The Marriage of Figaro – State Opera South Australia 2023

♥♥♥ THE MARRIAGE OF

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State Opera South Australia and State Theatre Company South Australia present

23–25 MAY 2024 Her Majesty’s Theatre

BY LEONARD BERNSTEIN

INFO & TICKETS stateopera.com.au

STATE OPERA SOUTH AUSTRALIA PRESENTS

♥♥♥ THE MARRIAGE OF

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Music by W.A. Mozart Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after the play by Pierre Beaumarchais FIGARO, AN AIDE SUSANNA, AN AIDE COUNT ALMAVIVA THE COUNTESS CHERUBINO, AN INTERN DR BARTOLO MARCELLINA, HIS HOUSEKEEPER BASILIO, A PRESS ADVISOR ANTONIO, THE GARDENER BARBARINA, HIS DAUGHTER CURZIO, A LAWYER FIRST BRIDESMAID SECURITY GUARD

Jeremy Kleeman Jessica Dean Nicholas Lester Petah Cavallaro Emily Edmonds Pelham Andrews Cherie Boogaart Mark Oates Jeremy Tatchell Lucy Stoddart Jiacheng Ding Jessica Mills Erik Chmielewski

CONDUCTOR DIRECTOR SET & COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER CHORUS MASTER

Tobias Ringborg Nicholas Cannon Ailsa Paterson Nigel Levings Anthony Hunt

STATE OPERA CHORUS ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Thursday 16, Saturday 18, Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 November 2023 HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE, ADELAIDE This production is proudly supported by the State Opera Opening Night Circle, a network of contributors to a vibrant South Australian live performance culture.

Duration: 3 hours and 10 minutes, including one 20-minute interval Sung in Italian with English surtitles

FIGARO & SUSANNA ♥♥♥

Our Crazy Day

Welcome Looking back on 2023, I realise what an incredible year we’ve had. From the joys of Australia’s first Gilbert and Sullivan festival to the moody and dramatic Macbeth, and now this performance of the incomparable Marriage of Figaro, State Opera South Australia has presented some incredible talent both on and off the stage.

I’ve been humbled by the ability, scope and dedication of staff and artists who’ve contributed to our productions this year. South Australia has some amazing talent waiting in the wings, and one of my hopes in this role is to bring more opportunities to young and developing local artists working with the company.

I am particularly thrilled that this production has been developed by an all-South Australian team: director Nicholas Cannon, set and costume designer Ailsa Paterson and lighting designer Nigel Levings. You are in for an absolute treat as they catapult one of the world’s most famous operas into the modern day.

Nicholas has been a State Opera artist for 12 years. From chorus member to principal to director, he is now making his mainstage directorial debut for the company with an incredibly clever production concept. In doing so, he’s shown us that

♥♥♥ opera has relevance and flair and can make important commentary on contemporary and controversial issues – just as playwright Beaumarchais did when he wrote his ‘Figaro’ trilogy.

I would also like to congratulate local soprano Lucy Stoddart, a young artist who is making her mainstage principal debut in the role of Barbarina. I’m sure this will be the first of many principal roles for Lucy, who is also currently starring in our touring schools show The Frog Prince.

This year we also welcomed Dane Lam as our new Artistic Director. With Dane we have an opportunity to have a musician lead the company and bring fresh perspective and ideas, and we are very much looking forward to showing the best of what Australians can do and creating opportunities for more South Australian artists to shine.

To our wonderful audiences, donors, sponsors, friends, partners, and Board Members – thank you for joining us. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2024 with an equally exciting and intriguing year.

Mark Taylor Executive Director State Opera South Australia

We respect First Nations people around Australia and acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains. We honour their spiritual relationship with their country and we do so in the spirit of reconciliation.

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR I’m immensely proud to welcome you to State Opera South Australia’s brand new production of The Marriage of Figaro. A beloved piece of wit and sublimity, Mozart and Da Ponte’s masterwork takes audiences on the kind of journey that was, until its premiere, unknown in opera.

This 18th-century musicaldramatic duo shook the dust from the operatic form, concentrated the action, and moved their audiences to laughter and tears.

Before Mozart, operas tended to be static affairs: the characters singing about their feelings in arias and duets, while the action took place in secco (literally ‘dry’) recitatives, ‘sung speech’ with just a harpsichord and cello accompaniment. With Figaro, Mozart introduces ensembles of principal characters and suddenly, the dramatic action takes places against the backdrop of vivid orchestral accompaniment, with solo voices intertwining in striking counterpoint.

My favourite example of this is the fiendishly tricky finale to Act 2 – a scene of utter confusion in the opera’s plot. Beginning with a trio, Mozart progressively adds more and more dramatic and musical layers as characters enter: the trio becoming a quartet, then a quintet, then – astonishingly – a septet. But while the music is ravishing and exciting, it ultimately serves the drama: the tension ramping up as we go into the interval with the question in our mind, ‘Whatever is going to happen?’

This is just one example of the genius of Mozart and Da Ponte, who took the artform light years into the future and into the hearts and minds of audiences. And it’s not just the music. The subject matter itself still has 21st-century resonances in modern Australia, where power and influence is still wielded coercively, to devastating effect. But it’s obvious that Mozart was on the side of the underdog, poking fun at the powers of the day and demonstrating that not just Figaro but, more crucially, Susanna has a lot to say in ‘putting one over’ their ostensible betters.

You’ll laugh, you’ll swoon and, finally, I hope you’ll be drawn in by the humanity of The Marriage of Figaro, whose characters are as multi-faceted and complex as all human beings are.

This opera of operas has been given a fresh, contemporary concept by some of South Australia’s most talented theatre creatives, and I’m delighted to

acknowledge director Nicholas Cannon, designer Ailsa Paterson, and lighting designer Nigel Levings. That we can present international-quality opera with a creative team who are all based here is testament to the rude health of opera in South Australia.

We have a superb cast, most of whom I’ve had the distinct pleasure of collaborating with in various places around the world, together with the great Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by my excellent colleague, Tobias Ringborg.

An excellent line-up of Australian singers. A brilliant conductor. A visionary South Australian creative team. And the genius of Mozart and Da Ponte. All this comes together in a Figaro that promises to be the envy of opera companies the world over. Enjoy!

Dane Lam Artistic Director State Opera South Australia

Director’s NOTE For the first opera in their creative partnership, in 1786, Mozart and Da Ponte took a huge risk in adapting Pierre Beaumarchais’ controversial comedic play.

Performances of the play had been banned for its attack and mockery of the upper classes, and the way it threatened to stir the passions of many revolutionaries ready to overturn a feudal system.

(The French Revolution was just three years away.) Yet Mozart and Da Ponte delicately manoeuvred the play to create a fun, emotional and popular opera that was still true to the original story’s major political themes.

These themes of classism, sexism and misogyny are just as relevant more than two hundred years later. And I find that the opera fits very well in the setting of Australia’s political system.

Our country, like many others, has mainly been run by very privileged men who have great power and authority over those around them and in the way they govern.

