg State Opera.

Concert appearances include Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 with the MSO and Symphony Under The Stars with the SSO, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater for Perth Festival, and Carmina Burana with the WASO.

Cherubino

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Yarham studied under the tutelage of the renowned Marlena Malas.

Ms. Yarham completed both a Masters of Music and a Professional Studies Certificate on scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music.

Career highlights include Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) with Janiec Opera Company; Giulio Cesare (Sesto) and The Cunning Little Vixen (Lapák) with Trentino Music Festival, Italy; La clemenza di Tito (Annio), Albert Herring (Nancy), and Così fan tutte (Despina, cover) with Manhattan School of Music; Ariadne auf Naxos (Composer, cover) with Lisa Gasteen National Opera School; and Little Women (Meg) with Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

Robert Hofmann

Nicole Youl

Matthew Lester

Robert has sung over 20 roles with the West Australian Opera including Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, Koko in The Mikado, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Falke in Die Fledermaus, John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld and Hobson in Peter Grimes and toured with the Opera in Education program. He has also performed with Opera Australia in Sydney.

Nicole Youl made her mark as a soprano in the works of Puccini and Verdi, performing the title role in Madama Butterfly (Opera Australia), Mimi in La bohème (Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, Paiz Festival in Guatemala), title role in Tosca (Opera Australia, Victorian State Opera), Liu in Turandot (Opera Australia), Giorgetta in Il tabarro, the title role in Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (Opera Australia), Leonora in Il trovatore (West Australian Opera, Opera Australia) and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (Opera Australia). Other roles include Elsa in Lohengrin (Opera Australia), Leonore in Fidelio (OA/State Opera South Australia), Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Opera Australia, West Australian Opera), Micaela in Carmen (Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera), Diane in Iphigenie en Tauride (Opera Australia), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Victorian State Opera), First Lady in The Magic Flute (Opera Australia), Grimgerde in Die Walküre and Die Vertraute and Vierte Mägd in Elektra (Teatro dell’ opera di Roma).

Matthew is a local tenor who has performed a variety of minor principal roles for West Australian Opera and has been a member of the Chorus since 1999. Since 2013 he has performed as Parpignol and Benoit in La Boheme, Roderigo in Otello, Spoletta in Tosca, Gastone in La Traviata, Ruiz in Il Travatore, Goro in Butterfly, Gherardo in Gianni Schicci, Alex in Tim Winton’s The Riders, Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, Malcolm in Macbeth and recently Beppe in Pagliacci.

Doctor Bartolo

An award-winning cabaret performer, Robert has appeared with critical acclaim at Perth Writers’ Festival, Downstairs at the Maj, Perth Fringe World, Edinburgh Fringe, and off-off Broadway in New York City.

He is also a frequent guest performer with DivaLicious. For Freeze Frame Opera he was the Sacristan in Tosca and the Father in The Little Mermaid (Rusalka) for Perth Festival 2021.

As a concert soloist his repertoire includes Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, the Bach’s Passions and Mass in B minor with the St Georges Cathedral Consort under the direction of Dr Joseph Nolan as well as appearances with UWA Choral Society, Perth Symphonic Chorus and Perth Symphony Orchestra.

Marcellina

Nicole has recently sung the mezzo soprano roles of Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana (West Australian Opera) and Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica (Freeze Frame Opera). Nicole currently teaches classical voice at WAAPA.

Don Basilio

He specialises in operatic roles as thug, ruffian, pimp, scoundrel and generally unpleasant personal assistant/henchman to some of Opera’s nastiest leading characters. He has sneered, cajoled, arrested, bound, pimped, ravaged and slain his way through operatic classics. When not performing for WAO, Matthew works in State Government in the area of Public Health. His workplace is accommodating towards his artistic pursuits and his colleagues have developed a strong tolerance to sudden operatic outbursts. He has a great appreciation of the opportunities WAO have offered him to work with esteemed and talented musicians, singers and conductors.

Ry Charleson

Brianna Louwen

Callen Dellar

Ry Charleson is a young Perthbased Tenor. He graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2015, where he trained mostly as a Countertenor.

Hailed for her “shimmering tone” and “exquisite musicality”, Brianna Louwen is a dynamic young soprano from Perth, Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Australia and a Masters in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing from the University of York (UK).

Brianna is a Young Artist with West Australian Opera, and has performed the role of the Kitchenmaid in The Nightingale, as well as appearing in the chorus and as a Principal singer of Opera in the Park.

Callen started his studies at WAAPA before moving to Sydney to complete an Advanced Diploma of Opera from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Upon completing his studies he then joined Opera Australia and toured with OzOpera singing the roles of Figaro in The Barber of Seville and Peter in Hansel and Gretel.

Don Curzio

He has performed across a number of genres including Opera, Art Song, Musical Theatre and Choral Music.

He has performed several roles including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with WAAPA and Der Tanzmeister and Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos with OperaBox. He regularly sings with exceptional Perth choral groups such as the Saint Georges Cathedral Choir and Consort and The Giovanni Consort.

