Macbeth – State Opera South Australia 2023

JOSÉ CARBÓ & KATE LADNER (PHOTO: ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY)

STATE OPERA SOUTH AUSTRALIA PRESENTS

Music by Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave MACBETH LADY MACBETH BANQUO MACDUFF MALCOLM DUNCAN/DOCTOR LADY IN WAITING FLEANCE CONDUCTOR DIRECTOR SET & COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER CHORUS MASTER FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER

José Carbó Kate Ladner Pelham Andrews Paul O’Neill Tomas Dalton Nicholas Todorovic Teresa LaRocca Elliott Purdie Finnegan Downie Dear Stuart Maunder Roger Kirk Trudy Dalgleish Anthony Hunt Jo Stone

STATE OPERA CHORUS ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Thursday 7, Saturday 9, Thursday 14 and Saturday 16 September 2023 HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE, ADELAIDE

This production is proudly supported by The Friends of State Opera Duration: 2 hours and 40 minutes, including one 20-minute interval Sung in Italian with English surtitles A CO-PRODUCTION WITH WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA

JUD ARTHUR AS BANQUO FOR WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA (PHOTO: JAMES ROGERS)

WELCOME “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage…”

So says Macbeth when he learns of Lady’s Macbeth’s death in the final act of Shakespeare’s play – a speech of pessimism and despair in which he insists there is no meaning or purpose in life. It’s a sentiment so profound, Verdi insisted it remain in the libretto of his opera.

From the depths of its complexity and darkness, this is what we endeavour to prove wrong in this production of Verdi’s Macbeth. For a couple of hours, we’ll sit in the auditorium and become absorbed in the music, the story and the dark power of this opera, and yet this experience can also bring joy and enlightenment to the mundaneness of everyday life.

The performance you see today is the result of the hard work of a band of players dedicated to bringing stories to life. From singers and musicians to designers, producers, costume and hair and makeup

experts, every single person makes their presence felt. Those of us behind the scenes at State Opera South Australia find meaning and purpose through creating spectacular, thoughtprovoking and enthralling opera for you to enjoy.

Unlike the pessimism of Shakespeare’s line, we relish the hour (or two) when the stage is alive with power, energy, and the results of our work. These moments in the theatre allow us to celebrate what we can achieve together to give you a thrill to brighten your hours.

To our wonderful donors, sponsors, friends, partners and board members, and to you in the audience, thank you for joining us at this performance. May you find meaning, enjoyment and entertainment in our production of Verdi’s Macbeth.

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.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE . . . it is a roller coaster of terror with no time for detours and no chances to wallow in bel canto singing. There is no relief from the opera’s relentless plunge into darkness.

In 1977 I read a glowing review in The Sydney Morning Herald of the Australian Opera production of Macbeth. As a second year Arts/Law student, taking the module Shakespeare on the Open Stage, I hastened to the Opera House to buy myself a five dollar student rush ticket. I was bitterly disappointed! This was a leaden production of Shakespeare’s tale which clunked ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

to a stop at every scene change. I had gone to the opera expecting something like Shakespeare’s short, sharp shock of a play, moving as it does without pause to its shattering conclusion. What I got was a night of short scenes followed by interminable pauses while mounds of fibreglass were shuffled around the stage. There were curtain calls at the end of each act and two intervals. It was a very long night.

Ah, how we learn. In retrospect, I now realise I had been watching two great Australian Verdi singers at the height of their powers – Elizabeth Connell and John Shaw – under the distinguished baton of Carlo Felice Cillario.

There is no doubt that the operatic traditions of the 1970s, the design and the limitations of the stage machinery had created the longueurs in my first experience of this opera. And I had blamed poor Verdi.

His Macbeth, I now realise, is not all that dissimilar to the Bard’s.

In Macbeth Verdi composed an opera that is startling in its brevity and masterful in its vocal characterisations.

Macbeth was a turning point in Verdi’s career. It is without precedent in the Verdi canon, both in its fierce vocal characterisations and unexpected orchestral writing. From the otherworldly cor anglais in Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene to the haunting, hollow woodwinds that accompany the appearance of the Kings in Act III, to the hisses

and snarls demanded in the vocal writing, no other Verdi opera ‘sounds’ like his Macbeth. Save for a jaunty march which accompanies King Duncan to his untimely death, the predominant colour of the opera is one of dark foreboding. The original 1847 version of Macbeth is not typical of an ‘early Verdi’ opera with its series of arias, cabalettas and ensembles. Rather it is a roller coaster of terror with no time for detours and no chances to wallow in bel canto singing. There is no relief from the opera’s relentless plunge into darkness.