For this production, we drew our inspiration from Parliament in Canberra, which also involved learning and reflecting on the history and role of women in Australian politics. Womanising by male political leaders is not unheard of, and to some extent expected, on all sides of politics all over the world, whether you are Bill Clinton or Donald Trump or even Barnaby Joyce, and we can see it here in Count Almaviva, a privileged man in authority who can pass conservative laws and

exploit his power over those who require his approval.

This opera also shows us classism in action. By accident of birth, Figaro and Susanna, a young couple from a lower socioeconomic background, work hard to earn a basic living and must graciously receive any opportunity the wealthy Count Almaviva and his Countess, Rosina, offer.

They even risk a contract with Marcellina to help make ends meet. The Count uses his position of power to deeply influence Figaro and Susanna’s lives, and their only recourse is to use cunning, deceit and furtive action to stop the Count’s plans without risking their livelihood. In the process, Mozart and Da Ponte clearly show where their allegiances lie: Figaro and Susanna share an undoubted loyalty and love for one another, whereas Almaviva and Rosina’s loyalty is fractured.

What I love so much about this opera is the perfect relationship between drama and song. The

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characters are complex and clearly defined in both text and music. Despite adopting traditional commedia archetypes of servant and master, the opera dives into great depths of emotional tragedy and soars to celebratory heights as the characters navigate difficult real life situations, while continuing its physical and sometimes slapstick humour.

I have enjoyed so much bringing this opera to a modern setting. It is a rewarding way to reflect on the perpetual themes of a timeless classic. I am so grateful to all the support State Opera South Australia have given me in my journey as an opera director.

Nicholas Cannon Director

THE

Music OF FIGARO

In the screenplay of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, the composer Salieri remembers hearing The Marriage of Figaro for the first time: I saw a woman, disguised in her maid’s clothes, hear her husband speak the first tender words he has offered her in years, simply because he thinks she is someone else. I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theatre, conferring, on all who sat there, perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world – unstoppable.

Most would agree that there is something miraculous, even perfect, about this opera. The libretto, with its reversals and surprises, disguises and unmaskings, is complex but never confusing; the music articulates the drama with a magical sense of timing. And at a time when opera still dealt largely in archetypes, if not stereotypes, in Figaro music found, ‘for the first time … the means of embodying the interplay of living people’ (David Cairns).

An Entirely New Manner This new-found ability didn’t appear out of nowhere. In 1781, Joseph Haydn published a set of string quartets written in ‘an entirely new and particular manner’, suffused with the spirit of opera buffa (comic opera). This is especially apparent in the short, memorable and repeated phrases suited to the singing actors of the buffa stage. Imitated by one instrument after another (rather like characters in Figaro do, hilariously, with ‘sua madre’ (his mother) in the Act 3 Sextet), these phrases gave each part a new equality. In Haydn’s symphonies and quartets from the 1780s, the classical sense of thematic unity is balanced with dramatic tricks: sudden dynamic contrasts, unexpected moments of silence and excursions into the ‘wrong’ keys. And in his opera La fedeltà premiata (Fidelity Rewarded), he introduces a ‘symphonic’ multi-movement finale to efficiently and quickly advance the drama at key points.

So in 1783, when Mozart wrote that he would ‘dearly love to show what I could do with an Italian opera’, the ground was well-prepared. His own

experience included works like Idomeneo. He was exploring large-scale drama in his piano concertos, his studies in baroque counterpoint gave him a means of transmitting different musical ideas simultaneously, and the new symphonic style of Haydn offered an unprecedented level of dramatic agility and flexibility of expression.

The Poet and the Play Above all, by 1783 Mozart had met Lorenzo Da Ponte, who had a colourful career as clergyman, poet, womaniser and, finally, academic. Sadly for us, Mozart and Da Ponte lived in the same neighbourhood: there are no letters or other records of their collaboration, but we do know that the choice of Beaumarchais’ play La Folle journée, ou le mariage de Figaro (The Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro) was Mozart’s own.

The Prequel Mozart had almost certainly seen Paisiello’s Barbiere di Siviglia, based, like Rossini’s masterpiece, on the first play in Beaumarchais’ ‘Figaro’ trilogy. And Paisiello’s work may have influenced individual numbers in The Marriage of Figaro. The Countess’s aria ‘Porgi, amor’, for instance, shares its key, tempo, time signature and scoring with ‘Giusto ciel’, sung by Rosina – the as-yet unmarried countess – in Paisiello’. But most significant is the new importance given to the ensemble, as against solo aria, in Paisiello’s work; it is in the ensembles in Figaro that Mozart raises the artistic and dramatic bar, breathtakingly combining large-scale symphonic form with the agility of buffa style, and the clear, simultaneous transmission of characters’ reactions to the events at hand.

Too Many Encores One myth still surrounding the opera is that it was a failure at its premiere in 1786. It may have had its critics, but there were passionate advocates – so much so that the Emperor Joseph (who loudly bravo-ed the Act 3 Sextet) had to ban excessive encores to stop the show lasting into the small hours.

The Censorship Myth Then there is the issue of censorship. While it’s true Louis XVI banned Beaumarchais’ work in France, believing it to be politically incendiary, his wife Marie-Antoinette, the Emperor’s sister, thought it should be allowed.

Joseph, too, had strong views on what he considered anstößig (‘objectionable’), and found enough in Beaumarchais’ Mariage de Figaro to cancel a Viennese production in 1784. But he allowed the text to be published uncut, and he was rightly enthusiastic at the thought of Mozart’s turning it into an opera. Joseph was a tireless reformer of political, judicial, religious and artistic institutions – modernising and liberalising, but also concentrating power in his own hands. As a result, he met with considerable resistance from the nobility and could be excused for enjoying a show in which a nobleman is cut down to size.

Until Figaro, as Volkmar Braunbehrens has pointed out, ‘never had the everyday social conflicts of contemporary life been made the subject of a comic opera’. In this sense, Mozart’s Figaro is an intensely political work. Naturally, the anstößig elements had been excised or moderated in order for the libretto to pass the censor uncut, but the music, as David Cairns says, ‘puts the social criticism back’.

A Marriage of Two Worlds The Marriage of Figaro was by no means the first opera to include characters from the worlds of both opera seria (‘serious’ opera) and opera buffa (comic opera), but in this work Mozart’s musical language shows how artificial such distinctions are in life and art. In Bartolo’s ‘La vendetta’, musical rhetoric from opera seria – magisterial lines, harmony and rhythms – is soon undermined by buffo-style patter.

The man is a windbag.

The Count and Countess are archetypal ‘serious roles’ as the opera begins. The Countess’s first aria ‘Porgi, amor’ is pure opera seria: despite her sadness and loneliness, it is emotionally restrained and simple in its architecture. Its slow tempo would normally have called for a contrasting, faster coda, but the Countess is still at this point the passive victim. Her second aria, ‘Dove sono’ looks set to repeat the pattern, plunging in its middle section into a painful chromatic music whose memory lingers in the return of the more restrained framing sections. But then, after a transforming moment of silence, she launches into a rapid coda which depicts

her now as an active agent determined to work with her servant to bring about a resolution.

