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Manuel de Falla | Elliott Carter

Master Peter’s Puppet Show & What Next?15 - 22 August

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Music Director’s Message

Elliott Carter, composer of What Next? wrote in a program note to his opera that the perfect companion piece to his work would be Manuel de Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show. It is a matter of serendipity that I had programmed this double bill prior to discovering Elliott Carter’s views. It is however, not a serendipitous matter that Victorian Opera is adding these works to its repertoire.

The inclusion of rarely performed operatic works has been consistent with my programming philosophy since Victorian Opera opened its doors almost seven years ago. Programming such repertoire is not based on the rarity of a work’s appearance but rather on the worthiness of the work itself. There are thousands upon thousands of rarely programmed operas, most of which have earned their obscurity. However, these two works, Master Peter’s Puppet Show and What Next? are substantial additions to the repertoire from composers who have well and truly earned their stripes and their places in music.

I urge you, as I always do, to read the scholarly articles prepared by Judith Armstrong and Michael Christoforidis. In Judith Armstrong’s case, reading her well-reasoned and thoroughly accessible writing will give you insights into Elliott Carter’s opera which will inevitably aid understanding. Michael Christoforidis is the world’s leading authority on Manuel de Falla’s music with special reference to Master Peter’s Puppet Show and brings rare and special insight into this work.

Director, Nancy Black, her team of puppeteers and her co-creators have come up with some very special solutions to the problems associated with the presentation of these operas, and I offer my undying thank you to this remarkable troupe of artists. I also thank them for not accepting the easy way out when it presented itself so many times.

Daniel Carter, who has been with Victorian Opera as a Developing Artist assumes the reins tonight as he makes his mainstage debut with the company in the last operas for 2012. It is a continuation of the concept of offering conducting assignments to young conductors. Daniel Carter was the recipient of the 2012 prestigious Brian Stacey Award (for emerging Australian conductors) for which, on behalf of the company, I offer him heartiest congratulations.

I hope you enjoy this double bill.

Richard GillMusic Director

Conductor’s Message

Tonight’s program is concerned with transition. Each composer explores this concept and embraces this idea differently. The musical styles are contrasting and the dramatic impetuses underpinning each of the libretti bear little resemblance to each other, yet the notion of the transition is paramount in both operas.

Manuel de Falla’s one act puppet opera El Retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show) represents a critical transition in his compositional style. He started creating smaller scale masterpieces which reference the patterns of the traditional Spanish folk material he knew and loved in a more sophisticated, complicated style - a transition into a period of compositional maturity as he explored his own neoclassical style.

This transition was a conscious one. Musical quotes from his and others repertoire who were also to work in this neoclassical style are evident (about fifteen minutes in listen for the moment where Falla superimposes quotes from his own music and Stravinsky’s Petrushka). While many of his contemporaries approached neoclassicism as simple imitation of forms and techniques of earlier times Falla goes further, evoking the colourful sound worlds of these earlier periods. One example of this is at the very opening of the opera, where the still, soft accompaniment is contrasted by oboes playing a loud energetic statement of a traditional folk tune, a sure reference to the nasal, boisterous colour of the Spanish dulzaina.

In the second half of this double bill, Elliott Carter’s only opera takes the audience through the aftermath of an unspecified accident. Here the process of transition is examined from within the instant of transition itself, a static moment in time which has been expanded to fill 40 minutes. Musically, Carter creates stasis by maintaining an almost constant, underlying pulse for the entire piece. Even though the tempo itself changes every few bars, these changes are based on the relationships between notes on each side of the tempo change, thus keeping the fundamental pulse the same throughout.

On an occasion of personal transition, my mainstage debut for Victorian Opera, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Richard Gill and the rest of the team at Victorian Opera for their encouragement and support over the past four years.

Daniel CarterConductor

Director’s Message

These two short operas would appear to share nothing except brevity. One was written in the 20th century, an adaptation of a revered Spanish classic from the 17th century, the other is contemporary and original, composed in 1997. Together they illumine different aspects of the human desire for story: as a means for bringing order out of chaos, for making connection, for fixing identity and investigating the meaning of life. Those assertions have been argued eloquently elsewhere. Here I would contend only that the characters in these operas engage with all of the above. As well, their composers and librettists share a sense of the absurd: faced with destruction, looking into nothingness - what else can one do but struggle on, laugh and love?

Master Peter’s Puppet Show begins with one narrative (the puppet show) then introduces others that interrupt and distort the first. Each thread reveals much about its creator. Don Quixote’s character is well known. Cervantes presents him relentlessly as a figure of fun in whom we painfully recognize ourselves. Here he behaves true to form – becoming so incensed by the puppet show that he takes it on as an enemy, asserting himself as a heroic knight, a saviour to mankind, and of course, the devoted lover of Dulcinea. Master Peter and his puppeteers are artists trying to make a living by creating beautiful images and telling an epic story. Unfortunately Master Peter’s narrator, a girl dressed as a boy, interprets and changes that story, enraging both Master Peter and Don Quixote. In the end, Don Quixote’s passion conquers the imagined demons. He is triumphant, while Master Peter weeps and the puppet show lies in ruins.

From the first I wanted to explore the power of Don Quixote’s imagination. I decided on shadow puppetry for the play-within-the play because it uses scale and transformation so powerfully. The puppet designer Lynne Kent and myself chose to blend several forms of shadow – traditional silhouette, three dimensional objects, and real human form – to fully reflect the richness of the material. The libretto suggests the event takes place within a tavern. Adam Gardnir designed a scaffold covered with cloth facades that evoke a transient, impoverished world where people dream of romantic places and better lives.

What Next? begins where the other ends: in destruction. The characters of Master Peter’s Puppet Show descend into chaos, while those of What Next? struggle to emerge. They are driven by their need to find out who they are, re-order their lives, and survive. They, too, long to be lovers and heroes, but are no more successful in that quest than Don Quixote. Like him they are foolish, irritating, funny and touching. Their pretensions and foibles are offset by the Kid, whose approach to their shared predicament is pragmatic and present, even when he indulges his own imagination.

Appropriately, the set for What Next? is the scaffold and wreckage of the puppet show. Supported by Phil Lethlean’s lighting, it evokes both a city and a prison, guarded by percussionist jailers. The place is wholly strange, but offers the characters broken fragments from a past or story they may once have known. Mama sums up their predicament: “We have to begin with the last thing we can remember. How else to go on?” she asks. In the end, that is a question for us, the audience, to ponder and answer.

Nancy BlackDirector

Managing Director’s Message

“There is no such thing as safe repertoire. If you keep bringing out the hoary old chestnuts, audiences get bored. The challenge is to keep the excitement and momentum going.’”

Although I open speeches with this statement on a regular basis, I always credit the originator - Peter Gelb, General Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It regularly inspires everyone at Victorian Opera to ensure we keep challenging ourselves, artists and audiences to improve all our work.

Victorian Opera is proud to present two Australian premières tonight. They are our most adventurous programming to date – but they take place in a year which has also already delivered a pantomime, Mozart, Stravinsky and a new commission.This vision of a balanced program - from Richard Gill, Founding Music Director, supported by the Board and implemented by all the staff, has created a framework for the organisation to operate within. Richard Gill has created an extraordinary legacy for Victoria and throughout the country through his work at Victorian Opera.

Part of this vision has always included Victorian Opera’s Developing Artist Program. We’re delighted this is now consolidated with a Master of Music (Opera Performance) run in partnership with the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, and kindly supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation. Without their support, numerous singers and conductors would not have the opportunity to forge the careers they are carving out, and to them we say thank you.

We are delighted that Conductor Daniel Carter, a graduate of the Developing Artist Program is making his debut with these two Australian premières.

Thank you for your support of Victorian Opera and I hope you enjoy this exciting double bill.

Lucy ShorrocksManaging Director

© Adam Gardnir

Master Peter’s Puppet Show / What Next?

Master Peter’s Puppet Show. Composer & Librettist Manuel de Falla.An opera in one act. First performed in 1923, Paris. Sung in Spanish with English surtitles. What Next? Composer Elliott Carter. Librettist Paul Griffiths.An opera in one act. First performed in 1999, Berlin. Sung in English with surtitles.