Even though the opera was a great success throughout Verdi’s lifetime, and one of his personal favourites, the composer jumped at the chance to revise the opera for its Paris premiere in 1865. In reality he didn’t change much of the piece. Rather, it was more about substituting arias to suit new singers and satisfying the traditions demanded by the Parisian public, including the necessity for a ballet in Act III. Given his exalted public status as musical father of the new united Italy, Verdi also ended this new version with a patriotic chorus of hope for the future.

Throughout the 20th century it became traditional to mix and match the two versions of the opera. The ballet was cut, more often than not, and many productions interpolated Macbeth’s final death aria from the 1847 original. As a result, the opera became less focussed and

its cumulative effect less powerful. There is nothing like the raw, unbridled energy of Verdi’s original conception. It is concise, thrilling, gut-wrenching and bold. And it is this 1847 version of Macbeth that we present today.

Commencing work on the opera, Verdi wrote to his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave: ‘This tragedy is one of the greatest creations of the human spirit. If we can’t do something great with it, let us at least try to do something out of the ordinary.’ And after experiencing the opera in the theatre with all its bombast, spectral colour, and hellfire and brimstone, we know Verdi has indeed achieved all he set out to do and more. Everything about this ‘opera senza amore’ (opera without love), as the Italians dubbed it, is bold and unexpected.

Macbeth is a great tragic opera – one of Verdi’s most powerful, terrifying and original works.

Stuart Maunder AM © 2023

WEARING THE CROWN Who is in control of events in Macbeth – supernatural or human forces?

Men or women? In an opera with a male-dominated cast, Verdi’s women nonetheless play a central role in the tragedy. Dr Sarah Olive explores themes of femininity and masculinity, agency and power.

We first see Macbeth centre stage, his sword-strapped back towards us. The shadowy figures of the witches billow out from the back of the stage to join him. It is immediately noticeable that Verdi writes for three groups of witches, rather than the trio of ‘wayward’ or ‘weird’ sisters that Shakespeare created. In this way, Giuseppe Verdi continues a tradition initiated by early adaptors of Shakespeare, such as Thomas Middleton (1580–1627), who added two groups of witches to the play: one in the air and the other on the earth.

In Verdi, the warriors Macbeth and Banquo are surrounded and outnumbered by these women, who promise Macbeth a powerful future, giving Banquo the consolation that his heirs will rule the kingdom. The witches promptly disappear, leaving audiences and critics to ponder who is in control: supernatural or human forces?

Without the witches or his wife, Macbeth cuts a lonely figure on the stage. This staging palpably expresses a hesitancy or ambivalence in Macbeth. Today, we might characterise his selfinterrogation after the initial prophecies – ‘Where has this thought of blood come from?’ – as intrusive thoughts: unexpected,

recurrent and distressing, but crucially unwanted and unlikely to be enacted.

In contrast to her husband’s trepidation, Lady Macbeth welcomes and seeks to capitalise on these thoughts. She identifies Macbeth’s lack of courage as a crucial weakness in him: first to the audience, then to his face. In Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto, Lady Macbeth figures this as stemming from his being too principled, not ‘wicked’ enough.

Piave omits the language that Shakespeare gives his Lady Macbeth, who genders Macbeth’s perceived cowardice as unmanly. Where Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth has a decidedly toxic view of what constitutes desirable masculinity (a view emphasised in recent adaptations such as Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film), the opera eschews it.

We meet this production’s Lady Macbeth in bed, nestled in swathes of pure white bedding.

She presents a picture of innocence that we soon see is illusory: the next time we will see her in this space, she is guiltracked by her crimes and can ‘sleep no more’ (Shakespeare, Act II, scene 2). Her centrality to Verdi’s opera sees her well-lit, mid-stage. Her confidence is expressed through proud

postures, powerful gestures, her rousing lines, and her direct way of addressing the audience. Her line to the messenger bringing news of King Duncan’s intended visit to her castle is deliciously double-edged: ‘Let him find a reception which a king deserves.’

She presents herself as the archetypal gracious hostess, while plotting her guest’s assassination.

After this murder, it is again Lady Macbeth holding her husband upright as he instantly crumbles under the weight of his misdeed. She cradles his head.

He breaks away from her. The following scenes will see Macbeth scrabbling on the floor, Lady Macbeth tugging him into some semblance of regal authority but increasingly thrown off by him, as the cracks in their union start to appear. Macbeth variously has his crown passed to him by others, slams it on the floor, has it whisked off his head: Lady Macbeth wears the crown rather more purposefully until the final act.

Shakespeare depicts few married couples in his plays, but Verdi’s operatic adaptations thrive on them, albeit with a focus on unhappy ones: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Othello and Desdemona, and, comically, the potential cuckolding of the husbands of The Merry Wives of Windsor in

ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

“The deed cannot be undone. The sorceresses spoke the truth and you are king.” Kate Ladner and José Carbó in rehearsal.