It’s no surprise that in the little duet ‘Che soave zeffiretto’ that immediately follows, the Countess and Susanna sing music in which they are absolute equals. This in turn enables them to imagine the elaborate series of disguises that feature in the work’s unfolding. Their new equality makes all the imitation, in both dramatic and musically technical senses, possible.

Mozart makes this equality clear in other ways: despite being lower-class, Figaro and Susanna both are given the noble, opera seria privilege of accompanied recitative (with orchestra rather than just harpsichord and cello), and Susanna has an aria, ‘Deh vieni non tardar’, which dramatically and musically balances the Countess’s ‘Porgi, amor’.

The Human Condition on Stage Finally, the principal characters spend much of their time in one or other state of frustration, envy, anger, yearning for love, sex, money or vengeance, and failing – sometimes literally – to see each other for what they really are. And Mozart’s music shows how, despite superficial differences, these states are common to the human condition. For instance, Mozart uses the poignant sound of the clarinet in only four numbers, including ‘Porgi, amor’, Cherubino’s ‘Non so più’, and Figaro’s ‘Aprite un po’ quegli occhi’ – contrasting expressions of ‘a sense of being deprived of the love for which they yearn’ (David Cairns).

And in the great glories of the Figaro – its ensembles – we witness how music can depict the complex and constantly shifting ways in which individuals interact, alliances form and dissolve, from moment by moment. The celebrated Act 2 Finale swings between fast and moderate tempos, building the unstoppable momentum to carry all with it; the Act 4 finale threatens to do the same, until the Count kneels in a darkened garden, calling up that momentary circuit-breaking intervention by the Countess, when ‘the music of true forgiveness fills the theatre’.

Abridged from an article by Gordon Kerry © 2010 First published by Opera Australia

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A MODERN Director Nicholas Cannon and designer Ailsa Paterson talk about how they’ve brought The Marriage of Figaro into the 21st century.

A very political show Nicholas Cannon: There are already a few traditional period versions of The Marriage of Figaro, so when I was asked to direct it for State Opera, we thought it would be interesting to do a modern production in a modern setting.

If you look at The Marriage of Figaro as an opera: it’s set in Seville in Spain; the source play was written by Beaumarchais, who’s a Frenchman; it’s composed by Mozart, who’s Austrian; the Italian libretto is by Da Ponte, who’s an Italian; it was first performed in Vienna; and we’re performing it in Australia for an English-speaking audience. It really can be anywhere and it can relate to anyone.

I began with the characters: who they are, and what’s at their core.

And the most significant character is Count Almaviva: he’s a man of great power, he’s the man who can change everyone’s lives. And I thought, who is the equivalent today? Who can make change?

Who can change a law? Who has power over people to manipulate, or just control? That’s what drew me to Australian politics, and the theme that’s

resonating in Australian politics – and politics all over the world – is men in power and the authority they have over other people.

That drew me to watch the ABCTV series Ms Represented, about women in Australian politics, the difficulties and the changes.

There’s a sense of Parliament being a bunch of boys being idiots, and that’s something we see in the Count.

Ailsa Paterson: And themes like misogyny and power imbalances are universal.

NC: We see it in American politics, and not just one side: there are the Bill Clintons, the Trumps. And in Australia we have our Barnaby Joyces. Then there’s the undercurrent of exploitation, particularly of women, in these political settings, which is an important issue as well.

Historically, The Marriage of Figaro is a very political show.

The play was banned when it was first released in Paris as it was considered very rebellious against the upper class. Despite it being a comedy, it’s always had a strong undercurrent of important themes and issues.

An Australian setting AP: I was excited to explore a contemporary Australian version of this story, and to think about how we might represent this battle between class differences in a world where we don’t have servants per se. So we have this idea of men who’ve inherited privilege and wealth and power, while others are sort of powerless beneath them, but also contributing to their power, helping them to be successful and assisting behind the scenes.

The Count becomes a Prime Minister figure, and the characters around him are personal assistant figures, and I started to see how that power play could be represented.

For the physical world of the set, we looked to Canberra and new Parliament House versus old Parliament House. I’ve drawn on recognisable elements of Canberra architecture, while playing on the tension between old and new. We’ve done that by pairing traditional architectural elements, such as sandstone walls and archways, with the more contemporary elements, like the tiled floor from the foyer of Parliament House or elements of

DESIGN: AILSA PATERSON

the War Memorial, and then kind of turning it into our own world.

Doors, windows, locks & letters AP: The narrative is quite demanding in terms of requiring very specific things like a certain number of doors that lock, and windows that can be jumped out of, so we started to develop this sense of a set that can unfold and grow in scale. We begin with something quite claustrophobic – just Figaro and Susanna and their little relationship – and then it gets bigger and more chaotic. And the set changes as it becomes this more and more out-of-control thing, as the chaos of the wedding day erupts around them. And the whole world of the opera isn’t revealed until the end, when the space has opened up and the scale of the building has been revealed.

The specifics of the narrative also involve a lot of letter-writing and old-world ways of communicating, whereas our setting is very much in the digital era with mobile phones in everyone’s pockets. And we

found that it actually translates extremely well. We have a combination of ‘classic Quentin Bryce and her beautiful stationery’, which still has a place in our world, but also Susanna can sit and work at her laptop and send texts, which is a new way of revealing secrets and communicating messages.

NC: Nowadays a single phone message – bam! – can be here, there and everywhere, and the gossip happens. At the same time, one of the most beautiful duets in the opera, the Letter Duet between Susanna and the Countess, shows the Countess as the kind of old-school romantic who would write a traditional letter. And the letter’s whole purpose is to set up the midnight rendezvous, so it has weight and importance – it’s more special than a text on your phone.

In some ways it was fun to pick and choose, and decide which communication is going to be handwritten or which ‘thumb written’.

The challenges of modernisation NC: One challenge is when Cherubino has to get on a horse to ride to Seville, and I’m trying to figure that out. Italian for horse is cavallo so I’m thinking could we make it like the latest Ford Cavallo, and have him drive off. Or we could just make it a horse and it’s very sarcastic.

But the biggest challenge was the thing that drove the whole concept of the original opera: this idea that there’s a law the Count wants to reinstate which is a feudal law, droit du seigneur, that gives him ownership over his servants on their wedding night.

How do we make that relevant today?

So we thought about how politicians can paper-clip a law to another law to ensure it passes.

This happens a lot. There’s a famous example from the 1990s, when Prime Minister John Howard did a deal with Tasmanian independent senator Brian Harradine in order to get his privatisation of Telstra legislation passed. And Harradine, who held the balance of power, demanded

DESIGN: AILSA PATERSON

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two legislation changes of his own to do with the importation of abortion drugs and the foreign aid that might support abortion counselling. So they negotiated behind closed doors and said, alright we’ll pass that bill just to get this through. It happens. And something as old-fashioned and as ludicrous as the Count’s law could still get through today.