Running time approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes including one interval. Performed at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall 15 - 22 August 2012.

ConductorDirectorSet & Costume Designer Lighting DesignerPuppet DesignerPuppet MakerAssistant DirectorProduction ManagerStage ManagerAssistant Stage Manager/Props BuyerHead MechanistTechnical CoordinatorCostume SupervisorPrincipal RepetiteurSecond RepetiteurSurtitle Operator

Daniel CarterNancy BlackAdam GardnirPhil LethleanLynne KentRachel JoyMichal ImielskiMarcus ByronJessica SmithettElise BeggsJack Grant Peter DarbyRoss HallPhillipa SafeyLoclan Mackenzie-SpencerChristian Smith

ORCHESTRA VICTORIAConcert Master: Roger Jonsson1st Violins: Ceridwen Jones, John Noble, Rachel Gamer2nd Violins: Alyssa Conrau, Binny Baik, Lubino Fernandes, Elizabeth AmbroseViolas: Paul McMillan, Raymond HopeCellos: Diane Froomes, Tania Hardy-SmithDouble Basses: Davin Holt, Matthew ThorneFlutes: Lisa-Maree Amos, Lorraine BradburyBassoons: Tahnee Van Herk, Glen ProhaskyTrombone: Scott EvansOboes: Stephen Robinson, Josh De Graaf, Cor Anglais: Sebastien RobinsonHorns: Jasen Moulton, Heather McMahonTuba: Jon WoodsHarp: Mary AndersonClarinets: Paul Champion, Andrew Mitchell Trumpet: Mark FitzpatrickTimpani: Eugene UghettiPercussion: Peter Neville, Eugene Ughetti, Stephen Falk, Will LarsenPiano & Harpsichord: Phillipa Safey

With thanks to Melbourne Recital Centre staff and crew, Element Rigging, CVPResolution X, Vladimir Chishkovsky, Shakkei, Dr Michael Christofordis, Dr Elliott Gyger & Dr Susan Harley.

Ian CousinsCarlos BárcenasLotte Betts-DeanVanessa EllisHamish FletcherLynne Kent Rod Primrose

CAST - Master Peter’s Puppet ShowDon QuixoteMaster PeterThe BoyShadow Puppets

CAST - What Next?RoseMamaStellaZenHarry or LarryKid

Jessica AszodiIreni UtleyEmily Bauer-JonesTim ReynoldsGary RowleyAustin HaynesNicholas van Kerkhoven

SynopsisMaster Peter’s Puppet ShowA place that could be a barn or a tavern, set up with rough screens for a shadow puppet show.

Master Peter is preparing to present a puppet show The Rescue of Melisandra. He calls the audience into the theatre as his artists busy themselves with their final preparations. One of them is late! He calls for everyone to sit down, the lights darken, and the puppet show begins.

The narrator, a girl dressed as a boy, describes how Don Gayferos is gambling and playing chess with the renowned hero Roland, while Gayferos’ wife, Melisandra, has been kidnapped and imprisoned by the Moors in Saragossa. Gayferos wants to continue gaming, and has no desire to rescue her. King Charlemagne, Melisandra’s father, is furious and demands he go. Gayferos reluctantly agrees, and tries to take Roland’s sword, famed for its magical prowess. Roland refuses to let him have it. They have a tussle, and Roland leaves. Gayferos has no choice but to embark on his rescue mission.

The scene moves to Saragossa where Melisandra is kept prisoner in a castle tower, under the watchful eye of King Marsilius. A young man, passing through the marketplace below, catches sight of her. Their eyes meet, and he falls instantly in love. She is so startled and confused by her own feelings that she drops the handkerchief she was carrying. It floats down. The young man catches it and determines to return it to her.

He makes his way into her tower. Shyly he returns the handkerchief, and suddenly they kiss. King Marsilius witnesses the illicit kiss, Melisandra screams, and the young man tries to escape. King Marsilius orders him caught and whipped without trial – which the Boy adds is typical of Moorish custom.

At this point an unknown man (Don Quixote) who has come onto the stage from the audience, interrupts the Boy and the puppet show, saying that the Boy should not add his own comments to the story. He continues that such a punishment could not be administered without legal proceedings. Master Peter supports Don Quixote’s comments and admonishes the Boy to tell the story simply – without additions! Don Quixote sits to one side. The puppet show resumes.

The enamoured young man is caught and whipped. The scene then moves to Don Gayferos travelling through the countryside to Melisandra’s tower. He has various encounters. When he arrives, Melisandra doesn’t recognise him until he removes his hat. She then leaps from the tower, lands on the back of his horse, and they escape. Marsilius discovers they’ve gone and orders a chase.

The Boy again elaborates – praising the pair (even though his description of Don Gayferos at the beginning was highly uncomplimentary), and wishing them a safe journey. Master Peter stops him once more. The Boy resumes, only to be interrupted by Don Quixote who says that his descriptions of the chase are inaccurate. Master Peter pleads with Don Quixote to let the storytelling proceed, that plays are full of absurdities and inaccuracy. The show resumes.

As the chase continues the horsemen and horses become increasingly distorted and frenzied. They appear on the walls and ceiling of the theatre, as well as on the screens. Don Quixote becomes so involved and impassioned that he draws his sword in a rage and attacks the images. The screens begin to fall. As he does so he challenges the perceived scoundrels to do battle with him! The mighty Don Quixote! A knight and “captive” of Dulcinea. He sings an aria to her. The puppet show stops as the puppeteers listen to his moving words. Master Peter meanwhile laments the loss of his puppets and the ruin of his show.

When Don Quixote finishes his tribute to Dulcinea he addresses the audience and puppeteers – exhorting them to recognise what a wonderful deed he has done, saving Gayferos and Melisandra. More screens fall. He then lists other bold knights whose daring heroic deeds he admires. He toasts “knight errantry above all professions that are in the world!” One last beast remains to be conquered…..

What Next?An unnamed structure, partially ruined, debris all around.

Five adults and one young boy find themselves in an unfamiliar place, after an unnamed catastrophe. They do not know who they are or what they were doing. Yet they respond to each other intuitively. They begin with sounds, which turn into words, which lead to phrases, which lead to mini statements. They are dressed to the nines, and one of the women is wearing a wedding gown.

They relate to one another as if a family of sorts: Mama, her ex-husband Zen, Zen’s girlfriend the astronomer Stella, Zen and Mama’s son Harry or Larry, and his fiancée the singer Rose. They were all on their way to the wedding when this “accident” happened. The one exception is the rational, pragmatic Kid who is a complete outsider. The others are fascinated by him, and try to bring him under their control. Only Stella manages to achieve some degree of connection. All want to escape, and each character also has his or her own agenda – which they try to pursue.

They quickly discover they can’t escape. Four percussionists, situated on various points around the set, are their jailers. Midway through the opera Zen thinks he has discovered a way out, and they all exit, leaving the Kid behind.

The adults plunge back onto stage. Unfortunately their escape ended in a second, unnamed “catastrophe”. They are dishevelled, confused, and frightened.

Rose grows increasingly angry. She abandons her identity as a chanteuse and calls off the wedding. Harry or Larry, who saw himself as a Lothario, is rebuffed by all the women. Zen who fancied himself as a philosopher, has nothing to say anymore. Stella lets go of her previous love of astronomy to seek a different path. Mama realises how lonely she is, tries to reconcile with Zen, but then reverts to form. She keeps trying to get the group to recognise their need for help.

When the percussionists put hard hats on, Mama thinks they are going to rescue them. Singly and in pairs the characters plead with them for help – to no avail. The Kid loses patience with them all. The opera ends as they all realize that they are stuck with one another, that there is no escape, and they will just have to carry on.

Master Peter’s Puppet Show

We owe the existence of Master Peter’s Puppet Show [El retablo de Maese Pedro] to a commission from the Princesse de Polignac, famous Paris arts patron and heiress to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune. In late 1918 she wrote to the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla asking him to compose a short dramatic work for a small orchestra and limited number of singers, and suggested that it include puppets. Given free rein to select a subject and prepare the libretto, Falla chose an episode from the second volume of Miguel de Cervantes’ literary masterpiece, The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote de la Mancha (1615), drawing on much of Cervantes’ text verbatim. After numerous delays Master Peter’s Puppet Show was premiered in 1923, first in a concert version in Seville, then staged in Polignac’s salon.

