New Zealand Opera

Last updated

New Zealand Opera
Formation2000 (2000)
Merger of
  • Auckland Opera
  • Wellington City Opera
  • Southern Opera
TypeOpera company
Location
General Director
Thomas de Mallet Burgess
Website nzopera.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Formerly called
The NBR New Zealand Opera

New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's only full-time professional opera company, formed in 2000 from the merger of companies in Auckland and Wellington (and later Christchurch). New Zealand Opera is headquartered in Parnell, Auckland, stages several productions a year, runs educational programmes, and supports early-career opera singers with the Dame Malvina Major Foundation.

Contents

History

The company was formed in 2000 when Opera New Zealand (the name adopted by Auckland Opera in 1995) and The National Opera of Wellington (formerly Wellington City Opera) decided to merge into one organisation for financial reasons. [1] It launched on 15 October 1999 as The National Business Review New Zealand Opera (the National Business Review had paid $1,000,000 for naming rights for the next three years); the NBR sponsorship ceased in 2014 and its name became NZ Opera. [2]

A further merger with Southern Opera in Christchurch in 2012 allowed the company to maintain a nation-wide presence and stage work in all three cities. [3] The company maintains a head office in Parnell, Auckland, and has a second office in Wellington. The Technical Centre in Auckland housed costumes, set-building, and a rehearsal space, [4] and later combined with the NZ Opera offices to form The Opera Centre.

NZ Opera coordinates and administers the Dame Malvina Major Foundation's Artist Development Programme, a training programme for emerging opera singers. Notable alumni include Phillip Rhodes, Anna Leese, Manase Latu, Samson Setu and Thomas Atkins. [5]

Leadership

In the late 1990s Jonathan Alver became General Director of Opera New Zealand, and oversaw the merger with The National Opera of Wellington to create the present company. [6] In 2002 he was succeeded by Alex Reedijk, who left in 2005 to run Scottish Opera. [7] Reedijk was followed by Aidan Lang, and in turn was followed as general director in 2014 by Stuart Maunder. [8] Maunder took a position as Artistic Director with State Opera South Australia in 2018 and was replaced by Thomas de Mallet Burgess. [9] In October 2022 Burgess was selected as the new Artistic Director of Finnish National Opera, starting in August 2023. [10] Brad Cohen, an opera conductor and administrator and former artistic director of West Australian Opera became the General Director in late 2023. [11]

Funding

When the Wellington and Auckland companies merged, NBR's million dollar sponsorship was possibly the largest in the history of the NZ performing arts. [12] The company was also supported by the law firm Chapman Tripp, who gave their name to the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, the company's resident chorus. By 2011, NZ Opera's Creative New Zealand funding had increased to $2.2 million a year, double the amount of a few years previously. [12] In 2019 Creative New Zealand gave $2.7 million to NZ Opera, with an additional $1.2 million coming from Auckland ($1.1m), Wellington, ($67,744) and Christchurch ($70,000) city councils. [13]

Productions

The first production of the newly-merged NZ Opera in 2000 was a sold-out season of Verdi's Aida . [14] [15] Since then the company has put on two or more productions a year, performed in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. It also runs educational programmes for young people and touring productions to other venues. [16]

Tamino (Adrian Strooper) plays his magic flute to charm the animals in the 2006 production of Mozart's The Magic Flute Magic Flute 2006 NZO 02.jpg
Tamino (Adrian Strooper) plays his magic flute to charm the animals in the 2006 production of Mozart's The Magic Flute
Faust (Jaewoo Kim) realises the consequences of his actions in the 2006 production of Gounod's opera. Faust 2006 NZO 01 (cropped).jpg
Faust (Jaewoo Kim) realises the consequences of his actions in the 2006 production of Gounod's opera.

The Marriage of Figaro was staged in 2002. Italian soprano Nuccia Focile played the Countess and Wendy Dawn Thompson was Cherubino, with Aidan Lang directing his first production for the company. [17] New Zealand bass Wade Kernot and Australian soprano Emma Pearson (married in real life) sang the lead roles of Figaro and Susanna. [18] NZ Opera staged Figaro again in 2010, and once more in 2021 with Emma Pearson returning in the role of the Countess. [19]

The company's 2006 production of Mozart's The Magic Flute was directed by Stanley M. Garner based on a production by Sir Peter Hall. [20] Australian tenor Adrian Strooper sang Tamino, Richard Burkhard was Papageno, and Tiffany Speight sang Pamina. Phillip Rhodes sang Monostatos. [20] The production design by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe included fantastical animals such as a hybrid crocodile-penguin. [20] Also that year was a production of Gounod's Faust , directed by Mike Ashman. The principals were Mikhail Svetlov (Méphistophélès), Anne Sophie Dupreis (Marguerite) and Jaewoo Kim (Faust). [21]

In 2008 the company took a touring production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel to 15 venues the entire length of New Zealand, from Kerikeri in the north to Invercargill in the south. [22] [23] It was director Michael Hurst's first foray into opera. [23] Later that year, the company's production of Janáček's Jenůfa was the first staged in New Zealand (an Australian company had toured the opera in the 1970s), with a notable performance of the Grandmother Kostelnicka by New Zealand soprano Margaret Medlyn. [22] [24]

Australian director Patrick Nolan staged Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in 2009, with Anna Leese as Tatyana and Russian tenor Roman Shulackoff as Lensky. [25] It was production designer Genevieve Blanchett's first opera set. [26] Eugene Onegin was described as the "most polished, most evenly cast production" yet from NZ Opera, [27] and Anna Leese was called "one of the great female voices to emerge from New Zealand". [28]