Familiar faces NC: The Figaro and Susanna characters are from a lower socioeconomic class – working hard, paying off loans, just trying to get through day-to-day stuff. We see this in particular with Susanna, who’s very hard-working. If she stopped the whole system would collapse. She’s the one that holds everything together.

We’ve based Marcellina on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, so you’ll see some resemblances there.

AP: For her we looked at people who are obsessed with image and terrified of ageing.

NC: On top of that, we’ve also drawn on specific figures in the world of politics. A bit of Bob Hawke for Bartolo, there’s a bit of Quentin Bryce for the Countess,

maybe there are aspects of Julia Gillard as well.

Cherubino is usually a 12-year-old page boy but I’ve made him a bit older, 16 or 18. He’s there on an internship because he’s the godson of the Countess. So he’s got connections, but he’s also very much your moody, artsy teenage boy. Probably a bit like me at that age – very passionate, very heart on sleeve.

Then there’s Antonio. I wanted him to be this crazy hippie gardener, and who better than Costa from Gardening Australia?

Ripped from the headlines AP: The scandals you read and hear about daily are in this show.

It’s not that removed from real life. One thing, in particular, that’s very relatable is the sense of entitlement – the way someone like the Count would feel he could make a move on anyone else’s partner or an Under Secretary who wants to move up in the workplace hierarchy. We see that time and time again, and people are voiceless because they want to have a job, and to get ahead professionally.

There’s also an element of #MeToo in the way the women then band together to expose this

abhorrent behaviour. It empowers them because we’re not seeing them as victims and powerless.

NC: And Marcellina has a very strong moment where she’s like, come on, I’m supportive of all the women around me, and we’re going to go forward and beat this thing. So for a piece that’s two hundred years old, there are very strong women characters in it and the way we present it is very much following their charge.

AP: We also talked a lot about public versus private selves, and the front that the Count and the Countess present to the world, but then we see behind the mask and see how fractured their relationship is.

NC: Related to that is this idea of people watching, so we’ve used the chorus as the Press. It’s a bit like a classical Greek chorus – reflecting what the audience sees and providing a connection between what the principal characters are going through.

AP: But the overriding theme is true love: despite the struggles and confusion, we do see the connection between the Count and Countess and between Figaro and Susanna.

The benefits of a clean slate NC: It’s always nice to have a clean slate, look at things afresh and see how we can relate things from today. I’ve had a lot of inspiration from my mindless scrolling on Instagram, and things that have actually fed to a few moments on stage. I’m hoping a younger audience will come and watch this and go, oh yeah, that’s my life, I get that.

I think we’re at a time where we can reflect on how this opera sits in today’s world. It’s invigorating to watch it with fresh eyes and fresh ears – to relate to it in other ways, and maybe think about it in different ways too.

AP: Opera can sometimes be a bit off-putting – if it’s hard to understand what they’re singing, if you can’t connect to a character and follow a story. A modern production enables the audience to recognise the world they live in and not feel like they’re distanced from the opera. So I hope our storytelling makes the narrative really clear as well as updating it.

Another practical advantage of a contemporary setting is that we’re able to draw on existing clothing for our costumes. We do a lot of op-shopping – our Wardrobe Supervisor, Tracey, is an incredible op-shopper. So the process is a combination of ‘makes’ and ‘new buys’, as well as re-purposing older things from the company’s existing wardrobe. It’s amazing how much you can do on a relatively small budget.

NC: We’ve found that with the props too. Savers is our props team’s favourite place to go shopping. And placing the opera in a modern setting means you can get props and things that are around today that you can just repurpose again and again.

AP: A modern production can be more sustainable too. Part of the motivation for creating a contemporary and highly original new production is that we’ll develop something that has a future life.

With some projects, there are aspects of the set or costumes that go in the bin at the end of the production and that’s obviously a huge environmental cost. With this show, thankfully, we’ve been able to say let’s build it in such a way that it can have a life.

A ‘Figaro’ for all to love NC: For anyone who might be apprehensive, I can’t emphasise enough that this production is still The Marriage of Figaro we all know and love. I’m not straying from the core features and relationships of the opera. The allimportant music drives it all, and I’m completely respectful of that.

At its core, it’s still The Marriage of Figaro, it’s just got some modern frilly bits on top. The experience will be somewhat traditional but with a fresh approach.

AP: At its heart, it’s still the Marriage of Figaro that traditionalists will love, and I think the setting still reflects the original story, but there’s a fun, Australian twist that can update it for us.

So when the curtain goes down at the end of the show, they suddenly wake up and go, wow, where have I been? I’ve been so moved and wrapped up in this extraordinary piece of music theatre. And that they just go, gosh, that was fun!

And – maybe – people will think, let’s see it again! Because there are lots of little ‘Easter eggs’ in this show – things I’ve kind of chucked in which have little ripple effect down the line, and it’s only later that you realise, oh, that was that thing from earlier. So you’ll want to come back a second time to see how it all connects.

AP: It’s a joy to do a new production with a South Australian team – it’s a real treat and it’s exciting to see everything come to life.

NC: And it’s great to be supported in taking creative risks, which you can do with a new production. That’s a pretty rare opportunity to be able to enjoy.

Nicholas Cannon and Ailsa Paterson spoke to Hannah Neophytou, State Opera’s Marketing & CRM Executive

I hope audiences will think, oh my, this is so relevant to today – this story is what we see on the news. But also I hope they enjoy the beauty of the music and the beauty of the love stories as well, and I hope it provokes thought about how this can translate.

NC: For me, on top of that, I hope they lose themselves in the emotion and the laughter and the humour and the sadness and the drama and the grief and all the character conflicts and everything.

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Wedding dossier OUR PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS ACCORDING TO PIERRE BEAUMARCHAIS...

Count Almaviva ‘The depravity of his morals should in no way detract from the elegance of his manners.’

The Countess, Rosina ‘Torn between two conflicting emotions, she should display only a restrained tenderness and very moderate degree of resentment…’

Figaro, an aide ‘Possessing good sense seasoned with gaiety and sallies of wit, with no element of caricature.’

COSTUME DESIGNS: AILSA PATERSON

Susanna, an aide ‘She is a resourceful, intelligent and lively young woman…’

Cherubino, an intern ‘The basis of his character is an undefined and restless desire. In fact, he is what every mother…would wish her own son to be even though he might give her much cause for suffering.’

PREVIOUSLY ON FIGARO...

Figaro is easily the busiest character in the opera repertoire. When last we saw him (in The Barber of Seville), this jack-of-all-trades was helping his former employer Count Almaviva whisk his beloved Rosina away from the clutches of her guardian Dr Bartolo.

That deliciously comic opera concluded with a wedding and an anthem to love and faith.

Now, in the second instalment of the ‘Figaro’ trilogy, three years have passed, Rosina is the Countess and it is Figaro who wants to marry. Some of the previous cast have been conveniently engaged as employees of the Count (Dr Bartolo and Rosina’s old music teacher Basilio, as well as Figaro himself), and the drama has become more politically volatile.