This was indeed a timely commission for Falla, who had been questioning the validity of traditional opera. Closely aligned to Igor Stravinsky and the circle of the Ballets Russes during and after World War I, Falla had witnessed the reconfiguration of musical drama in works such as Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (1918), The Wedding (1914-1922), Renard (1915) and Erik Satie’s Socrate (1918), the last two of which were commissioned for Polignac’s salon. Master Peter’s Puppet Show was conceived as a hybrid work incorporating pantomime, and Falla even lobbied Serge Diaghilev to stage it as a ballet (with singers in the pit), a practice already embraced by the Ballets Russes.

Master Peter’s Puppet Show marked an important aesthetic shift for Falla in terms of musical identity, away from his Andalusian (or Southern Spanish), flamenco-inspired ballets and concert works. Love the Magician (1915), The Three-Cornered Hat (1919) and Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1916), with their Andalusian sonorities, had won him international renown and positioned him in the vanguard of Spanish musical nationalism. The stylistic transformation in Master Peter’s Puppet Show was inspired by Falla’s desire to engage with changing representations of Spain and his ongoing exploration of musical neoclassicism.

Don Quixote was at the heart of artistic and intellectual debates as Spain sought to rebuild national identity after the disastrous Spanish-American War of 1898 that shattered its illusions of imperial power. The intellectuals of the so-called “generation of 1898” based its reappraisal of Spanish identity on Spain’s Castilian heritage and links to Europe. Master Peter’s Puppet Show is a musical expression of these ideas. Falla’s musical imagination extended beyond Andalusia to embrace the Iberian Peninsula and tap the musics of Spain’s Golden Age, from polyphonic Renaissance airs to the baroque guitar dances of Gaspar Sanz. Folk music and popular tunes employed range from the Galician bagpipe and drum riffs that underpin the opening rustic Toccata to the Catalan Christmas Carol that pervades the Finale, and there are even snatches of the Spanish national anthem. Falla referred to anthologies of North African music to shape the musical portrayal of the Moors. In terms of musical style, Falla developed a broadly “tonal” modernist palette spiced with dissonant overlaid harmonies to accommodate these musical sources, and in the process became a leading exponent of post-war European neoclassicism.

The brilliance of Falla’s orchestration for Master Peter’s Puppet Show was widely acclaimed in the 1920s. Alongside Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (1921), this is one of the earliest works written for a modern chamber orchestra. The Seville premiere was given by the Orquesta Bética, a chamber orchestra founded by Falla expressly to perform both contemporary and pre-Romantic repertoire. The score was also the first in the 20th century to incorporate the harpsichord, added at the behest of the instrument’s modern pioneer, Wanda Landowska. The harpsichord adds a distinctive sonority, although an “authentic” performance of the work would entail using a grand steel-framed instrument like the Pleyel harpsichord used by Landowska.

Each of the three sung roles of Master Peter’s Puppet Show projects a characteristic sonority and style. Falla does not treat Don Quixote purely as a comic figure, asking that the part be sung “with a sense of nobility and dignity” partaking equally of the sublime and the ridiculous. As models for this baritone role, Falla drew on the protagonists of Verdi’s Falstaff and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Master Peter and the Boy (Trujamán) are given a more rustic feel, avoiding all lyricism. Master Peter’s tenor evokes the strains of town criers and Spanish folk idioms. The soprano Trujamán delivers the bulk of the narrative in a quasi-ecclesiastical intonation style, which is punctuated by fragments of folk tunes, medieval ballads and the melodic cries of Spanish street vendors. Falla took great pains setting the Boy’s text, trying out its scansion and rhyming patterns on friends and receiving feedback from the young Féderico García Lorca, a close collaborator in the early 1920s.

Falla had also worked closely with Pablo Picasso on the Ballets Russes productions of The Three-Cornered Hat (1919) and Cuadro Flamenco (1921), and this collaboration left its mark on Master Peter’s Puppet Show. For instance, Picasso’s mature cubist practice inspired Falla’s abstraction, stylisation and conflation of Spanish musical sources, evident in the playful motivic juxtapositions of the Sinfonia. But of even greater importance were the concepts of the sideshow and use of framing devices that underpin the work’s structure. The tale of Don Gayferos and Melisendra is framed by Master Peter’s opening Toccata and Sinfonia and by the Finale, featuring Don Quixote’s dramatically static monologue in praise of chivalry. Between these bookends we are drawn into a series of scenes presented as dramatic double expositions: each scene comprises the Boy’s narration of a Medieval Romance followed by the puppets’ enactment of the story. Falla employs fanfares as important musical markers that punctuate the Boy’s narrative, initially dividing it from the puppet representation in the scenes that follow, and then gradually facilitating the merging of the two worlds. However it is Don Quixote who becomes the conduit between the layers of “reality” at play—the puppet world, Master Peter’s spectacle, and the audience—a process facilitated by Falla as he increasingly foregrounds Don Quixote’s outbursts and gradually blurs the distinction between the music underscoring the Boy’s narration and the puppets’ enactment.

Finally, Falla took great interest in the staging of Master Peter’s Puppet Show, exploring the universality of puppet theatre and experimenting with various techniques. Falla, Lorca and a circle of Granada artists put together their own puppet theatre (the Cachiporra puppets) based on local traditions that shaped the first production in Polignac’s salon. For larger stagings, Falla considered a number of options for Master Peter’s Puppet Show, like the employment of two levels of puppets, with the “real” characters represented by larger über-marionettes or cabezudos, or the use of shadow puppets. In the end, Falla allowed the three singers to appear on stage, at times wearing masks, at the suggestion of his young friend Luis Buñuel, who made his name with the successful 1926 Amsterdam production. It seems oddly fitting that the master of surreal cinema made his directorial debut with Master Peter’s Puppet Show.

© Dr Michael Christoforidis 2012

© Rachel Joy

A note from Elliott Carter

After a great deal of encouragement from Daniel Barenboim I decided to write an opera in 1996. Refusing to use as a basis the usual literarymodel, I chose a subject that all of us think about today – an automobile accident. Jacques Tati’s film “Trafic” is an example of this thought.

The opera is dominated by the character “Rose”, who has given a performance the night before the opening of the opera, and after recalling this fact, sings almost constantly throughout the opera, not always in the foreground, against the other singers as they develop their individual situations.

Elliott Carter

© Adam Gardnir

What Next?

Elliott Carter, an American composer currently aged one hundred and three, is not well known in this country, though his output of more than three dozen substantial works and the award of two Pulitzer Prizes for Music should more than whet our interest. It is true that the critic and music historian David Schiff has warned that for Carter music ‘has to be as intellectually challenging as the best poetry or philosophy.’ But he has also said that Carter ‘composes three kinds of music: discards, studies and masterpieces,’ and has praised many other aspects of Carter’s professional life, such as his unstinting efforts to improve the situation of American composers and the contribution he has made to music education. Carter has served on several faculty boards and published numerous reviews and critical essays.

Elliott Carter was born in New York City in 1908, and although his parents had him taught music, they took for granted that he would make his living in the family business, importing lace. He of course had other ideas. Some of his fans have suggested that his parents were lacking in understanding, but their son disagrees. ‘They must have suffered a good deal,’ he replies. ‘They had to sit through my practising of Scriabin for hours on end.’ Meanwhile Elliott benefited from good teachers and the cultural buzz of Greenwich Village, where weekly salons featured the fascinating modern music he was most drawn to.

It is on record that he began to try his hand at composition after hearing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for the first time, although he was by now enrolled in an English Literature and Classics course at Harvard, where he was awarded a BA. But having developed an interest in the musical traditions of the Middle East, East India and China, his next goal was a Masters in Music. In 1932 he went to Paris to study with the legendary Nadia Boulanger, although his practice of music was now confined to singing Bach cantatas with the other students. When he left, Boulanger’s letter of recommendation praised his musicianship very highly, but also described him as serious and loyal, sincere and understanding, discreet and tactful.