Barbarina

Brianna has been a soloist on a number of occasions with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, St George’s Cathedral, St George’s College, Australian Baroque, I Fagiolini, and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Awards include Young Person and the Arts International Travelling Scholarship, First Prize Fremantle Aria Competition, finalist in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Oratorio Competition, second place in the Art Song Perth Evelyn and Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship, PPCA Performers’ Trust Development Grant.

Antonio

He then spent the next 12 years performing in numerous productions for Opera Australia in the chorus for both main stage productions and Handa Opera on Sydney Harbor.

Upon moving back to Perth six years ago he rejoined the West Australian Opera chorus where he started his professional career in 1997.

Other roles he has performed include Masetto & Leporello, Don Giovanni (Sydney) Mephistopheles, Faust (Sydney), Bastien, Bastien und Bastienne (Sydney), Antonio & Bartolo, Le nozze di Figaro (Sydney) and Papageno, Die Zauberflote (Sydney).

Photo by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

CELEBRATING OUR ORIGINS AND THE PURITY OF NATURE SINCE 1978

Photo by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

SOPRANOS

WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA CHORUS

Alexandra Bak Celebrating over 10 years

Chelsea Burns

Rebecca Castellini

Claire Condipodero

Lucy Mervik Celebrating over 10 years

Brigitte Heuser

Chelsea Kluga

Courtney Pitman Celebrating over 15 years

Elizabeth Vale Celebrating over 20 years

Jacob Correia

Perry Joyce

Joshua Mitting

Tim Schoenmakers Celebrating over 30 years

Lachlann Lawton

David Penco Celebrating over 10 years

MEZZO SOPRANOS

Morgan Halket

TENORS

Tom Buckmaster

BASSES

Callen Dellar Celebrating over 20 years

Matthew Dixon

David Dockery Celebrating over 20 years

ACT ONE

It is the morning of Figaro and Susanna’s wedding and they are preparing a room the Count has given them as a gift.

Susanna warns Figaro the Count intends to seduce her and Figaro vows to prevent this from happening.

Figaro once borrowed money from Marcellina and promised to marry her if he was unable to repay the debt. Marcellina has enlisted Doctor Bartolo, who has an old score to settle with Figaro, to help enforce the arrangement.

Cherubino, the teenage page who has been banished by the Count for flirting with the gardener’s daughter, confesses to Susanna he is in love with the Countess. The Count arrives and Cherubino hides. Thinking he is alone with Susanna, the Count makes a move on her. Interrupted by Basilio he is also forced to hide.

When he overhears Basilio gossiping about Cherubino’s crush on the Countess, the Count reveals himself.

Cherubino is also discovered just as Figaro returns.

In a bid to outwit the Count, Figaro reminds the Count that he abolished the droit de seigneur, an ancient right of the lord of the manor to take a manservant’s place on his wedding night. The Count is flustered and decides to send Cherubino into the military.

ACT TWO Susanna tells the Countess of the Count’s plans to seduce her and together they hatch a plan to catch out the Count.

They plot to send the Count an anonymous letter suggesting the Countess has a lover whom she will meet later that evening. Meanwhile, Susanna will arrange to meet him in the garden but they will send Cherubino dressed as Susanna in her place so the Countess can surprise him.

Figaro fetches Cherubino and Susanna and the Countess begin to dress him. Susanna goes into another room just before the Count arrives, furious after receiving the anonymous letter about the Countess’ imaginary lover. Cherubino hides and the Countess refuses to unlock the door, telling her husband Susanna is in there trying on a wedding gown. While the Count takes his wife with him to find the tools to break down the door, Susanna swaps with Cherubino who escapes out a window. Antonio, the gardener, bursts in, upset about his flowers that were trampled in Cherubino’s escape.

Figaro takes the blame for the flowers just as Marcellina, Bartolo and Basilio burst in with a court summons for Figaro, demanding a delay to his wedding to Susanna.

ACT THREE

The Count broods on the events of the morning while Susanna and the Countess come up with a new plan.

The new plan is Susanna will arrange to meet the Count later that evening but the Countess will go disguised as Susanna. The Count is delighted with Susanna’s suggestion for a meeting but remains determined to make Figaro marry Marcellina.

Basillio arrives and announces Figaro must marry Marcellina but Figaro says he cannot marry her without his parents’ consent and he doesn’t know who his parents are. Marcellina recognises a birthmark on Figaro which identifies him as her long-lost son. The Countess grieves for her lost love with the Count. When Susanna arrives, the Countess dictates a love note for Susanna to give to the Count.

Barbarina, the gardener’s daughter, and Cherubino (now dressed as a girl) are discovered by the Count just as the ceremony starts, but Figaro saves him again.

During the ceremony Susanna manages to slip the love note, sealed with a pin, to the Count, who pricks his finger, dropping the pin.

Figaro knows nothing about of Susanna’s new plan but recognises the exchange of a love note.

ACT FOUR Figaro suspects Susanna of planning a meeting with the Count and becomes jealous while Susanna and the Countess dress as one another for a rendezvous in the garden.