Falstaff. In this production, our first glimpses of the couple, passionately reuniting after Macbeth’s military absence, see him kneeling at Lady Macbeth’s waist, until she pulls him up to standing. This bit of stage business suggests who has the whip hand in this relationship, at this moment and in the next few acts. There is also something of a contradiction between the alternately ineffectual and commanding Macbeth that we see and the depiction of him by the bedraggled refugees fleeing his rule as an unrelentingly tyrannical leader.

Macbeth most inhabits the centre stage, literally and metaphorically, when he is with the witches. He is the focus of their attention as they outline further prophecies and command

apparitions. He acts decisively around them. He threatens them with his blade when they hesitate to comply with his demands.

When they conjure up his rivals for the throne, he resolutely snatches up one of these figures, as if to dispatch it. Macbeth, however, eventually collapses under the strain of fending off this spectral competition. He is only brought to again by the witches’ gentle ministrations, in part represented here by Verdi’s soft underscoring of harp and wind instruments.

Some productions and scholars emphasise the witches as an extension of Lady Macbeth, or vice versa. It is instead possible to see the witches as offering Macbeth an alluring alternative to his wife. Where she belittles him, they build him up; where she

instructs, they are invitingly suggestive. After Macbeth hears the news of his wife’s death, he again rallies: going to do battle with Macduff clutching his crown in one hand and sword in the other. In this moment, he is both king and warrior, a feat that has hitherto eluded him.

Dr Sarah Olive © 2023 Dr Olive is a graduate of the University of Adelaide, majoring in English, and Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. Her books include Shakespeare Valued: Policy and Pedagogy, 1989–2009 (2015) and the coauthored Shakespeare in East Asian Education (2021).

JCDecaux.com.au

“WHAT IS THIS MUSIC?” Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a noisy play – there are fanfares, drumbeats, crying women and much thunder – but only the weird sisters sing. Verdi’s Macbeth is (nearly) fully sung.

Listen for these key moments in the musical drama where Verdi pushes the boundaries of operatic expression…

WORDS: YVONNE FRINDLE © 2023; IMAGE: THE WEIRD SISTERS, BY HENRY FUSELI, 1783 (ZÜRICH KUNSTHAUS)

The Witches Have the First Word ‘There are three roles in this opera, and three is all there can be: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, and the chorus of witches. The witches rule the drama; everything derives from them.’ (Verdi) Lady Macbeth’s Letter Scene Lady Macbeth, says Verdi, is the ‘dominating demon [who] controls everything’ – and her introduction by the orchestra tells us so.

Remarkably, her opening lines – reading the letter from Macbeth – are spoken over a sustained chord, not sung in recitative. (Verdi did this again in La traviata, when Violetta reads Alfredo’s letter.)

Assassins Chorus The assassins sent in pursuit of Banquo sing hushed and spiky music (‘Sparve il sol’). This style of conspiratorial chorus was parodied

by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Brindisi (Drinking Song) In the Act II brindisi Verdi turns an operatic formula to great dramatic effect. The cheerful music and elaborately flourishing vocal line convey Lady Macbeth’s forced gaiety before her guests even as Macbeth breaks down at the sight of Banquo’s ghost.

VERDI VOICES Macbeth shakes off the bel canto (beautiful singing) tradition in pursuit of expressive and dramatic effect. Verdi asks his singers to perform sotto voce (‘under the voice’, whispered and hollow), voce cupo (dark, gloomy and masked), soffocata (choked) and sometimes a voce spiegata (at the top of one’s voice).

Sleepwalking Scene Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene (‘Una macchia’) is in the tradition of a mad scene. But instead of extravagant vocal lines, Verdi writes music with almost no lyrical qualities. He sends her to extremes of register, timbre and style. This scene must be acted, declaimed rather than sung. As her final phrase rises in paralysis to the impossibly high D flat, it is to be sung with ‘a thread of voice’.

On the Blasted Heath When Macbeth returns to the witches they show him apparitions This role calls for a courageous and cryptic prophesies. ‘What is soprano: ‘I don’t want Lady Meanwhile, the orchestra governs this music?’ he asks. According to Macbeth to sing at all,’ wrote Verdi. the libretto, Macbeth is hearing the her movements. A disturbing No matter if the soprano has the ‘underground sound of bagpipes’. repeated pattern in the bass line voice of an angel, Lady Macbeth with a quick, nervous figure above But we hear the muffled sound of must have the voice of a devil. oboe, clarinets and bassoons from it depicts the compulsive rubbing of her hands. And the only true the backstage banda as Macbeth ‘Is this a dagger?’ ‘melody’ is a lament (first heard in sees a vision of Banquo’s line.

In this grand scene and duet for the overture) that’s played by the the Macbeths: ‘It’s night; everyone (Shakespeare calls for ‘hoboys’ or orchestra and never sung. † oboes and his Macbeth refers to it is asleep, and this whole duet will as noise, not music.) have to be sung … in a hollow voice such as to arouse terror.’