Back in New York in 1936, Carter continued to compose while earning his living as a reviewer. His first major work was a score for the ballet Pocahontas, which was well received if a little overshadowed by another work premièred at the same time - Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid. In 1939 he married Helen Frost Jones, a sculptor and art critic.

His European reputation began to take off in the 1950s, when his String Quartet #1 won first prize at Liège, followed by the offer of a Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. After his return to the US he continued to teach on and off, at Queens College, New York, or at Yale, while continuing to compose. His Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano and 2 Chamber Orchestras was declared by a somewhat awe-struck Igor Stravinsky as ‘a masterpiece,’ yet the Russian composer confessed to liking Carter’s Piano Concerto of 1967 ‘even more’.

In later life Carter began setting to music to the poetry of contemporaries such as John Ashberry and Robert Lowell; his opus overall includes choral works, ballet scores, symphonies, and chamber music. Not to mention his one unique opera, which premièred in 1998 when he was 90 years old, and is now being performed in Australia for the first time.

What Came Next ?When rumours of its birth-pangs first leaked out, the response was excitement mixed with incredulity. Carter had all his life attended the opera, but had regularly turned down suggestions to write one. He said in a letter: ‘Opera - at least as we know it - is a big enterprise and must reach a large public and must be intended to do so, and yet that public must be assumed to be […] cultured enough to receive important experiences from new music - a fact we know is not so here’. He also inferred that operas involved violence, which he did not like. Daniel Barenboim overcame these qualms by suggesting he write a comedy - ‘And that’s what he did.’ The finished work was to open in Berlin.

Carter’s chosen librettist was Paul Griffiths, a British writer and music critic for The New Yorker, whose correspondence with Carter reveals that one of several inspirations for the opera was the Jacques Tati film Trafic. Griffiths kept a diary during the months it took to write the libretto, in which he recorded his regular consultations with Carter. The opera would be a one-acter dealing with six (originally seven) people, including a newly married couple, all disoriented in the aftermath of a car crash, all trying to sort out their identities and relationships.

Carter explained another trigger in a letter to Griffiths: ‘In Rome one year I witnessed an auto accident and was profoundly shocked to see the police come with measuring tapes and try to find out what happened and who was to blame, while the injured young man lay on the pavement, not being attended to or paid attention…Indifference may be part of this affair?’ It was - personified on stage by the road workers who come to mend the road and take no notice of the dazed victims, or of their directionless singing. Elsewhere Carter had emphasised that he did not want a standard literary or historically-based opera, but something everyday and contemporary. It was a help that he found a New York store that sold recordings of car accidents; listening to these gave him his introduction, in which the percussion conveys the noise of the crash.

Griffiths saw the accident as a metaphor with several potential meanings, and although very relieved when Carter approved his first draft, confessed that he often didn’t know where he was going with it. Nor what it would be called. Carter thought the title might be Who’s Driving? or, as he corrected himself, Who Drove? He and Griffiths agreed that the characters would be more identifiable if the couple were a bride and groom in wedding clothes, the bride very wealthy, ‘almost schizoid’, the groom very much in love. The others characters were to slowly get up from the road on which they were lying, and begin to sing - singing being the only way they can deal with the abnormal situation in which they find themselves, and in which no two agree on the relationship they have, or had, with each other. Their conversation, if it can be called that, would express past misunderstandings, present misinterpretations, and an uncertain future, building to a peak of confusion.

But, Carter and Griffiths concurred, they would have to agree on some common goal; it might not be the truth, but it would enable them to get on with with their lives. At this stage the the working title became And Where Were We?

From this outline, throughout the months of discussions with Carter, Griffiths gradually developed a text whose irony and word play managed to echo the spirit of the music, which was intended to illustrate and represent a variety of moods and emotions. Sometimes this was achieved without words, as when the heroine simply vocalises. Griffiths continued to write a series of drafts, and Carter to quibble. It was getting to be too long; he didn't want 'expressionism'; it should be more 'light'. There were also breakthroughs. Carter thought it was good when the characters were given names: the bride was now Rose, the Buddhist groom, Zen. There were also Mama, the mother, and Stella the chanteuse, a boy called Kid, and a clownish old man who was Harry (or Larry). When Carter suggested What Next? for the name of the work itself, they both hailed it as brilliant. But Carter also wanted more 'connections', more reason for the singers to start and stop. ('It doesn't help', grumbled Griffiths, 'that I can't find the British cigarettes I like.' ) For a whole week he made little progress, but cheered up after Carter said to him with a chuckle, 'I think this opera's going to be fun.'

Not all those involved at this point could agree. The dramaturg, Micaela von Marcard, pleaded for some help in interpreting Rose. Carter explained that she was a lieder singer attempting to recall her concert of the previous night, often substituting other material from her repertoire for words she could not remember. Her vocalising was to be like music - 'nobody knows what it means, but it goes on and on'.

The première took place on September 16, 1999, in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and created quite a stir. The music was particularly well received, one critic, Simon Mahrenholz, extolling in Der Tagenspiegel its 'great transparency, economy of sound and structure, and vibrant sonic poetry'.

After a subsequent performance in New York City, the critic Martin Bernheimer remarked, percipiently, that with no theatrical action, Carter had turned music theatre into a kind of concerto. He also suggested it might have been called Six Characters in Search of a Librettist. Another critic, James Bush, wrote, 'the orchestra spins and gurgles with percussive gusto though it periodically allows lyrical exploration'. He summed up the work as 'always fascinating, sometimes witty, often frustrating'.

Carter has said that he will not write any more operas because the two years they require is too long. He has abandoned the one or two starts he did embark on. Whatever is next for Elliott Carter, we know that it is unlikely to be another opera. So all the more reason, then, for us to make the most of this special opportunity to hear him!

© Professor Judith Armstrong 2012

© Adam Gardnir

Daniel Carter ConductorBackground: Born 1989. B.Mus(Hons.) at Melbourne University studying Composition and Piano. Victorian Opera Developing Artist 2010-2011. Brian Stacey Award (for emerging Australian conductors) 2012. Symphony Australia Core Conductors Program 2009-2012 working with orchestras in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Auckland. Studied conducting with Richard Gill. As the 2012 recipient of the Susan Harley Living Bequest, Daniel spent a period in May 2012 in New York to study

What Next? with its composer Elliott Carter in preparation for his debut conducting the Australian Premiere of the work.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Conductor: The Parrot Factory (World Premiere), Education Performances of La Cenerentola, Magic Flute and Hansel and Gretel, NOVA Workshops 2010 Assistant Conductor for over 12 productions including The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle, Carmina Burana, Julius Caesar and La Damnation de Faust.

Other Companies: Cosi fan tutte (Opera Australia Assistant Conductor), The Threepenny Opera (Sydney Theatre Company/Victorian Opera Conductor), Pierrot Lunaire (Melbourne Festival Conductor), Requiem (Australian Ballet/Victorian Opera Chorusmaster), Assembly (Sydney Festival), Education Concerts and Playerlink Conductor (Sydney Symphony), The Night Garden (Melbourne Recital Centre Conductor) and Melbourne Youth Music.

Nancy Black DirectorBackground: Born and educated in the US. Lived in Australia since graduating from university in 1970. Nancy Black has worked widely in Melbourne as writer, director, dramaturge, performer and teacher in theatre, TV, video and film. She has worked with all the major theatre companies in Melbourne, taught at the Victorian College of the Arts, participated in numerous co-op productions, and was a founding member of the innovative theatre group Going Through Stages. She is currently

the Artistic Director of Black Hole Theatre, a visual puppetry-based theatre company in Melbourne.

Other Companies: For Black Hole Theatre she has directed numerous productions and projects including the award winning Caravan (Green Room Award Best Director in Alternative Theatre) and Coop (Green Room: Best Production in Hybrid Theatre). With Black Hole she has also initiated a number of multi-media projects with adolescents, and set up workshops in puppetry and theatre making at the Arts Centre Melbourne, University of Melbourne, and Heide Museum of Art. She is the producer of Slam Noir, a new ongoing series of puppet slams in non-theatre spaces. In 2012 she directed the premiere of Rachael Guy’s Hutch in a disused mine tunnel in Maldon. Future work includes a collaboration with the Brazilian choreographer and puppeteer Duda Paiva, producing a tour for the Belgian puppeteer Stéphane Georis, further development of Hutch, more Slam Noirs, workshops, and media projects.