Cherubino arrives, looking for Barbarina, whom he has arranged to meet in secret. Cherubino sees the Countess now dressed as Susanna and begins to flirt with ‘Susanna’ as the Count arrives and scares him away. The Count begins to woo ‘Susanna’ as Figaro disturbs them.

The real Susanna dressed as the Countess calls on Figaro, intending to lead him on for fun. He sees through the disguise and joins in the deception, making exaggerated love to ‘the Countess’. The Count thinks he sees Figaro with his wife.

Outraged, the Count calls everyone together to witness his wife’s infidelity, but the real Countess appears and the Count begs her forgiveness.

All are reunited and everyone rejoices!

Photos by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

WEST AUSTRALIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VIOLIN

Riley Skevington Assoc Concertmaster Kylie Liang Assoc Principal 2nd Violin Stephanie Dean Rebecca Glorie Beth Hebert Alexandra Isted Sunmi Jung Christina Katsimbardis Akiko Miyazawa Lucas O’Brien Melanie Pearn Louise Sandercock Jolanta Schenk Jane Serrangeli Bao Di Tang Cerys Tooby

VIOLA

Alex Brogan Kierstan Arkleysmith Nik Babic Benjamin Caddy Elliot O’Brien

CELLO

Rod McGrath Eve Silver* Oliver McAslan Nicholas Metcalfe Tim South

DOUBLE BASS

Andrew Sinclair* Louise Elaerts Christine Reitzenstein Mark Tooby

FLUTE

Mary-Anne Blades

PICCOLO

Michael Waye

OBOE

Liz Chee A/Principal Oboe Leanne Glover Principal Cor Anglais

CLARINET

Alexander Millier Principal Bass Clarinet Lorna Cook

BASSOON

Jane Kircher-Lindner Chloe Turner Principal Contrabassoon

HORN

David Evans Francesco Lo Surdo

TRUMPET Jenna Smith Peter Miller

TIMPANI

Alex Timcke

Photos by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

Principal Associate Principal * Instruments used by these musicians are on loan from Janet Holmes à Court AC

The story takes place on Figaro and Susanna’s wedding day, and love, in all its guises, is the central theme: The Count is lustful and planning a sexual adventure with the bride, Susanna; the page, Cherubino is in love with love; the Countess is nostalgically regretting her lost romance with the Count; and Figaro, the groom, is consumed with jealousy and desire for Susanna. It’s a heady emotional mix!

MOZART & DA PONTE:

DYNAMIC DRAMATISTS The year 1783 marked the meeting of Mozart and his future librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, and coincided with the arrival of a troupe of Italian opera singers in Vienna. Both these events set the stage for one of the greatest partnerships in operatic history and would begin with The Marriage of Figaro.

Their choice of Beaumarchais’ subversive play for an opera buffo libretto was certainly risky business. The play had been banned in Paris for years and recently in Vienna where it had been translated from French to German. However, a comic opera, sung in Italian, seemed more acceptable, as both words and music softened Beaumarchais’ harsh political satire.

The censors were satisfied, permission granted, and Mozart and Da Ponte were commissioned to write their opera. This also had dramatic credibility as its forerunner, Paisiello’s opera The Barber of Seville had been very popular with Viennese audiences, who were already familiar with the characters.

Mozart and Da Ponte were experienced men of the theatre and had similar ideas about the relationship between words and music. In 1781 Mozart had written to his father, Leopold: “Verses are indeed the most indispensable element for music” and Da Ponte concurred. Both wrote with specific singers in mind and were fortunate to have the newly arrived Italian opera troupe at their disposal.

The opera begins with an innovative overture which, unlike Mozart’s other operas, does not contain any musical themes or references to the rest of the score. Starting softly, with low conspiratorial cellos, double bases and bassoons, the composer demands the immediate attention from the audience before the orchestral tutti announces the dramatic action to follow.

Another innovation is Mozart and Da Ponte’s skill in writing for vocal ensembles. According to Grove: “Many of them carry the action forward, not in the ‘natural’ tempo of recitative but under musical control.” This is apparent in the Act 2 trio set in the Countess’s boudoir where the Count’s plans to catch his wife’s lover (Cherubino, now dressed as a girl) are thwarted by the ‘innocent’ arrival of Susanna who has been hiding in the adjoining room.

In the Act 4 finale confusion reigns. In the darkness mistaken identities add to the mayhem as Susanna and the Countess swap clothes. Utterly confused the Count accuses Figaro of making love to the Countess who is Susanna in disguise. A final ensemble in praise of love and forgiveness brings down the curtain on the dynamic drama of Figaro and Susanna’s wedding day.

Mozart and Da Ponte applied their own unique dramatic geniuses to this collaboration, and produced an opera whose premiere in Vienna on 1 May, 1876 has proved to be one of the most important nights in operatic history.

Annie Patrick September 2021

Photo by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

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Photos by Jade Ferguson/Visual Poets Society, courtesy of Opera Queensland.

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