Synopsis

Act One Parliamentary offices. In a store room, Figaro and Susanna, aides to the Count and Countess, are preparing for their wedding. Figaro is furious when he learns the Count has tried to seduce his fiancée.

Dr Bartolo arrives with his former housekeeper, Marcellina. She holds a contract: Figaro must marry her if he doesn’t repay the money he borrowed from her. Marcellina runs into Susanna and the two rivals exchange insults.

The intern Cherubino rushes in declaring his love for all the women in the office. He hides when the Count appears in pursuit of Susanna. The Count in turn conceals himself when Basilio, a press advisor, arrives.

Basilio tells Susanna that everyone knows Cherubino has a crush on the Countess. The Count emerges outraged, and realises Cherubino has overheard his attempts to seduce Susanna. Figaro, the staff and Press arrive to force the Count to bless Figaro and Susanna’s marriage. To silence Cherubino, the Count orders him to join the army.

Act Two The Countess’s suite. The Countess mourns the loss of love. Figaro and Susanna encourage her to set a trap for her husband: Cherubino, disguised as Susanna, will rendezvous with the Count; Figaro will send the Count an anonymous message suggesting the Countess is having an affair of her own.

The Countess and Susanna dress Cherubino in women’s clothes. The Count arrives to find the door locked and Susanna steps into an adjoining room while Cherubino hides in the dressing room before the Countess lets her husband in. The Count hears a noise in the dressing room, and is sceptical of the Countess’s claim that it’s Susanna. He insists she accompany him while he gets tools to force the door.

Meanwhile, Susanna helps Cherubino escape through the window and takes his place. The Count and Countess are astonished to see Susanna emerge.

Figaro arrives, evading the Count’s questions about the anonymous message. The gardener, Antonio, bursts in, complaining that someone has jumped from the window. Feigning a limp, Figaro pretends it was he who jumped. Bartolo, Marcellina, and Basilio appear holding the loan contract. Delighted, the Count declares that Figaro must honour his agreement and that his wedding to Susanna is off.

INTERVAL

♥♥♥ Act Three The Hall, later that day. Susanna promises to meet the Count that night; he is overjoyed until he overhears Susanna conspiring with Figaro. The Countess recalls past happiness. Marcellina, accompanied by a lawyer, Curzio, demands Figaro pay his debt or marry her at once. Figaro says he can’t marry without parental consent, leading to a revelation. Arriving to see Figaro and Marcellina embracing, Susanna thinks he’s betrayed her.

The Countess composes a letter from Susanna to her husband confirming their rendezvous. Cherubino, dressed as a girl, appears with his sweetheart Barbarina, who is Antonio’s daughter. Antonio has found Cherubino’s cap and arrives to unmask him.

The Count is furious to discover that Cherubino has not enlisted, but Barbarina reminds him of a past promise, and the Count reluctantly agrees to allow Cherubino to marry her. Meanwhile, everyone assembles for Figaro and Susanna’s wedding. During the festivities, Susanna hands the Count her letter, sealed with a pin.

Act Four The Memorial Gardens. Barbarina has lost the pin the Count has asked her to return to Susanna as a ‘read receipt’. She tells Figaro and Marcellina about the planned rendezvous, and thinking his bride is unfaithful, Figaro curses all women. Knowing Figaro is listening, Susanna sings of love. She and the Countess secretly swap clothes. Susanna then hides in time to see Cherubino try to seduce the disguised Countess.

The Count arrives looking for Susanna and chases the boy away. Figaro, realising what is happening, declares his passion for Susanna in her Countess disguise. The Count returns to discover Figaro with his wife, or so he thinks, and explodes with rage. The real Countess steps forward and reveals her identity.

Ashamed, the Count asks her pardon.

THE

Rehearsal ALBU

REHEARSAL PHOTOS: ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

UM

♥♥♥

♥

THE

Creative TEAM Tobias Ringborg

Nicholas Cannon

CONDUCTOR

DIRECTOR

Swedish-born Tobias Ringborg began his career as a violinist, studying at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm and the Juilliard School. After winning the Helsingborg conducting competition, he made his Royal Swedish Opera debut conducting La bohème, and since then has conducted the company regularly. He specialises in Italian opera as well as Mozart, and has conducted throughout Sweden as well as for Norwegian Opera, Danish National Opera and Oper Leipzig as well as Scottish Opera, Opera North, Garsington Opera and Welsh National Opera. Outside Europe he has conducted several productions for New Zealand Opera, and in 2019 made his Australian debut conducting Madama Butterfly for State Opera South Australia.

He is a champion of Swedish music, and his extensive discography includes recordings with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Göteborg Opera Orchestra. On the concert platform he has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and other leading Scandinavian orchestras, as well as the English Chamber Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia.

Nicholas Cannon is a versatile director, performer and teacher. He studied the Lecoq Technique in Barcelona and Paris, holds a Music Theatre degree from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and has undertaken director internships with Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur, Opera Holland Park, Coburg Landestheater and Opera Australia.

His Australian directing credits include Love Burns, Christina’s World, Dido and Aeneas and La Vida Breve for State Opera South Australia; Acis and Galatea in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens (Co-Opera); Price Check (Loaded Productions); A Little Night Music (Watch This, Melbourne); L’Heure espagnole and Gianni Schicchi (Lyric Opera of Melbourne); The Gondoliers (Pacific Opera, Sydney); five productions for Co-Opera, and several operas as Artistic Director of Mopoke Theatre Productions.

He also performs regularly for State Opera, with recent roles including Samuel (Pirates of Penzance), Learned Judge (Trial by Jury), Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd) and Ambrogio (The Barber of Seville). He has also presented Songs of Travel & Bush Poetry (Mopoke), sung principal roles for Coburg Landestheater, and toured for Patch Theatre and Co-Opera.

♥♥♥

Ailsa Paterson

Nigel Levings

Anthony Hunt

SET & COSTUME DESIGNER

LIGHTING DESIGNER

CHORUS MASTER

Ailsa Paterson holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Design degree (NIDA).

Her credits include The Dictionary of Lost Words (State Theatre Company South Australia/Sydney Theatre Company), Lady Day (STCSA/Belvoir St Theatre/Melbourne Theare Company), The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (STCSA/ STC), Tracker (Australian Dance Theatre), Girls and Boys (Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival), A Christmas Carol and Boxing Day BBQ (Ensemble Theatre), Single Asian Female (STCSA), Chalkface (STCSA/STC), Watershed (Adelaide Festival), Myth (Gravity & Other Myths/Blue Soup Films) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Sydney Festival, STCSA).

Her design credits for STCSA include Ripcord, Gaslight, Jasper Jones, End of the Rainbow, Sense and Sensibility, Switzerland, The Ham Funeral, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hedda Gabler, The Price, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Cripple of Inishmaan, A Doll’s House, Things I Know To Be True, Little Bird, The Seagull and Three Sisters.