Adam Gardnir Set and Costume DesignerBackground: Graduated Victorian College of the Arts 2003, nominated for six Green Room Awards for Best Design, winning in 2011 with Victorian Opera’s Angelique and received scholarships from the Victorian College of the Arts and Malthouse Theatre.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Albert Herring, Angelique, The Bear and Rembrandt’s Wife.

Other Companies: Moonshadow world premiere production, Semele for The Australian Ballet, The Beggar’s Opera and The Little Sweep for OzOpera, Die Winterreise, A View Of Concrete, The Autobiography of Red, The Yellow Wallpaper and Drink Pepsi Bitch! for Malthouse, Love Me Tender, The Promise and Paul for Belvoir, Saturn’s Return for Sydney Theatre Company and Grace for Melbourne Theatre Company, Spicks N Spectacular and Good Evening for Token Events, Anything Goes and The Producers for The Production Company and Love Never Dies for Really Useful Group as Associate Set Designer.

Phil Lethlean Lighting DesignerBackground: Based in Melbourne, Philip’s 30 years of design experience specializes in lighting live performance including concerts, puppetry, circus, dance, opera, theatre and large Australian and international cultural ceremonies and events. Many of his works have enjoyed extensive Australian and international tours.

Other Companies: Australian projects include the award winning Opera Australia’s production of La Fanciulla del West, Melbourne Festival’s Black

Arm Band presentations in 2008, 2010 and 2011, Chunky Move’s production of Two Faced Bastard, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games opening, the Australian indigenous Bicentennial celebration Yeperenye, Phillipe Genty’s Stowaways, Handspans’ Picassos Four Little Girls and Melbourne Theatre Company’s Life x 3, Rockabye The Seagull and Life Times Three among others.

International projects include: lighting design for Dreamworks Animation and Global Creatures How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular touring the USA in 2012, the Australian Pavilion for Expo 2010, Shanghai China and Expo 2005 in Japan, the refurbishment of the Singapore River Precinct, the award winning Beijing Children’s Theatre The Dragon Child; Circus Oz in New York, Stockholm, New Delhi, the English National Ballet in their 2012 Nanjing and Shanghai seasons and for Expo 2010 and Bali Agung’a Hindu epic with 150 performers, elephants, hornbills and ducks in Gianyar, Bali. Philip is a recipient of a Creative Fellowship awarded by the Australia Council for the Arts and has received numerous Helpmann and Green Room nominations.

Lynne Kent Puppet DesignerBackground: Lynne has been working as a professional puppeteer /performer for over 20 years. She has trained with Italy’s Teatro Gioco Vita and Belgium’s Companie Mossoix- Bonte. Lynne has a Master of Arts by research into contemporary shadow theatre.

Other companies: Lynne has worked with Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Queensland Theatre Company, Erth Physical Theatre, Circus Monoxide and for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image as well as performing her

own work at various festivals and on the streets of New York, London and Barcelona.

Rachel Joy Puppet MakerBackground: Rachel Joy is a puppet builder who specialises in giant and shadow puppets. Rachel has worked in a freelance capacity on major commercial and community arts projects, building giant puppets for local and international music and arts events. She has also collaborated with both emerging and established writers and directors to create shadow theatre productions and animations.

Other companies: As well as conducting her own practice Rachel has received many artists’ residencies and commissions. Most recently, she was the lead builder for Snuff Puppets Theatre Company’s People’s Puppet Project at the Kaohsiung International Puppet Theatre Festival in Taiwan.

Michal Imielski Assistant DirectorBackground: Received his music training in Czestochowa Music Conservatorium (Poland). Graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Media, majoring in writing. This led into his Masters by research thesis 2008. Graduated from NIDA – directing, 2005. Received the prestigious Bayreuth Scholarship 2006. Goethe Director Award 2008, Pat Parker Memorial Fellowship 2010. Recipient of numerous Arts NSW and Australia Council awards. Before his directing career Michal was a

professional magician for over 15 years and a music composer. Michal has directed more than twenty feature performance and film works, and has composed 9 soundtracks. Michal is a founder and the artistic director of SHH - Centre 4 Hybrid Arts in Sydney. His most known works are SHH (2005), Blind, As You See It (2009), Unsex Me (2011) and How to Lose Sight (2011).

Other Companies: Orlando, Baroque Masterpieces, Acis and Galatea, Dido and Aeneas, Death in Venice (Opera Australia), Der Fliegende Hollander, Jeanne d’Arc Szenen aus dem Leben der heiligen Johanna (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Tristan and Isolde (Aalto Theater Germany - Essen), Pinocchio (Komische Opera Berlin), Director - Fidelio, Eugene Onegin (NIDA), La traviata - Hybrid adaptation (SHH - Centre 4 Hybrid Arts).

Jessica Aszodi RoseBackground: Soprano Jessica Aszodi is an alumna of the Victorian Opera’s Developing Artist Program. She holds a Master of Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California and a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts. Her artistic practice encompasses opera, chamber music, experimental, conventional and contemporary-classical music.

Jessica has performed with ensembles as diverse as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Center for Contemporary Opera New York, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, Bang on a Can and Eighth Blackbird. Festivals in which she has performed include the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), the Macau International Music Festival (China), Music X (Switzerland), the Melbourne International Arts Festival and the Vivid Sydney Festival (Australia). Jessica is passionate about commissioning, developing and performing new music. At twenty-six years of age, she has premiered 40 new works.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Amore - L’incoronazione di Poppea, Elvira - Don Giovanni, Echo - Ariadne auf Naxos, Popova - The Bear, Sesto - Guilio Cesare.

Other Companies: Eve - Dienstag aus Licht (Vivid Sydney Festival), Monica - The medium, Aminta - Il re pastore (both Melbourne Lyric Opera) title role Socrates (Center for Contemporary Opera, New York).

Recordings: La Madre – Vellus: The Chamber music of James Rushford (Cajid Media).

Carlos Enrique Bárcenas Ramírez Master PeterBackground: Born in Colombia. Bachelor degree in Marine Biology. Bachelor of Music Performance (the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne). Awarded the Keith G Chapman Memorial Scholarship and the Sleath Lowrey Award in 2010. Currently in his first year of the Masters in Music (Opera Performance) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne and Victorian Opera.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: In the beginning was the word Malthouse Theatre’s Opera XS. Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola for Education Program, Moomba Opening Night Concert and Master of Music (Opera Performance) Student Recital. Member of the Victorian Opera Chorus since 2008, and in 2011 was part of regional concert, Sing Your Own Opera - From Opera to Broadway touring around Victoria.

Other Companies: King Alexander, in Il Re Pastore with Melbourne Lyric Opera (2008) and Don Jose in Carmen with In Opera in Good Company (2010). Michael in Deborah Cheetham’s new opera Pecan Summer with Short Black Opera (2010 & 2011). Sigmund & Siegfried in More Than Opera’s production of THE RING - Wagner Animated conducted and arranged by David Kram.

Emily Bauer-Jones StellaBackground: Emily Bauer-Jones studied at the Royal Academy Of Music in London and the Royal College Of Music in Manchester.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Her previous engagements for Victorian Opera include Nancy in Albert Herring during 2011.

Other Companies: In the UK and Europe her roles have included Genevieve in Debussy’s Peleas & Melisande for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Zenobia in

Radamisto for Opera North, The Third Lady in The Magic Flute and Suzuki in Madam Butterfly, both for Welsh National Opera and Katherine in Nigel Osbourne’s The Piano for Music Theatre Wales. She has also appeared in the world premiere production of Param Vir’s opera, Ion, for Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg.

Concert Repertoire: Emily is a highly experienced oratorio and concert soloist, appearing in such works as Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passion, and Mass In B Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Elgar’s The Dream Of Gerontius at Smetana Hall in Prague, at London’s Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall and at the Royal Albert Hall, and with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Melbourne University Choral Society.