Refugees Chorus When Macbeth finally staggers For the refugees at the beginning from the king’s chamber – ‘It is of Act IV, Verdi had in mind a done!’ – Verdi calls for a choked chorus with the same impact as voice in the tense silence. Daring ‘Va pensiero’, the Hebrew Slaves dissonances, and the dark sounds Chorus in Nabucco: ‘imposing… of cor anglais, clarinets and muted beautiful and affecting…’ strings convey anxiety and fear.

MACBETH † IN REHEAR

REHEARSAL PHOTOS: ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY; PRODUCTION PHOTOS: JAMES ROGERS (WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA)

RSAL AND ON THE STAGE

ABOVE: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth at the banquet.

BELOW: Macduff, King Duncan, Malcolm (the king’s elder son), the Lady in Waiting, witches and female courtiers; male servants, soldiers, banquet guests and the refugees.

DESIGNING MACBETH When this production of Macbeth premiered in Perth in 2019, William Yeoman, writing for the Australian Book Review, declared it ‘immensely satisfying on a number of levels, with an effectively minimalist set, less minimalist costumes (both by Roger Kirk) and Trudy Dalgleish’s atmospheric, Caravaggesque lighting design’.

Stuart Maunder’s initial brief was for simplicity, which inspired Kirk’s idea of rugged, sliding columns to carve up the dramatically raked stage.

Meanwhile, the costumes are constructed from interchangeable elements in a palette of red, black and white, providing a canvas for Dalgleish’s nightmarish greens and blues. Hints of tartan and, in places, a suggestion of punk create a traditional yet edgy look.

SYNOPSIS ACT ONE

ACT THREE

A Scottish wood. Macbeth and Banquo, victorious generals in King Duncan’s army, meet three groups of witches who address Macbeth not only as Thane of Glamis (his rightful title) but as Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland, and tell Banquo he will be the father of kings but never reign. Messengers arrive, greeting Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor – the previous title holder has been executed for treason.

The first of the witches’ predictions has come true with alarming swiftness.

A dark cavern. Macbeth visits the witches, demanding more prophecies. He sees his destiny, but not his end, in three visions: he is warned of Macduff; he is told that no one born of woman can harm him; and that he cannot be conquered so long as Birnam Wood does not move. He then asks if Banquo’s descendants will reign and the witches summon a vision of eight kings and Banquo himself carrying a mirror. Macbeth faints at the sight. His wife finds him and they decide everyone who opposes them must die.

Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband telling her of what has transpired. She resolves to make sure the complete prophecy is fulfilled, and calls on dark forces to help her. A servant announces that Duncan will soon arrive with his son Malcolm, and when Macbeth enters, she urges him to kill the king. Alone and hallucinating, Macbeth sees a blood-stained dagger, then leaves to commit the murder. Afterwards, he is so paralysed by guilt that Lady Macbeth herself must return the dagger to the scene and frame the king’s grooms.

Banquo and Macduff arrive to discover Duncan’s body, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth join the others in condemning the murder.

ACT TWO Macbeth is now King of Scotland and Malcolm, suspected of having killed his father, has fled to England. Bothered by the prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will be kings, Macbeth and his wife now plan to kill both him and his son Fleance.

As Lady Macbeth welcomes the court to a banquet and makes a toast, Macbeth receives news that Banquo is dead but Fleance has escaped. About to take his seat at the table, Macbeth is confronted by a vision of Banquo’s ghost that only he can see.

Macduff vows to leave the country, which is now ruled by criminals.

INTERVAL

Near the Scottish border. Macduff’s wife and children have been murdered and he joins those fleeing Macbeth’s tyranny. Malcolm arrives with English soldiers and rallies the refugees in an invasion of Scotland, telling them to cut branches from Birnam Wood to use as camouflage.

Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, reliving the murders and obsessively trying to wash blood from her hands.

Macbeth is alone, feared and unloved, and finding small comfort in the prophecies. He is numb when women bring news that Lady Macbeth has died.

Soldiers report that Birnam Wood is approaching and Macbeth prepares for battle. He is confronted by Macduff, who tells him that he was not ‘born of woman’ but had a Cæsarean birth – ‘ripped from his mother’s womb’. Macduff kills Macbeth and hails Malcolm as king.

ASB CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

Macbeth departs to arrange the double murder and Lady Macbeth exults at the prospect of an unchallenged crown.

ACT FOUR

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Finnegan Downie Dear

Stuart Maunder

Roger Kirk

CONDUCTOR

DIRECTOR

SET & COSTUME DESIGNER

British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear won first prize in the 2020 Mahler Competition in Bamberg. Concert highlights include the Staatskapelle Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Camerata Salzburg and the Gothenburg, Baltimore and Tokyo Metropolitan symphony orchestras.