Previous design credits for State Opera South Australia include Dido and Aeneas as well as costumes for Cloudstreet and Ode to Nonsense (with Slingsby).

Nigel Levings is the only Australian lighting designer to have won Broadway’s prestigious Tony Award. In a distinguished career he has lit over 580 productions including more than 230 operas and 33 musicals, and his operatic work has been seen in Paris, St Petersburg, London, Cardiff, Berlin, Baden Baden, Innsbruck, Tel Aviv, Bregenz, New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto.

Work highlights include A German Life and Watershed (Adelaide Festival), Memorial (Brink Productions in Adelaide, Brisbane and London), 170 Days in Nanjing (Jiangsu Performing Arts Centre), Ragtime (The Production Company), The Normal Heart (State Theatre Company South Australia), The Aspirations of Daise Morrow (Galway International Arts Festival), Roméo et Juliette (Korean National Opera) and The Sleeping Beauty (West Australian Ballet).

He is a Fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society and recipient of an SA Great Arts Award. His accolades also include a Centenary Federation Medal, Helpmann and Green Room awards, an Ovation Award, a Dora Mavor Moore Award, two Outer Circle Critics awards, and a Drama Desk Award.

Conductor, pianist and organist Anthony Hunt is Head of Music and Chorus Master for State Opera South Australia, where he has conducted Sweeney Todd, Love Burns, and the musical theatre gala Bright Lights & Big Dreams, as well as curating and performing in the Ukaria recital series.

For State Opera’s recent G&S FEST he conducted Pirates of Penzance, played piano for the Sullivan in Love recital, and directed the Sacred Sullivan choral evensong.

As chorus master for Opera Australia (2013–2019) he prepared the chorus for more than 60 productions, as well as working as répétiteur and assistant conductor.

For the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra he has conducted Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Afghanistan fundraiser). He has also conducted Messiah for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and worked as guest chorus master for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Anthony Hunt studied piano and organ at the Elder Conservatorium before completing the Royal Academy of Music’s specialist opera course as a répétiteur. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and Director of Music at St Peter’s Cathedral.

THE

Cast

Jeremy Kleeman

Jessica Dean

Nicholas Lester

FIGARO

SUSANNA

COUNT ALMAVIVA

Jeremy Kleeman is a graduate of the Royal College of Music and a 2023 Samling Artist, and was a Joseph Sambrook Scholar with Melba Opera Trust. For State Opera South Australia he recently sang Sergeant of Police (Pirates of Penzance) and Captain Corcoran (H.M.S. Pinafore). This season he also sings Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Opera Queensland), Bach’s John Passion (Melbourne Bach Choir), and Handel’s Messiah (Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra).

He has previously sung the role of Figaro for Opera Queensland, West Australian Opera and on tour for Opera Australia. Other opera credits include Voyage to the Moon (Musica Viva/ Victorian Opera); Toby in Cloudstreet (State Opera); Oscar and Lucinda and The Rape of Lucretia (Sydney Chamber Opera); Cunning Little Vixen, Guillaume Tell, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods (Victorian Opera); and L’incoronazione di Poppea (Pinchgut Opera). Concert appearances include the Melbourne, Queensland and Canberra symphony orchestras, Canberra International Music Festival and Musica Viva, as well as Bach cantatas (London Handel Players), Elgar’s Apostles (London Philharmonic Orchestra), and a recital for the Tromsø Northern Lights Festival.

Soprano Jessica Dean holds a master’s degree from the Royal Academy of Music, where she received the Kohn Foundation Scholarship as soloist for the Academy’s inaugural Bach Cantata series. While in the UK, she performed extensively as a concert soloist, notably in Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin-inthe-Fields. She then spent ten years as a soprano with Opera Australia, appearing regularly with the OA Chorus, as well as performing Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro), Papagena (The Magic Flute) and touring as Zerlina (Don Giovanni).

For State Opera South Australia she has sung Angela (Love Burns national tour), Beth (Little Women); Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Dew-Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), Marzelline (Fidelio, for which she received a Helpmann nomination), Belle Bonner (Voss), and most recently Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore) and Aline (The Sorcerer) in the G&S FEST. Recent concert highlights include performances with Adelaide Baroque, and solo appearances with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Carmina Burana, Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Haydn’s Berenice che fai?, Classics Unwrapped, and as the Mother in A Child of our Time (Adelaide Festival).

Australian baritone Nicholas Lester studied at the Elder Conservatorium and London’s National Opera Studio and was a State Opera South Australia Young Artist.

Recent engagements include the title roles in Eugene Onegin and The Barber of Seville (Welsh National Opera); Don Giovanni (Kilden Opera); the title role in Philip Glass’s Orphée, Marcello in La bohème and Cascada in The Merry Widow (English National Opera), Ford in Falstaff, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Grange Festival); Chou en Lai in Nixon in China, Josef K in The Trial

by Glass‚ Germano in La scala di seta‚ Dr Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Ping in Turandot (Scottish Opera); Prince Vyazminsky in The Oprichnik (Chelsea Opera Group); Beauty and the Seven Beasts and Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs (The Opera Story); Dandini in La Cenerentola, Figaro in The Barber of Seville and Frédéric in Lakmé (Opera Holland Park); Valentin in Faust (Dorset Opera Festival); Guglielmo (Danish National Opera) and Escamillo in Carmen (Mid Wales Opera).

Recent concerts include an Opera Gala with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Spectacular Classics at Bridgewater Hall and Sea Symphony with Brighton Philharmonic.

♥♥♥

Petah Cavallaro

Emily Edmonds

Pelham Andrews

THE COUNTESS

CHERUBINO

DR BARTOLO

Soprano Petah Cavallaro has recently returned from a Churchill Fellowship project, working with coaches and conductors at Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Opera di Firenze and Royal Danish Opera.

This production is her State Opera South Australia debut.

Since 2021, she has appeared as a soloist in several Great Opera Hits concerts for Opera Australia, and will sing Annina (La traviata) for the company in 2024. She has also covered Leonora (Il trovatore) and the title roles in Aida and Turandot for OA and in 2024 will cover Violetta (La traviata).

For the Queensland Symphony Orchestra she has sung Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Mozart’s Requiem, as well as appearing in the QSO’s Music on Sundays series. She has also performed with The 7 Sopranos in Australia and in China, and in 2019 she recorded her debut album of arias and songs with Trio Cavallaro, as well as performing in the Apollo Opera Collective production of Radamisto in Sydney.

Petah Cavallaro grew up in Far North Queensland and is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School.

Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds is sought-after for her interpretations of both contemporary and traditional work. She was a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House (2015–2017), and has since returned to Covent Garden to perform Varvara in Katya Kabanova.

Internationally, she made her role debut as the Child in L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Komische Oper Berlin, and performed the same role in the London Philharmonic Orchestra and VOPERA’s award-winning virtual production. She has sung Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Classical Opera Company, London), and received widespread critical acclaim for her performances in Philip Venables’ Denis & Katya (Opera Philadelphia and Music Theatre Wales).