Lotte Betts-Dean The KidBackground: Lotte was born in Berlin, Germany and began her musical life as a cellist. She is currently in her final year of the Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, where she has been the recipient of multiple Scholarships including the Ormond Exhibition, the Nellie Melba Prize, and the Murray Ormond Vagg Scholarship. She has been an award winner in several competitions,receiving runner up in the National Liederfest both this and

last year, runner up in the Conservatorium Concerto Aria Competition, and reaching the finals of the AME Opera Scholar of the Year Competition.

Most recently she won the Robert Salzer Vocal Championship. Lotte was also awarded first place in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria, second place in the 2012 Mietta Song Competition, and won The Arnold and Mary Bram Australian Song Prize together with her pianist Conrad Olszewski, the ABC Classic FM Prize and the Murray River International Festival Performance Prize.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Chorus/Soloist in Assembly ; Queen Belshazzar in The Play of Daniel.

Other Companies: Lotte has appeared as a soloist for the Australian National Academy of Music, 3MBS FM Radio, The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, The Gisborne Singers and the Woodend and Peninsula Festivals, and has performed with Latitude 37 and Arcko among others.

Concert Repertoire: Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, Haydn’s Stabat Mater , Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, and Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noel. Lotte is a regular recitalist for The Lieder Society of Victoria and Liedertafel Arion, and is a vocalist for jazz ensemble The Raah Project.

Ian Cousins Don QuixoteBackground: Ian Cousins has represented Australia in the Pan Pacific finals of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and won the Victorian State Final of the ABC’s Instrumental & Vocal Competition.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Vicar Gedge in Albert Herring during 2011.

Other Companies: He performed over sixty principal baritone roles with the Victoria State Opera, and other operatic engagements include Alidoro

in Cenerentola for Opera Queensland, Nachtigall in The Mastersingers Of Nuremburg for Opera Australia, Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Sharpless in Madam Butterfly, both for Oz Opera. He has appeared regularly for Melbourne Opera singing such roles as Don Basilio in The Barber Of Seville, Sharpless in Madam Butterfly, Doctor Bartolo in The Barber Of Seville, Benoit & Alcindoro in La Boheme, Baron Dauphol in La traviata, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, Zuniga in Carmen and, during 2011, Dancairo in the same opera. He sings Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte for the company during 2012. He has been engaged as soloist by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Australia and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as well as appearing for Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Chorale.

Vanessa Ellis PuppeteerBackground: Vanessa Ellis works for theatre, film and television as a performer, puppeteer, choreographer and puppet maker. With an interest in visual theatre and story - telling, Vanessa made the segue from dance to puppetry in 1998 and has been devising and performing puppetry for the last 15 years. Her independent work is a mix of dance, puppetry and visual based story telling.

Vanessa returned late last year to Melbourne after two years touring as an animatronics’ puppeteer throughout Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia on the multi - award winning Walking with Dinosaurs.

Other Companies: Global Creatures, Windmill Performing Arts, Patch Theatre Company, Terrapin, Polyglot, Black Hole, Puppet Vision and many other one-off shows and events. Vanessa has worked with the following Directors: Peter Wilson, Simon Phillips, Nancy Black, Jessica Wilson, Dave Brown and Scott Faris. In 2006 Vanessa participated in a 9-week master-class with Phillipe Genty and Mary Underwood, this culminated into a public season.

Hamish Fletcher PuppeteerBackground: Since 1998 Hamish Fletcher has worked with such companies as Kneehigh Puppeteers, Slack Taxi, Melbourne Aquarium, Arena Theatre, Company Miji, Adelaide Fringe, Strut n Fret and Windmill Theatre to name a few. He has worked with and studied under Peter Wilson, Philippe Genty, Mary Underwood and Duda Paiva. Highlights include the Sydney Olympics, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and designing part of the Australia day celebrations at the World Expo

2005(Japan).

Other Companies: More recently, he is a performer and co-creator of Men Of Steel; a cooking-based puppetry show premiering at Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005 and winning the Festival Directors award. He has recently been at ABC Childrens Television playing Hoot the Owl on a preschool children’s hosted block called Giggle and Hoot recently winning “Best Hosting Team” at the Kidscreen 2012 awards.

Austin Haynes Kid (15, 18, 21 August)Background: Austin was born in New Zealand. He studies singing with Curtis Bayliss and Dermot Tutty and is a member of the National Boys’ Choir.

Other Companies: Children’s chorus Turandot (Opera Australia), Children’s chorus - Carmina Burana – (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Children’s chorus – Lord of the Rings (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), National Boys Choir (toured China, USA, New Zealand).

Recordings: Character - Young David – new musical of David Copperfield by Nicolas Buc. Soloist on soundtrack to a new film by astronomical photographer Alex Cherney.

Rod Primrose PuppeteerBackground: Originally inspired by animation and mime, Rod trained as a drama teacher and has been fascinated by the psychology of the moving image for over 30 years. He is a maker, designer, performer, puppeteer, director, teacher and advocate for puppetry. It is the ‘darker side’ of puppetry that drives his constant experimentation in technique and design. He has worked with the broadest range of puppet styles, from the very small to the very large utilising shadow, glove, rod, marionette and a

vast array of experimental designs in theatre, opera, film, television and outdoor events.

Other Companies: Over the years he has worked with many companies and organizations as a freelance artist and is highly regarded as an expert in his field. For 15 years he worked with Handspan Theatre and is a founder member of Black Hole Theatre which was awarded a 2008 best production Green Room award for Coop.

Timothy Reynolds ZenBackground: Graduated with a Bachelor of Music (the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne) in 2007 and a Postgraduate Diploma of Teaching from University of Melbourne in 2009. Member of The Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne from 2002-2008.

Victorian Opera Repertoire: Sing Your Own Opera, Prince’s Messager in La Cenerentola for Education Program, Moomba Opening Night Concert and Master of Music (Opera Performance) Student Recital; Narrator:

Coffee Cantata – Baroque Triple Bill; Soloist: Sing Your Own Messiah; Chorus: Oedipus Rex, Puccini: The Sacred and the Profane, Seven Last Words From The Cross, Carmina Burana, The Damnation of Faust.

Other Companies: Fledermaus, Tosca, Rigoletto, Les pêcheurs de perles, Macbeth, La bohème; (Opera Australia); Gaston: La traviata; Chorus: Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Tosca; (Melbourne Opera).

Concert Repertoire: Bach’s St Johannes Passion (arias); La Recitant: Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ; Bach’s B Minor Mass; Handel’s Messiah; Mozart Mass in C minor, Requiem; Soloist for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Ludovico’s Band, the Consort of Melbourne, the National Boys Choir, Gloriana and The Choir of St James King St.

Gary Rowley Harry or LarryVictorian Opera Repertoire: Gary Rowley’s engagements include Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, Through The Looking Glass, the title role of Rembrandt Van Rijn in Rembrandt’s Wife, The Music Master in Ariadne Auf Naxos, Elviro in Xerxes, Charlot in Angelique, Superintendant Budd in Albert Herring, and three roles in How To Kill Your Husband.

Other Companies: He appeared, over many years, for Victoria State Opera singing Don Basilio in The Barber Of Seville, the title role in Don

Pasquale, Yakuside in Madam Butterfly, Haly in The Italian Girl In Algiers, Ramphis in Aida, Nourabad in The Pearlfishers, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Roo in Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll.

For Opera Australia, his engagements include Hobson in Peter Grimes, the Duke Of Verona in Romeo & Juliet, Colline in La Boheme, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the company’s season at the Edinburgh Festival, Roo in Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Frank in Die Fledermaus. For OzOpera, Don Basilio in The Barber Of Seville, Monterone in Rigoletto and The Trooper in Midnite in the Melbourne and Adelaide Festivals.

Other engagements include Tiger Brown in The Threepenny Opera, Major Murgatroyd in Patience and Nourabad in The Pearlfishers for West Australian Opera, Dulcamara in L’Elisir D’Amore, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, and the Major Domo and Dumas in Andrea Chenier for Opera Queensland. He sang the lead role in the State Opera of South Australia season of Ingkata as part of the 2008 Adelaide Festival.

During 2011 he appeared in the lead baritone role of Hadj in The Production Company’s season of Kismet. Concert engagements include Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder for the Perth International Arts Festival and Bernstein’s Mass in the 2012 Adelaide Festival.

