PRESENTED BY MUSICA VIVA AUSTRALIA

Every year on Christmas Eve listeners around the world tune in to hear The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge celebrate the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in a glorious display of the British choral tradition. Now this unique and precious sound returns to Australia. 

The Choir will perform soaring anthems and sacred works alongside two touchstones of the choral repertoire: Stravinsky’s Mass for choir and double wind quintet (ten of Australia’s best instrumentalists); and Maurice Duruflé’s magnificent Requiem, a radiant meditation on life and death for choir and organ. 

It’s not all top hats and heavenly voices: just as boys grow up and voices change, the Choir’s work evolves across the generations. Which is why Daniel Hyde, Director since 2019, asked us what The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge might learn from us. Integral to their performance is a new work commissioned from Australian composer Damian Barbeler, working with a text by Judith Nangala Crispin (a descendant of the Bpangerang people), which weaves a new tapestry from the threads of history.

Program 1: Sydney (Sydney Opera House), Perth (Perth Concert Hall), Brisbane (QPAC), Adelaide (Adelaide Town Hall)

HANDEL Zadok the Priest 
BAINTON And I saw a new Heaven 
DURUFLÉ Requiem, Op. 9 
Damian BARBELER (music) & Judith Nangala CRISPIN (poem) Charlotte (2023)* 

OR 

Program 2: Sydney (City Recital Hall), Melbourne (Hamer Hall & Melbourne Recital Centre) Canberra (Llewellyn Hall)

GABRIELI O magnum mysterium 
BULL Almighty God, which by the leading of a star 
TALLIS Videte miraculum 
WEIR Vertue 
STRAVINSKY Mass 
Damian BARBELER (music) & Judith Nangala CRISPIN (poem) Charlotte (2023)* 

*World premiere performances. Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia by Richard Wilkins. 

Concert Duration: The concert has an approximate duration of 105 minutes (including interval).

PRESENTED BY OPERA AUSTRALIA

Love. Jealousy. Betrayal.

“Ah! Tosca.” Scarpia growls it, lust in his voice, danger in his eyes. Tosca thinks of her lover, his captive. How far will she go to save him?

Opera’s greatest thriller is a taut tale of passion and betrayal, taking place over just 24 hours in Rome. Renowned prima donna Tosca is in love with Cavaradossi, a painter and revolutionary. When the sadistic Chief of Police Scarpia tries to crush them, our heroine finds the strength to do the unspeakable.

Puccini’s music is sensational: from the overpowering choral power of the famous Te Deum, Tosca’s ode to art ‘Vissi d’arte’ and the haunting tenor showpiece ‘E lucevan le stelle’ as Cavaradossi faces death.

When the final note rings into silence, and you pick your jaw up off the floor, you’ll feel an extraordinary emotional release.

In this acclaimed, five-star production from Opera North, director Edward Dick writes the tension large upon the stage. A stunning renaissance fresco colours a gilded dome hanging over the performers. Dramatic, stadium-style lights by Lee Curran put a razor focus on the unfolding action, revealing beauty and menace in turn.

Tosca is the perfect first taste of opera, and one opera lovers return to again and again, to experience how music can bring great stories to emotional highs. Tosca has it all: romance, action and an unforgettable ending.

Performed in the Margaret Court Arena with all the drama and scale of an epic theatrical experience, this will be very special night at the opera.

The action turns on a trio of brilliant performers, so we’ve found singers you don’t want to miss: Opera Australia audience favourite Karah Son shares the heroic title role with British star Nadine Benjamin. Diego Torre returns to our stage as Cavaradossi, along with Young Woo Kim, making his Australian debut in the role. And we have two formidable Scarpias: Helpmann Award-winning baritone Warwick Fyfe and English singer Robert Hayward.

PRESENTED BY OPERA AUSTRALIA

Before Eurovision, there was the Wartburg Song Contest. Eurovision could only wish for this much drama!

Imagine basking in the adoration of Venus herself. Our minstrel-knight Tannhäuser has found a paradise of passion and pleasure with the goddess of love and beauty. Life is perfect. Until, he gets bored – and homesick.

Venus banishes him. Much to the joy of his friends and former love Elisabeth, Tannhäuser finds himself in Wartburg and enters the upcoming song contest. Only, he is unable to forget the sensuous realm of Venusberg, and praises Venus in song. Horrified, the crowd turns on him, insisting he atone for his sins with a pilgrimage. Elisabeth prays for his soul as Tannhäuser seeks salvation in Rome. Will he be absolved, or are Venus’ charms impossible to resist?

Understatement was never in Wagner’s vocabulary. His works are epic in scale, mythical of storyline, and radical in their orchestration. Tannhäuser is no exception.

From its thrilling overture to its shattering climax, Wagner’s exploration of love, religion and redemption through German folklore has fascinated and entranced audiences since its scandalous premiere.

Presented in concert at Arts Centre Melbourne, Wagner’s magnificent orchestrations are conducted by Johannes Fritzsch and gloriously played by Orchestra Victoria. Featuring our own “Pilgrim’s Chorus”, the Opera Australia Chorus, this is ‘Romantic grand opera’ at its legendary best.

PRESENTED BY MELBOURNE OPERA

Following the sellout February success of Das Rheingold at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne Opera is thrilled to be returning to the magnificent Her Majesty’s Theatre for this brand new production.

Featuring a magnificent cast starring Helena Dix (Norma, Roberto Devereux, Lohengrin), Simon Meadows (Das Rheingold), Samuel Sakker (Norma), Eddie Muliaumaseali’i, Adrian Tamburini, Robert Macfarlane, Michael Dimovski, Eleanor Greenwood, and Alex Pokryshevsky. Including the 60-strong Melbourne Opera Chorus.

Greg Hocking and Raymond Lawrence will conduct the acclaimed MO Orchestra and Academy Award winning director Bruce Beresford will bring this exciting masterpiece to life.

Macbeth is a famous vehicle for a star soprano and baritone, is packed with wonderful arias, choruses and magnificent ensembles and was one of Verdi’s greatest early successes. It’s a masterpiece to which he returned later in life and it is his superb later revised version which MO will present.

Principal Sponsor: Lady Potter AC and Dr Alastair Jackson AM.