In Australia, she has performed Semira in Hasse’s Artaserse and Asteria in Vivaldi’s Bajazet (Pinchgut Opera), and she appears regularly with Sydney Chamber Opera.

This is her State Opera South Australia debut.

Australian bass Pelham Andrews has performed as a soloist for the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Napier Civic Choir, as well as appearing for English National Opera, Victorian Opera, Opera Australia and State Opera South Australia.

His many roles with State Opera and Opera Australia include Friedrich Bhaer (Little Women), Tio Sarvaor (La Vida Breve), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Timur (Turandot), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Lodovico (Otello), Nourabad (The Pearlfishers), Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Lester Lamb (Cloudstreet), Mikado (The Mikado) and Ben (Madeline Lee). Most recently for State Opera he has sung Judd/Bonner (Voss), Colline (La bohème), Baron Douphol (La traviata) and Banquo (Macbeth).

Recent Adelaide Festival credits include the oratorios Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan and A Child of Our Time, and Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In concert, he has also sung Mozart’s Requiem (Queensland Symphony Orchestra) and the role of Don Fernando in Fidelio (Sydney Symphony Orchestra).

THE

Cast

Cherie Boogaart

Mark Oates

Lucy Stoddart

MARCELLINA

BASILIO

BARBARINA

A graduate of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium and the Australian Opera Studio, contralto Cherie Boogaart has sung many roles with State Opera South Australia including Giovanna (Rigoletto), Siebel (Faust), Wowkle (The Girl of the Golden West), Sandman (Hansel and Gretel), Maria (Maria de Buenos Aires), Mrs Bonner/ Mrs Judd (Voss), Flora (La traviata), and most recently Edith (Pirates of Penzance) and Lady Sangazure (The Sorcerer).

Other credits include South Pacific and The Mikado (Adelaide Festival Theatre), He and She don’t go together (Perth Cabaret Festival), Guys and Dolls (Adelaide Symphony Orchestra), Cindy (The Beauty Spot), Songs to Make You Feel Sexy (Adelaide Cabaret Festival), Sweeney Todd and Maria de Buenos Aires (Victorian Opera) and roles in I love you, you’re perfect, now change and Elegies (SINGular Productions/ State Opera). She has also sung Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) for BelCanto Opera, and Third Lady (The Magic Flute), Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) for Co-Opera.

A longstanding State Opera South Australia artist, Mark Oates was recently recognised for his body of work by the Adelaide Critic’s Circle. Highlights include Ian Duncan/Don Dunstan in Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan for the 2022 Adelaide Festival, with previous festival appearances including Requiem, Ruffiak in Le grand macabre, and as a Street Singer in Bernstein’s Mass. In 2024 he will make his Opera Australia debut, reprising his dual roles in Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan.

Some of his favourite roles with State Opera include the Defendant (Trial by Jury), Beadle Bamford (Sweeney Todd), Jack (Love Burns), Njegus (The Merry Widow), John Styx (Orpheus in the Underworld), and The Cantor (Maria de Buenos Aires).

He has also appeared for the company as Gastone (La traviata), Bright Lights & Big Dreams, Lt Tom Radclyffe (Voss), Arjuna (Satyagraha), Caterpillar (Boojum!), Freddy Norton (In the Dome Room (at 2 o’clock)), Joe (The Station), the Guide and Lillas Pastia (Carmen), and in the first orchestral workshop of When the Rain Stops Falling.

An in-demand concert artist, he also tours nationally and internationally with Aerial Artists Australia.

Soprano Lucy Stoddart is a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium and the Queensland Conservatorium. Since 2017, she has performed in the State Opera Chorus for productions of Don Pasquale, Dido and Aeneas, Voss, La bohème, La traviata, Trial By Jury, Pirates of Penzance and Macbeth, and as a principal artist in the touring production of The Frog Prince. This is her mainstage principal debut for State Opera South Australia.

She appears regularly for the Adelaide Festival, performing in the chorus of Romeo Castellucci’s Requiem, Rimsky Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel, directed by Barrie Kosky, and Christian Spuck’s production of Verdi’s Requiem with the Zürich Ballet.

In 2021 she sang the role of Rose Maurrant in the Queensland Conservatorium’s production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, directed by Michael Gow and conducted by Johannes Fritzsch.

♥♥♥

Jeremy Tatchell

Jiacheng Ding

ANTONIO

CURZIO / CHORUS

New Zealand-born baritone Jeremy Tatchell studied both viola and voice at the ANU School of Music before joining Co-Opera in 2003, touring in major roles throughout Australia, Asia and Europe. Since moving to Adelaide in 2011, his roles for State Opera South Australia have included Imperial Commissioner and Yamadori (Madama Butterfly), Baron Douphol and Marquis d’Obigny (La traviata), Parsi Rustomji (Satyagraha), the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle, Masetto (Don Giovanni), Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana), Valentin (Faust), Angelotti (Tosca), Silvio (Pagliacci), Manuel (La Vida Breve), Marco (Gianni Schicchi), Viscount Cascada (The Merry Widow), Fiorello/Officer (The Barber of Seville), Schaunard (La bohème), and Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre (The Sorcerer).

For the Adelaide Festival he has sung in the chorus for Saul and Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

His concert repertoire includes the Verdi, Fauré and Mozart requiems, Carmina Burana, Elijah, The Creation, Winterreise and Songs and Dances of Death, as well as the major Bach choral works and Handel oratorios, including Messiah. He recently made his debut at the Ukaria Cultural Centre in State Opera’s recital series.

Tenor Jiacheng Ding studied in China before completing a master’s degree at the Elder Conservatorium in 2018. As a State Opera South Australia Young Artist he sang Mr Topp (Voss), Parpinol (Bohème on the Beach), Giuseppe (La traviata), and appeared in the chorus for a number of productions, including this year’s G&S FEST and Macbeth. In December he will appear in SeaLink Carols by Candlelight. Other highlights include The Golden Cockerel (Adelaide Festival), several roles with Co-Opera, and solo appearances with Adelaide Harmony Choir, Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus and Corinthian Singers.

FIRST BRIDESMAID / CHORUS

Soprano Jessica Mills holds a Musical Theatre degree from the Queensland Conservatorium. Performing in Australia and overseas, she was most recently seen in the Victorian Opera and Sydney Opera House production of Sweeney Todd. She is a recipient of the Friends of State Opera’s Emerging Artist’s Grant and a past semi-finalist for the Rob Guest Endowment Award.

Previous appearances for State Opera South Australia include Isabel (Pirates of Penzance), Swing/Angela alternate (Love Burns), Bright Lights & Big Dreams, La traviata, Voss and Bohème on the Beach.

Erik Chmielewski

Specialist opera actor Erik Chmielewski made his professional debut in 2003 with State Opera South Australia’s production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. Since then, he has taken to the stage with the company in numerous roles, including his first as Pu-Tin-Pao, the feared executioner in Turandot. He has also been a regular member of the acting cast for Opera Australia productions in Sydney and Melbourne for over a decade. To date, he has appeared in more than 35 opera productions, but has never once sung a note on stage.