In opera, he has conducted The Makropulos Case (Staatsoper Berlin), Die tote Stadt (Polish National Opera), Hänsel und Gretel (Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Korean National Opera), Don Giovanni (Nevill Holt Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (Royal Swedish Opera), and Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Underground (Royal Opera House).

Macbeth marks his first appearance for State Opera South Australia. This season he also makes a house debut with Hamburg Opera (Eugene Onegin) and returns to Staatskapelle Berlin and Polish National Radio Orchestra. Future plans include new productions at the Royal Opera House and Theater an der Wien, a return to Staatsoper Berlin and a debut at Garsington Opera.

Since 2014 he has been Music Director of Shadwell, an East London company that works with exceptional young musicians to champion contemporary British repertoire and experiment with new operatic forms.

Stuart Maunder AM has been directing musical theatre and opera for over 40 years. In 1978 he joined the Australian Opera (Opera Australia) as Stage Manager, becoming Resident Director in 1981. He then joined the Royal Opera House as Staff Director in 1992, while continuing to direct in Australia, regional UK, France and the US. In 1999 he returned to OA as Artistic Administrator, then Executive Producer (2004–08). His OA productions include The Tales of Hoffmann, Manon, The Gypsy Princess, Don Pasquale, My Fair Lady and A Little Night Music, as well as televised productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, Trial by Jury and The Pirates of Penzance. From 2014 to 2018 he was General Director of New Zealand Opera.

In 2018, he joined State Opera South Australia as Artistic Director, directing Carmen in the Square, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Mikado, Carousel, Sweeney Todd, Bohème on the Beach, Turn of the Screw, Voss and, most recently, Australia’s first-ever Gilbert & Sullivan festival.

Other recent productions include Candide, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Tosca, The Pearl Fishers and Rigoletto.

In October he takes up the role of Artistic Director at Victorian Opera.

Roger Kirk AM is a Tony Award-winning set and costume designer working in theatre, film and television. He has designed costumes for productions such as The Boy From Oz, The King and I and King Kong the Musical, and worked on set and costume design for Opera Australia, including Manon Lescaut, Aida, Manon, A Little Night Music, My Fair Lady, The Gypsy Princess, and several Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas. These last were revived in State Opera South Australia’s recent G&S FEST. He designed the costumes for the film Jesus Christ Superstar, and other credits include Whistle Down the Wind (London), The King and I (London), The Boy from Oz Arena Spectacular, The Silver Rose (The Australian Ballet), Le Corsaire (Munich Opera House), Dust – The Original Pop Diva and Shout!

His Broadway credits include The King and I (Tony Award for Best Costume Design), Jesus Christ Superstar and 42nd Street (Tony Award nomination). Recent credits include Sweeney Todd (Victorian Opera, State Opera, Sydney Opera House), State Opera’s revival of Voss, Miracle City (Luckiest Productions), King Kong (Broadway), 42nd Street (London) and Broadway to Oz: Hugh Jackman Live in Concert.

Trudy Dalgleish

Anthony Hunt

Jo Stone

LIGHTING DESIGNER

CHORUS MASTER

FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER

Trudy Dalgleish is one of Australia’s most sought-after lighting designers, whose work has been recognised with a Helpmann Award for White Devil (Best Lighting Design, Theatre), an Entech Award (Best Lighting Designer – Live Events), the John Truscott Design Award for Excellence, the Music Theatre Technical Design Award for Eureka at the Green Room Awards, and a Green Room Award for Best Lighting for Hairspray. She was also nominated for a Helpmann Award for Dead Man Walking and Green Room awards for Orlando (Opera Australia), The Boy from Oz (The Production Company) and Cunning Little Vixen (Victorian Opera).

Her State Opera South Australia credits include The Turn of the Screw, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Voss and the recent G&S FEST. Other recent lighting designs include The World of Wearable Art (Wellington), Mousetrap (Crossroads Live), The Woman in Black (Ensemble Theatre), A Little Night Music (Victorian Opera), Saturday Night Fever (Gordon Frost Organisation), In the Heights (Hayes Theatre, Sydney Opera House), and Cat Stevens’ A Cat’s Attic: Peace Train Tour (New Zealand).

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 Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Afghanistan fundraiser) and Poulenc’s Organ Concerto. 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.

Jo Stone is a graduate of Flinders Drama Centre and works in theatre, television and film. She has also taught for the Adelaide College of the Arts.

In 2002 she formed Stone/Castro with Paulo Castro, and their production of Martin Crimp’s thriller The Country, in which she performed, featured in the 2016 Adelaide Festival. Other acting credits include Hans + Gret (Windmill Theatre Company), Clock for No Time (Rumpus Theatre), Welcome the Bright World (House of Sand/State Theatre Company South Australia), the TV series Anzac Girls and Pine Gap, and Michael Cusack’s award-winning short film Meanwhile, at the Abandoned Factory.