Ireni Utley Mama

Background: Ireni is a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, where she studied voice with Jan Delpratt, and performance with Joseph Ward OBE, Margreta Elkins and Ghillian Sullivan. She was the recipient of many awards and scholarships including the Linda Edith Allen Scholarship, the Elizabeth Muir Scholarship and the Margaret Nixon Prize.

Other Companies: She has performed the roles of Musetta (La Bohème), Therese/ Tiresias (Les Mamelles de Tiresias), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Euridice (L’Orfeo and Orpheo ed Euridice), Mabel (Pirates of Penzance), and most recently the title role from Handel’s Theodora. Ireni frequently sings modern compositions and her repertoire includes Berio’s Folk Songs (with Richard Haynes and Mercury Ensemble), Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 5, Sculthorpe’s Eliza Fraser Sings, and Brumby’s Christmas Cantata. Her next venture will be in a new opera called The Aqueduct by Armidale composer Jennifer Game-Lopata, premiering later this year.

Nicholas van Kerkhoven Kid (16, 19, 22 August)Background: Born in 1998. Currently completing Year 8 at Whitefriars College.

Other Companies: Member of the National Boys Choir Australia since 2007. Performances include: 2 Lost to the Music (2009), All the Kings Men (2011) and Carmina Burana (2011) with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

“This rising company consistently punches above its weight and age” The Herald Sun

Led by Music Director Richard Gill, Victorian Opera has a distinct artistic program which champions the creation of new Australian opera whilst presenting less familiar repertoire to audiences in Melbourne and across regional Victoria.

Victorian Opera is committed to presenting new opera each year and engaging the widest possible audience with accessible ticket pricing and regional touring.

Victorian Opera is also committed to collaborating and co-producing with different partners (as well as festivals and other opera companies) and also maintains a vibrant education program. The company nurtures Victorian Youth Opera, a strong youth development initiative, and presents popular community events such as Sing Your Own Opera.

As Victoria’s state opera company Victorian Opera has a unique role; to present professional opera in Victoria; maintain a commissioning program for new Australian work; create more employment and professional development opportunities for Victorian artists; and provide access to touring productions for regional Victorians. Victorian Opera has also established and maintains the only professional chorus in Victoria.

Image: Morganna Magee

Victorian Opera - Your Opera Company

ORCHESTRA VICTORIA MANAGEMENTManaging Director Rob RobertsonDeputy Managing Director Franca SmarrelliExecutive Assistant Katie TymmsMarketing Coordinator Marie MorfuniReceptionist/Marketing & Development Assistant Belinda BennettEducation & Program Manager Christina MiglioriniArtistic &Education Program AdministratorRyan Barwood

Manager, Finance & Corporate ServicesRobert PetersFinance Officer Rose Dragovic Finance Assistant Jason NguyenDirector of Operations James FosterOrchestra Manager Mel WilsonOperations Assistant Estelle HentzeProduction Manager Paul DoyleOrchestral Librarian Rob Smithies

ORCHESTRA VICTORIA BOARDChair: Hon. Mary DelahuntyDeputy Chair: Tony OsmondPaul Champion, Jane Gilmour OAM, FAICD, Richard Hamer, Rob Perry, Lady Marigold Southey AC

Principal Second Violin: Yi WangAssociate Principal Second Violin: Erica KennedyFirst Violins: Elizabeth Ambrose, Binny Baik, Severin Donnenberg, Lubino Fernandes, Rachel Gamer, Matthew Hassall, Rachael Hunt, Ceridwen Jones, Mara Miller, Philip Nixon, John Noble, Susan Pierotti, Martin Reddington, Christine RuiterPrincipal Viola: Paul McMillanAssociate Principal Viola: Hannah ForsythViola: Hannah Forsyth, Catherine Bishop, Jason Bunn, Nadine Delbridge, Raymond HopePrincipal Cello: Melissa ChominskyAssociate Principal Cello: Diane FroomesCello: Sarah Cuming, Philippa Gardner, Tania Hardy-SmithPrincipal Double Bass: Davin HoltAssociate Principal Double Bass: Dennis VaughanDouble Bass: Matthew ThornePrincipal Flute: Lisa-Maree AmosAssociate Principal Flute: Karen SchofieldFlute: Lorraine Bradbury

Principal Piccolo: Michael SmithPrincipal Oboe: Stephen RobinsonAssociate Principal Oboe: Joshua de GraafPrincipal Clarinet: Paul ChampionAssociate Principal Clarinet: Richard ShollPrincipal Bass Clarinet: Andrew MitchellPrincipal Bassoon: Lucinda CranAssociate Principal Clarinet: Tahnee Van HerkPrincipal Horn: Jasen MoultonAssociate Principal Horn: VacancyPrincipal Third Horn: Linda HewettPrincipal Trumpet: Mark FitzpatrickAssociate Principal Trumpet: Anthony PopeTrumpet: Mark Skillington, Robert SmithiesPrincipal Trombone: Scott EvansAssociate Principal Trombone: Anthony GilhamPrincipal Bass Trombone: Geraldine EversPrincipal Harp: Mary AndersonPrincipal Timpani: Guy du Blêt (Acting)Principal Percussion: Conrad NilssonAssociate Principal Percussion: Paul Sablinskis

CONCERTMASTER: Adam ChalabiDEPUTY CONCERTMASTER: Roger Jonsson

Government Partners (cont)Further support from Arts Victoria and localGovernments across Victoria support our innovative Community and Education Programs.City of Greater Bendigo Shire of Campaspe Otway Shire Council City of Melbourne City of Greater Shepparton City of Geelong East Gippsland Shire Council Echuca Moama Tourism Latrobe City Council Mildura Rural City Council Southern Grampians Shire Council Wyndham City Council

Performance PartnersOrchestra Victoria is the proudorchestral performance partner ofAustralia’s premier performing artscompanies.The Australian Ballet Opera Australia The Production Company Victorian Opera

Principal Presenting Partners Orchestra Victoria enjoys working with companies and venues throughout Victoria to make music accessible. 3MBS 103.5 FM The Arts Centre City of Melbourne Melbourne Recital Centre NGV International

BequestsLeaving a legacy to OrchestraVictoria supports the Orchestra’songoing cultural contribution toVictorians.Miss Betty Amsden OAM Alan Egan Rosemary Forbes Ian Hocking The late G.B.Hutchings The late James Minson Graeme Studd Michael Walker

For more information about how you can support Orchestra Victoria please contact 03 9694 3600 admin@orchestravictoria.com.au. Please note that this list is updated annually on January 1.

Principal Regional Partner

Orchestra Victoria SupportersMajor GiftsOrchestra Victoria acknowledgesthe outstanding generosity of ourvery special donors.Mr Robert Albert AO, RFD RD & Mrs Libby Albert Miss Betty Amsden OAM Annamila Pty Ltd Evelyn & Tom Danos Mrs Neilma Gantner Gaye & John Gaylard Geoff Handbury AO Mr Richard Hamer Handbury Family Foundation Dr Peter A Kingsbury Gippsland Dental Group The Late Mr David Mandie AM, OBE Don & Angela Mercer Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC, DBE Lady Southey AC

Principal DonorsThe ongoing work of OrchestraVictoria throughout Victoria isonly possible with donations.Every gift is important andappreciated.David & Cindy Abbey Alan & Sally Beckett Peter & Ivanka Canet Sandy Clark Grace Croft Jane Edmanson OAM Ian Hocking & Rosemary Forbes Isabella Green OAM & Richard Green Jean Hadges Henkell Brothers Australia, Pty Ltd Darvell M Hutchinson AM Dr Alastair Jackson Russell & Jenni Jenkins Peter Kolliner OAM Maple-Brown Abbott Investment Managers Yvonne & Phillip Marshall David McAlpine Heather McKenzie Michelle & Ian Moore Baillieu Myer AC & Mrs Sarah Myer John & Lorraine Redman Michael Robinson AO & Judith Robinson Ross & Daphne Turnbull Drs Victor & Karen Wayne Erna Werner & Neil Werner OAM

Principal Regional PartnerBendigo BankBendigo Bank’s strong communityand regional focus has greatsynergies with Orchestra Victoria’swork across Victoria.