Jessica Mills

SECURITY GUARD

JCDecaux.com.au

STATE OPERA

Chorus

♥♥♥

SOPRANOS

Eleanor Brasted

Deborah Caddy

Laura Feier

Fiona McArdle

Susan Ferguson

Rosie Hosking

Rachel McCall

Adam Goodburn

Callum McGing

James Nicholson

Macintyre Howie-Reeves

Greg John

Rodney Kirk

MEZZO-SOPRANOS

Meran Bow

TENORS

Michael Denholm

BASSES

Christian Evans

State Opera would like to acknowledge and thank Rodney Kirk, who is celebrating 50 years of performing with the State Opera Chorus.

Courtney Turner

ADELAIDE

Symphony ORCHESTRA

VIOLINS

VIOLAS

FLUTES

HORNS

Elizabeth Layton** Guest Concertmaster Cameron Hill** Assoc. Concertmaster Julie Newman* Acting Principal 1st Violin Alison Heike** Principal 2nd Violin Lachlan Bramble° Assoc. Principal 2nd Janet Anderson Ann Axelby Minas Berberyan Gillian Braithwaite Julia Brittain Jane Collins Danielle Jaquillard Ambra Nesa Liam Oborne Alexander Permezel Alison Rayner Kemeri Spurr Niki Vasilakis

Justin Julian** Linda Garrett° Acting Assoc. Principal Lesley Cockram Natalie Maegraith Rosi McGowran Michael Robertson Anna Webb

Jessica Gu** Guest Principal Lisa Gill

Sarah Barrett° Emma Gregan

♥♥♥

CELLOS Gemma Phillips** Acting Principal David Sharp° Acting Assoc. Principal Christopher Handley Sherrilyn Handley Cameron Waters

DOUBLE BASSES David Schilling** Gustavo Quitino° Guest Assoc. Principal Jacky Chang Belinda Kendall-Smith

TRUMPETS OBOES Joshua Oates** Renae Stavely°

David Khafagi** Gregory Frick

TIMPANI CLARINETS

Andrew Penrose*

Dean Newcomb** Darren Skelton

** Section Principal

°

BASSOONS

*

Associate Principal Principal Player

Ben Hoadley** Leah Stephenson Tobias Ringborg will conduct the orchestra from the fortepiano.

Behind THE SCENES ♥♥♥ PRODUCTION TEAMS Adelaide Festival Centre

State Opera South Australia

MECHANISTS Brenton Watson,

STAGE MANAGER Jess Nash DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER Nam Nguyen ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Charlotte Welden REHEARSAL STAGE MANAGER Tom Hannagan PROPS & SCENIC ART Elias Ppiros WARDROBE SUPERVISOR Tracey Richardson WARDROBE ASSISTANTS Denise Strawhan, Ai Tanaka, Sue Nicola WARDROBE INTERN Emily Dalziel DRESSERS David Adams, Kent Green, Sue Nicola, Tamara Wheeler WIGS & MAKEUP SUPERVISOR Jana DeBiasi WIGS & MAKEUP ASSISTANTS Bonnie Charles, Beverley Freeman,

Gabriella Robins, Matt Dodds FLY OPERATOR Michael Camp HEAD OF LIGHTING Cameron Lane LIGHTING BOARD OPERATOR

Luke Pilla FOLLOW SPOT OPERATORS

Kez Scott, Kit Adams HEAD SOUND & FOH OPERATOR

Mick Jackson FLOOR SOUND TECH

Tarlee Penwill

Dina Giaccio, Vanessa Shirley RÉPÉTITEUR Penelope Cashman SURTITLES OPERATOR Connor Fogarty

STATE OPERA SOUTH AUSTRALIA MANAGEMENT Board of Management

Staff

Ashley Miller (Chair) Imelda Alexopoulos Dr Beata Byok Jane Doyle oam Peter Goldsworthy am Dr Thomas Millhouse Polly Tembel Philippa Williams

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mark Taylor ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dane Lam HEAD OF MUSIC Anthony Hunt PRODUCTION MANAGER Ben Flett ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Monique Hapgood PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Elisabet Cada DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Laura Danesin MARKETING & CRM EXECUTIVE Hannah Neophytou DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Ashlyn Hannam DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Vicky Lekis TICKETING & OFFICE COORDINATOR Richelle Weiher CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Nicole Mathee ACCOUNTANT Sarah Hart CONTRACTS ADMINISTRATOR Li Li Fisher

Joint Patrons Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia and Mr Rod Bunten

Artistic Ambassador Marilyn Richardson Hon.DMus (Qld)

Cultural Ambassador Dr Christine Rothauser

On Stage GIVING State Opera South Australia thanks its donors for their generous annual support.

OPENING NIGHT CIRCLE

CONTINUO BEQUEST CIRCLE

Susan & Graeme Bethune Diane & Alan Colton Janet & Keith Crawford Jane Doyle oAM & Ian Doyle oAM Sheryn Foord Samuel Joyce & Mark Taylor Master Elizabeth Olsson Maria Panagiotidis Thelma Pye Sibby Sutherland Prof. Julian White AM & Dr Beata M Byok

Kay Dowling The late Leigh Emmett Rhonda & Donald Gilmour The late John Koch Master Elizabeth Olsson Dr Christine Rothauser Dr Geoffrey Seidel

MAESTROS

PRINCIPALS

CHORUS

Roger Lang & Jan Hoopmann Pam & Peter* McKee

David & Elizabeth Bleby Jan Davis AM & Peter Davis BM & PD Debelle Dr & Mrs Paul Drysdale EC/TE Jack & Meg Favilla RJLL & SJ Greenslade Peter Goldsworthy AM & Lisa Temple Helen Meddings Dr Thomas Millhouse, Dr Marina Delphin & Zara Millhouse Kerrell & David Morris Christine Perriam Andrew & Gayle Robertson Trish Ryan & Richard Ryan AO Christopher Stone Dr Robert & Christine Waltham Philippa & Kenneth Williams Bill & Kerry Wood Anonymous (3)

State Opera wishes to thank its generous Chorus of supporters

VIRTUOSOS Jane Doyle oAM Geoff & Sorayya Martin Master Elizabeth Olsson

SOLOISTS Her Excellency the Governor of South Australia & Mr Rod Bunten Kevin & Kaaren Palmer Gwennyth Shaughnessy

* deceased

stateopera.com.au/support Donations over $2 are tax deductible

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AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE / AUSTRALIAN EXCLUSIVE

The Nightingale and Other Fables

By Igor Stravinsky | Conducted by Alejo Pérez

Directed by Robert Lepage

Featuring Andrew Goodwin (After Rachmaninov)

1 – 6 Mar 2024 Festival Theatre

The presentation of The Nightingale and Other Fables has been made possible by the Adelaide Festival Chairman’s Circle, the Adelaide Festival Opera Donor Circle and MM Electrical.

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO NOVEMBER 2023 | HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE, ADELAIDE