Her dance credits include Sidi Larbi Cherokaui’s Foi (Les Ballets C de la B); Constanza Macras’ Big in Bombay and Back to the Present; and Scene Begins in the Dark; Blue Love (co-directed and performed with Shaun Parker); and Cube (Australian Dance Theatre).

As a movement consultant she has worked on Thursday (Brink Productions), and for STCSA Metro Street, Maggie Stone, Pornography and Prima Facie. Previous work for State Opera South Australia includes Peter Greenaway’s production of Writing to Vermeer (2000 Adelaide Festival) and Madama Butterfly.

THE CAST

José Carbó

Kate Ladner

Pelham Andrews

MACBETH

LADY MACBETH

BANQUO

Argentine-Australian baritone José Carbó has performed for leading houses including Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real Madrid, Los Angeles Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Seattle Opera and Opera Australia. In 2015 he joined the roster of principal artists at the Metropolitan Opera.

His triumphant Verdi debut in 2013 as Renato in Un ballo in maschera for Opera Australia led to further important Verdi roles, including the title role in Rigoletto, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, and his now-signature role of Germont in La traviata.

This production marks his stage debut in Macbeth, having sung the title role in concert with Opera Queensland and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra earlier this year.

In July he made another Verdi debut: Iago in Otello (West Australian Opera).

This year he has also sung Escamillo (Carmen) in Perth and appeared as a soloist in Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera and the 4MBS Festival of Classics.

He has toured Australia with superstar Sumi Jo, won a Helpmann Award for Die tote Stadt, appeared as Riolobo (Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas) for Los Angeles Opera and as Germont and Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) for Victorian Opera.

Australian soprano Kate Ladner lives in France. International career highlights include Staatstheater Stuttgart (Blondchen in The Abduction from the Seraglio), Glyndebourne Touring Opera (Constanze, The Abduction from the Seraglio), Graz Oper (Micaëla in Carmen), Macedonia Opera (Violetta, La traviata), Opera Holland Park (Violetta, Magda in La rondine and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro), English Touring Opera (the title role in Massenet’s Manon and Violetta), NZ Opera (Zerlina, Don Giovanni), Opera Australia (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Violetta, and Desdemona in Otello), and Xi’an Symphony Orchestra (Countess).

In Adelaide, she has performed in two complete Ring cycles, appearing as the Woodbird, Woglinde, Freia, Helmwige and Third Norn. She also enjoyed success in her role debuts as Salome, Marguerite in Faust, Aida, Tosca, and Eva in Die Meistersinger.

More recently, she has gained a reputation as an early Verdi specialist, singing the title roles in Alzira and Giovanna D’Arco, and Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s 1847 Macbeth (Buxton International Opera Festival).

She has sung in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid.

Australian bass Pelham Andrews has performed as 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), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Tio Sarvaor (La Vida Breve), Timur (Turandot), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Lodovico (Otello), Nourabad (The Pearlfishers), Lester Lamb (Cloudstreet), Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Mikado (The Mikado) and Ben (Madeline Lee). Most recently for State Opera he has sung Judd/Bonner (Voss), Colline (La bohème) and Baron Douphol (La traviata).

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

Paul O’Neill

Tomas Dalton

Nicholas Todorovic

MACDUFF

MALCOLM

DUNCAN/DOCTOR

Australian tenor Paul O’Neill has forged an international career singing in opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe and Australasia. He joins this production having sung Macduff for West Australian Opera in 2019.

More recent roles for WA Opera include Canio (Pagliacci), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana), Don José (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Alfredo (La traviata), Rodolfo (La bohème) and Otello; and for Opera Australia, Alfredo and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly). In the 2022–23 season he also sang tenor soloist in Britten’s War Requiem and Siegmund (Die Walküre, Act I) for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

He has sung Rodolfo and Narraboth (Salome) for OA, the title role in Faust for Theater Münster, Cavaradossi in both Perth and Magdeburg, and Pinkerton throughout China.

Other roles have included the Duke in Rigoletto (Opera Holland Park, OA, WA Opera, and the state theatres of Karlsruhe and Mainz); Carlo VII in Verdi’s Joan of Arc, Turiddu and Cavaradossi (Theater Bielefeld); and Jason in Médée (Theater Bielefeld and the Mainz State Theatre); as well as Don José at the Glyndebourne Festival and Laca in Jenůfa for Opéra de Lille.

Tenor Tomas Dalton studied voice and piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium before undertaking further study in Italy, courtesy of the Acclaim Awards Fellowship, Johnson Bequest, and the 2020 AOAC Opera Award.

For Opera Australia he has already sung numerous roles, with highlights including Alfredo in La traviata, and Nathanaël in The Tales of Hoffmann.