Trust & Foundation SupportOrchestra Victoria’s activitiesthroughout the State are madepossible with the generous supportfrom the following Trusts andFoundations.The Angior Family Foundation William Angliss (Victoria) Charitable Fund Collier Charitable Fund Harold Mitchell Foundation Helen Macpherson Smith Trust John T Reid Charitable Trusts Sidney Myer Fund the Myer Foundataion Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (Eldon & Anne Foote Trust) Melbourne Community Foundation Perpetual Ltd Poola Charitable Foundation Margaret & Irene Stewardson Charitable Trust Tattersall’s George Adams Foundation William Buckland Foundation

Corporate PartnershipsPartnerships with the businesscommunity through sponsorshipensure that Orchestra Victoria cancontinue to deliver high qualityaccessible music across Victoria.Iluka Resources Limited Ace Radio Allens Arthur Robinson Kent Moving & Storage Chandler Direct Personalised Communication Universal Music HR Legal

Government PartnersThe support received from theAustralian Government, throughthe Australia Council for the Arts,and from the VictorianGovernment, through Arts Victoriaprovides the foundation from whichwe present all our activities,particularly our work with ourpartner opera and ballet companies.

Victorian Opera Patrons

Founding Patrons Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE Lady Potter AC

Victorian Youth Opera PatronBetty Amsden OAM

Victorian Opera Education SyndicateBetty Amsden OAMBuckett FamilyHans & Petra HenkellPeter Kingsbury

Victorian Opera New Work SyndicateBeth Brown & Tom Bruce AMWilliam J Forrest AMKen & Marian ScarlettJoy Selby SmithFelicity Teague

Living BequestSusan Harley

Diamond Patrons ($10,000+)Betty Amsden OAMLorraine CopleyHans & Petra HenkellPeter & Anne Laver Dr Geraldine Lazarus & Mr Greig GaileyDame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBESchapper Family Foundation

Platinum Patrons ($5,000+)William J Forrest AMNeilma GantnerMrs Jane HemstritchMary RyanDr John & Elizabeth Wright-Smith

Victorian Opera acknowledges with great appreciation the gifts and pledges it has received from the following donors:

Gold Patrons ($2,500+) Mark & Ann BryceTim & Rachel CecilBruce CurlMarj & Eduard EshuysDr & Mrs JA FrewDavid & Megan LaidlawJoan & George LefroyPaul & Sandra SalteriJohn and Elisabeth SchillerGregory Shalit & Miriam FaineJoy Selby SmithFelicity TeagueBetty Teltscher OAMJohn & Gail WardAnonymous (2)

Silver Patrons ($1,000+) Joanna BaevskiLeslie BawdenLaurie Bebbington & Elizabeth O’KeeffeKirsty BennettSheila BignellBeth Brown & Tom Bruce AMBuckett Family Lynda CampbellTerry & Christine CampbellCaroline & Robert ClementeCraig D’Alton & Peter SherlockMary & Frederick DavidsonElizabeth DouglasStephanie DundasGareth & Merran EvansRosemary Forbes & Ian HockingBob GarlickRobert Gibbs & Tony WildmanBrian GoddardNance Grant MBE & Ian GrantRichard & Isabella GreenStuart & Sue HamiltonSimon L Jackson & Brian WarburtonStuart JenningsKemp Family

Victorian Opera Patrons

Silver Patrons ($1,000+) John & Lynne LandyIan LawProfessor Kwong Lee DowAnne LierseBarbara LoftProfessor John Lovering AO & Ms Kerry Lovering OAMMargaret Mayers & Marie DowlingKen Muirden AORuth & Tom O’DeaGeorge & Jillian PappasDimity ReedDr Sam Ricketson & Dr Rosemary AytonHugh Rogers AMElżbieta & Tomasz RomanowskiJoseph Sambrook & Mary-Jane GethingAubrey G SchraderPhillip & Sue SchudmakJohn & Sue ShermanTim & Lynne SherwoodBernadette SlaterMichael Troy Liz & Peter TurnerCatherine Walter AMK & M WaltonJohn & Gail WardEarl & Countess of WiltonAnonymous (6)

If you would like to get more involved in the work of Victorian Opera through our individual giving program, please contact Catrionadh Dobson, Individual Giving Manager on 03 9001 6405 or catrionadhd@victorianopera.com.au.

Victorian Opera acknowledges with great appreciation the gifts and pledges it has received from the following donors:

Bronze Patrons ($500+)Dennis Altman AMJohn & Nancy BomfordJeffrey & Debbie BrowneNeil BurnsJasmine BrunnerDavid ByrnePam CaldwellMelissa Conley-TylerProfessor Daryl & Nola DaleyDJ & LJ DelaneyDennis FreemanElizabeth GiddyAnthony R Grigg & Paul D Williamson Jill & Robert GroganApril HamerMary HoySue HumphriesDr Anthea HyslopDavid Jones AO OBE Andrea KayserPeter & Barbara KollinerDr Marion Lustig David & Barbara McSkimmingDiana MumméNorth East Newspapers Pty LtdKenneth W ParkPhilanthropy Initiative Australia (L Copley)Provincial Press GroupJohn RickardDelys SargeantMargarita & Paul SchneiderJohn & Thea ScottMr Sam & Mrs Minnie SmorgonHugh & Elizabeth TaylorCaroline VaillantRobyn WaltonIan WattsAnonymous (11)

Victorian Opera 2012 Season Sponsors

Victorian Opera is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.

Victorian Opera’s mainstage, youth opera, regional touring and education work is also sustained through partnerships with the corporate sector, trusts and foundations. The partners on this page have demonstrated their commitment to the strategic direction and growth of Victorian Opera and we are grateful for their ongoing support.

Government Partners

If you would like to get more involved in the work of Victorian Opera through our business, trust or foundation partnerships, please contact Lynette Gillman, Development Manager on 03 9001 6408 or email lynetteg@victorianopera.com.au

Supporting Partners

Dr Michael Cohen (Deceased) for the Humanity Foundation

Education and Regional Foundation Partners

H.V. McKay Charitable Trust

William Angliss Charitable Fund

Performance Partners

Foundation Partner Discover Opera Across Victoria Partner

University Partner

Major Sponsor andCommunity Partner

Victorian Opera BoardGraeme Willersdorf (Chairman), Francis Ebury, Earl of Wilton, Ross Freeman, Greig Gailey, Anne Gilby, Jane Hemstritch, The Hon. Professor Barry Jones AO, Professor Barry Sheehan, Catherine Walter AM

ExecutiveMusic Director Richard Gill Managing Director Lucy ShorrocksFinance Manager Ulrike ReadFinance Assistant Claire Voumard

Music/ Artistic Administration / EducationArtistic Administrator Elizabeth HillActing Head of Music Phillipa SafeyCompany Manager Jill QuinEducation Manager Melissa Harris

Development and MarketingDevelopment Manager Lynette GillmanDeputy Development ManagerCressida GriffithIndividual Giving Manager Catrionadh DobsonPhilanthropy Executive Erin HewitsonDevelopment & Marketing CoordinatorNichole O’DuffyMarketing & Communications Manager Kanesan NathanMarketing & Communications Coordinator Lisa WallaceMedia Relations Executive Milou de Castellane

www.victorianopera.com.au

Victorian OperaHorti Hall31 Victoria Street, Melbourne VIC 3000Phone +61 3 9001 6400info@victorianopera.com.au

TechnicalOperations Manager David HarrodProduction Manager Marcus BryonCostume Supervisor Ross Hall

Victorian Opera 2012 Season StaffStage Management Emma Beaurepaire, Elise Beggs, Roxzan Bowes, Tia Clark, Michele Forbes, Jess Keepence, Jessica Smithett, Melanie StantonTechnical Coordinator/ Head Technican Peter DarbyHead Mechanist Jack GrantCostume Department Tirion Rodwell, Madeleine Somers, Jane Jericho, Jung Min Oh, Justine Hazelton, Maruska Blyszczak, Phillip Rhodes

Creative mindsA six-part series of revealing interviews with Australia’s artistic icons. 

thursdays 8.30Pm

studiotv.com.au /STUDIOChannel

STEPHEN PagEBANGARRA DANCE THEATRE