Opera in Australia is an art form that competes against a strong sporting culture. Australia has a relatively small population for its land size, so competition between the various art forms for the percentage of potential patrons is fierce. Pitting those factors against the cost of creating new productions to keep each opera company’s repertoire fresh poses challenges financially and artistically. This is being met by a unique collaboration between the professional companies located in various capital cities across the country.
Who are the Constituent Members of Opera Conference?
The Opera Conference began as a dialogue between the regional opera companies in Australia in the early 1990s. At that stage, the national flagship company, Opera Australia, was receiving federal government funding via the Australia Council. By and large, the regional companies received funding mainly from their respective state governments and funding bodies.
The first of what was to become Opera Conference productions was Tchaikovsy’s Eugene Onegin, which began as a co-production between the now defunct Victorian State Opera and The Lyric Opera (now Opera Queensland). It was adopted by the emerging Conference, with funding injected into the production to enable the Australian Opera, West Australian Opera and State Opera of South Australia to use the production by covering freight and creative costs.
Initial discussions for the Opera Conference were between the regional companies in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia – all small part time companies with shorter seasons and fewer productions annually due to smaller population bases and limited state funding. Opera Australia was the last of the professional companies to join the Conference but did so for the first new production in 1995 of Verdi’s Falstaff.
How do Four Companies in Four States Share the Creation of New Productions?
Falstaff was built in South Australia in local workshops, with local personnel. The principals were cast from a largely South Australian base. It opened in South Australia in 1995, and went on to become part of subsequent seasons in the other company’s schedules.
The opportunity to be the building and opening company is rotated around the constituent members of the Conference. The creative team is contracted through the Opera Conference and the intention is that all revivals will be re-staged by the same team. Where that may not be possible, all efforts are made to ensure that an assistant who is part of the original team will be available to take on that responsibility, so the integrity of the original production is preserved. The individual companies make their own casting choices for the principals, and use their own choruses and orchestras.
Repertoire Choices for Opera Conference Productions
From the outset, the main priority of the Opera Conference has been to bring to the stage productions of less common operas. These would be risky prospects for any company to allocate funding towards, particularly for cash strapped regional companies. The financial power of this collective endeavour means that their dollars are driven further than would be possible for individual companies, with the added bonus of offering a greater range of repertoire than all the favourite standards.
Falstaff was followed, in chronological order, by Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Saint Saens’ Samson and Delilah, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the double bill of Cavelleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, Bellini’s Norma, Puccini’s La Boheme, Verdi’s Nabucco, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Verdi’s Aida, Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West, and Bellini’s La Sonnambula.
In 2006, increased funding allowed for annual new productions. Commissioning new productions of more popular but potentially expensive productions, such as Verdi’s Aida, occurred as it was deemed that with the increased number of productions overall, this was a valid choice.
Also, the initial concept that the companies would tour the Conference productions was abandoned. Funding for that was re-allocated to OzOpera, the touring arm of Opera Australia, which already had in place well established touring infrastructure that the regional companies lacked. This decision, made in 1998, has injected funding to OzOpera via the Conference, effectively establishing a level of support to OzOpera through the regional companies in addition to its relationship with Opera Australia.
Potential New Directions for the Opera Conference
Stephen Phillips, General Director of the State Opera of South Australia, and longest serving member of the Opera Conference team, says that there are ongoing discussions regarding the possibility of bringing New Zealand Opera into the Conference, making it a truly regional phenomenon, and adding a fifth company with the accompanying resources to the mix. However, the existing modus operandi of the Conference ensure that the ongoing creation of new productions for Australian audiences will continue.
Karen Finch - Karen is a Sydney based freelance writer, artist and musician. To learn more, click on her name to read her profile.
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