He has also recently understudied Rodolfo in La bohème and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour).

Other roles include the Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Victorian Opera), Tony Candolino in the 2018 Australian tour of Terrence McNally’s Master Class, and Pinkerton for The Stonnington Classics. He has also created roles in Elena Kats-Chernin’s Whiteley (Opera Australia) and Tassos Ioannidis’s Women in War in Greece.

His concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Handel’s Solomon, Bach’s Magnificat, Verdi’s Requiem and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, and he has toured Australia, Germany, Denmark and France as a soloist with the Australian Chamber Choir.

New Zealand-born baritone Nicholas Todorovic studied Law at the University of Canterbury and Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

In Australia and New Zealand he has performed for all the major opera companies, singing the title roles in Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Gianni Schicchi, as well as Papageno in The Magic Flute and Schaunard in La bohème. He also created the roles of Johnnie Dowd in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Victoria State Opera) and Pat in Madeleine Lee (Opera Australia).

He has worked extensively throughout the UK, appearing for D’Oyly Carte, English Touring Opera, London City Opera, Castleward Opera and Opera Holland Park, singing roles such as the four villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Don Magnifico in Cenerentola, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love, Colline in La bohème and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte.

Now based in France, he has most recently appeared as Scarpia in Tosca, Germont in La traviata and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.

THE CAST

Teresa LaRocca

Elliott Purdie

LADY IN WAITING

FLEANCE

Soprano Teresa LaRocca completed a drama and music degree at Adelaide University. She was a finalist in the ABC’s Young Performers Awards and went on to win State Opera Aria, Herald-Sun Aria and Metropolitan Opera awards.

Last year she sang Annina in State Opera South Australia’s production of La traviata. Other roles have included Berta (The Barber of Seville), Norina (Don Pasquale), Parasha (Stravinsky’s Mavra), Yum-Yum (The Mikado), Despina (Così fan tutte), Liù (Turandot), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), and the soprano role in Flamma Flamma (Adelaide Festival).

For Opera Australia she has sung Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Susanna, the Milliner and Marianne (Der Rosenkavalier), the title role in Manon Lescaut and Rosina (The Barber of Seville); and for OzOpera Micaëla (Carmen) and Musetta (La bohème).

For the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, she has sung in Symphony Under the Stars, A Viennese Gala, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica and Anne Cawrse’s Innocence suite.

Teresa LaRocca is Musical Director for the Italian Choral and Arts Society, and produces and performs in the St Clair Carols by Candlelight.

Elliott Purdie began performing with Theatre Bugs when he was 7 years old.

He has also been performing in all styles of dance since he was 8 years old, training with Theatre Bugs, TIDC Performing Arts Studio, and more recently Scotch College. He studied singing with Ben Francis (Theatre Bugs) for three years and is now a student of Andrew Turner at Scotch College.

His most recent performances include Jeremy Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for this year’s Adelaide Fringe (Adelaide Theatre Academy), Marty in Madagascar – A Musical Adventure JR (Adelaide Youth Theatre), Macduff’s son in Macbeth (Independent Theatre), Michael Banks in Mary Poppins (2021 Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Theatre Academy), and Chip in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR (Adelaide Youth Theatre).

Elliott Purdie was cast in the role of Fleance following an open casting call with State Opera South Australia. This production marks his professional stage and opera debut.

STATE OPERA CHORUS SOPRANOS & MEZZO-SOPRANOS

Laura Feier

Kristen Hardy

Fiona McArdle

Rachel McCall

Barbara Rennison

Amara Seabrook

Lucy Stoddart

Brooke Window

Alexandra Woolston

Cherie Boogaart

Meran Bow

Susan Ferguson

Barbara Heidrich

Deborah Johnson

Roslyn Lock

Elizabeth McCall

Vanessa Shirley

Courtney Turner

TENORS & BASSES

Matthew Byrne

Michael Denholm

Jiacheng Ding

Reece Keane

Callum McGing

Mark Oates

Kit Tonkin

Andrew Turner

Kim Worley

Peter Deane

Christian Evans

Daniel Goodburn

Macintyre HowieReeves

Greg John

Jamie Moffatt

David Perry

Alex Roose

Timothy Wilson

ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VIOLINS

CELLOS

HORNS

BANDA

Kate Suthers** Concertmaster Cameron Hill** Assoc. Concertmaster Holly Piccoli* Principal 1st Lachlan Bramble** Acting Principal 2nd Violin Ambra Nesa° Acting Assoc. Principal 2nd Minas Berberyan Hilary Bruer Jane Collins Zsuzsa Leon Shirin Lim Alexis Milton Michael Milton Liam Oborne Emma Perkins Alison Rayner Marie-Louise Slaytor Kemeri Spurr Niki Vasilakis

David Sharp** Acting Principal Cameron Waters° Acting Assoc. Principal Christopher Handley Sherrilyn Handley Andrew Leask Gemma Philips

Sarah Barrett° Emma Gregan Philip Paine* Timothy Skelly

DOUBLE BASSES

TROMBONES

David Schilling** Jonathon Coco** Acting Principal Belinda Kendall-Smith° Acting Assoc. Principal Jacky Chang Gustavo Quintino

Colin Prichard** Ian Denbigh John Gluyas Amanda Tillett*

Renae Stavely* oboe Darren Skelton** clarinet William Branson clarinet Bailey Coates clarinet Jackie Newcomb** bassoon Chris Buckley bassoon Martin Phillipson** trumpet Nicholas Bauer trumpet Jamie Adam** percussion Ryan Grunwald percussion

TIMPANI

** Section Principal

Andrew Penrose*

°

VIOLAS

OBOE

Justin Julian** David Wicks° Guest Associate Principal Linda Garrett Anna Hansen Rosi McGowran Michael Robertson Cecily Satchell

FLUTE

TRUMPETS David Khafagi** Gregory Frick

BASS TROMBONE

Kate Proctor** Guest Principal

PERCUSSION

PICCOLO

Steven Peterka** Sami Butler°

Julia Grenfell* Joshua Oates**

COR ANGLAIS Peter Duggan*

CLARINETS Dean Newcomb** Mitchell Berick*

BASSOONS Mark Gaydon** Leah Stephenson

*

Associate Principal Principal Player

BEHIND THE SCENES PRODUCTION TEAMS Adelaide Festival Centre

State Opera South Australia

FLY TECHNICIAN Kevin Sigley MECHANISTS Michael Camp,

STAGE MANAGER Victoria Lewis DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER Nam Nguyen ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Brock Roberts PROPS & SCENIC ART Anto Dal Santo CARPENTER Scott Pasfield PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Tom Hannagan WARDROBE SUPERVISOR Tracey Richardson WARDROBE ASSISTANTS Denise Strawhan, Ai Tanaka DRESSERS David Adams, Kent Green, Sue Nicola, Tamara Wheeler WIGS & MAKEUP SUPERVISOR Jana DeBiasi WIGS & MAKEUP ASSISTANTS

Brenton Watson, Mathew Smith, Gabriella Robins FOH SOUND OPERATOR

Mick Jackson FLOOR SOUND Jackson Price HEAD ELECTRICIAN

Rick Worringham LIGHTING BOARD OPERATOR

Cameron Lane FOLLOW SPOT OPERATORS

Kez Scott, Kit Adams

Beverley Freeman, Dina Giaccio, Teresa Scriva RÉPÉTITEURS Michael Ierace, Andrew Georg SURTITLES OPERATOR Connor Fogarty CHAPERONE Tim de Jong

STATE OPERA SOUTH AUSTRALIA MANAGEMENT Board of Management

Staff

Imelda Alexopoulos Dr Beata Byok Jane Doyle oam Peter Goldsworthy Dr Thomas Millhouse Polly Tembel Philippa Williams

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mark Taylor HEAD OF MUSIC Anthony Hunt PRODUCTION MANAGER Ben Flett ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Monique Hapgood PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Elisabet Cada DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Laura Danesin MARKETING & CRM EXECUTIVE Hannah Neophytou DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Ashlyn Hannam TICKETING & OFFICE COORDINATOR Richelle Weiher DEVELOPMENT & EVENTS COORDINATOR Emanuel Auciello 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

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 & 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 (2)

State Opera wishes to thank its generous Chorus of supporters

VIRTUOSOS Jane Doyle oAM & Ian 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

More opera for more people…

That’s what we believe in at State Opera South Australia.

From grand outdoor operas to intimate Australian works, from homegrown international stars to budding local talent, we believe in taking the best of what opera has to offer and putting it on stage for everyone to experience.

We are a company of firsts. We champion Australian, particularly South Australian, talent. We celebrate the classics. We create audacious collaborations. We challenge you to question what you think opera is.

On Stage Giving is the backbone of philanthropy at State Opera. We invite you to stand alongside us in championing Australian talent on and off the stage as we deliver stunning, provocative, and significant productions to our audiences.

Help us tell stories worth telling.

In memoriam Peter McKee State Opera South Australia is proud to dedicate this season of Macbeth to the late Peter McKee, an avid lover of opera and ardent supporter of our company for more than 25 years.

Verdi’s Macbeth was a particular favourite of Peter’s and it gives all of us at State Opera true pleasure to be able to perform this production in the presence of his family, honouring the memory of his generous spirit, his unwavering support and his love of grand opera.

OUR PARTNERS

State Opera gratefully acknowledges support from

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

Macbeth is a co-production with West Australian Opera

SURTITLES PARTNER

MEDIA PARTNERS

ACCOMMODATION PARTNER

SUPPORTERS

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