In 2011 the company staged Handel's Xerxes , with costumes by Trelise Cooper, [12] and a double bill of the one-act operas Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. These used a play-within-a-play convention, with the opening scene of Pagliacci being the closing scene of Cavalleria, linked by the prologue of Tonio. [29] Cavalleria Rusticana featured English tenor Peter Auty as Turidda and Ukrainian soprano Anna Shafajinskaia as Santuzza. Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas sang Canio in Pagliacci, and Anna Leese sang Nedda. [30]

The 2012 production of Rigoletto again starred Rafael Rojas, as the Duke, and critic Lindis Taylor noted the company's "continuing practice of using too many singers from overseas, when New Zealand boasts of producing so many who are gifted". [31] Lindy Hume's production had a modern setting, referencing the scandals of Berlusconi's Italy. [32]

Flora (Alexa Harwood) haunted by the ghost of Miss Jessel (Madeleine Pierard) in 2019's The Turn of the Screw. 191001Turn of the Screw118.jpg
Flora (Alexa Harwood) haunted by the ghost of Miss Jessel (Madeleine Pierard) in 2019's The Turn of the Screw .

Wyn Davies conducted Don Giovanni in 2013, with Mark Stone and Jonathan Lemalu as the leads. In an update critic Ian Dando described as "ill-advised", the Don is dispatched to Hell at the climax not by the animated statue Il Commendatore, but by a man in a blue suit. [33] The production was featured in the Christchurch Arts Festival, making it the first fully-staged opera in Christchurch since the merger with Southern Opera in 2009. [34]

The company's 2015 Tosca , with Orla Boylan (Tosca) and Phillip Rhodes (Scarpia) had Simon O'Neill singing Cavaradossi. O'Neill, a tenor who usually performs German repertoire, gave what critic Peter Mechan described as "a performance that I think will be talked about here for years to come." [35] For the 2019 Auckland Arts Festival the company staged The Barber of Seville , and put on productions of Don Giovanni and Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, directed by newly-arrived Thomas de Mallet Burgess. [36] In the latter Anna Leese gaved a critically-noted performance as the Governess and Jared Holt was a "terrifying and seductive" Peter Quint. [37] The production (sung in English) unusually did not use surtitles, and reviewers disagreed on how intelligible the sung dialogue was. [38] [39] A departure from the canonical opera repertoire the company usually performed, it had full houses in both Auckland and Wellington. [37]

Robert Tucker in the 2020 production of Eight Songs for a Mad King New Zealand Opera Eight songs - King George standing 03.jpg
Robert Tucker in the 2020 production of Eight Songs for a Mad King

In 2020, NZ Opera embarked on what it called a strategy of 'revisioning opera' in New Zealand. [40] It began by staging Francis Poulenc's 1958 one-woman opera The Human Voice in six different hotel rooms around New Zealand to an audience of around 20 each time. [41] Fiona McAndrew alternated the roles with Amanda Atlas. A second solo production was Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King , in the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland, Wellington's RNZB Dance Centre, and Christchurch's Tūranga central library, starring baritone Robert Tucker as a modern CEO instead of George III. [42] [43] [44] Half the audience was seated in the boardroom with Tucker, the other half observed from outside with headphones; audiences then changed places. [45] Handel's Semele was staged in Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral, with soprano Emma Pearson as Semele and Amitai Pati, in his NZ Opera debut, as Jove. [46] [47] Sarah Castle and Paul Whelan, New Zealand singers normally based overseas who had returned home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, sang Juno and Cadmus respectively. [47]

Norah Stevenson-Tuuga as The Orator in the 2021 premiere of Ihitai 'Avei'a - Star Navigator Ihitai * NORAH 035.jpg
Norah Stevenson-Tuuga as The Orator in the 2021 premiere of Ihitai 'Avei'a – Star Navigator

The company's 2021 season opened with Ihitai 'Avei'a - Star Navigator , a new work by Tim Finn with monologues from Tahitian novelist Célestine Hitiura Vaite. [48] The first opera to be performed in Tahitian, Māori, and English, it tells the story of Tupaia (sung by Amitai Pati) and James Cook (sung by Paul Whelan) on the Endeavour's 1769 voyage. [48] All three performances sold out, and Natasha Wilson as Purea was praised as "one of Aotearoa’s most glorious sopranos." [49]

In May 2021 de Mallet Burgess announced that NZ Opera would be commissioning a comic opera based on the saga of the "unruly tourists" who visited New Zealand in January 2019. [50] Luke Di Somma was to compose the work to a libretto by comedians Livi Reihana and Amanda Kennedy of the Fan Brigade. [50] One of the characters would be a journalist covering the events. [51] The opera, which would combine opera and musical theatre singers, was to be staged in 2022. [52] [53] Less than two weeks later three of NZ Opera's board members – Murray Shaw, Witi Ihimaera, and Rachel Walkinton – resigned in protest at the artistic direction of the company. [13] They were replaced by Carol Hirschfeld, Joanna Heslop, and Te Oti Rakena. [54] The Unruly Tourists was in the end postponed when the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in New Zealand. [55]

In May 2022 The Strangest of Angels premiered in Christchurch: a chamber opera based on Janet Frame's time in Seacliff Mental Hospital. Frame was sung by Jayne Tankersley, and Anna Leese played her nurse; the opera was a collaboration between Leese, composer Kenneth Young and librettist Georgia Jamieson Emms. [56]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiri Te Kanawa</span> New Zealand opera singer

Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa,, is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December 1971 she was recognised internationally when she appeared as the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Symphony Orchestra</span> National symphony orchestra of New Zealand

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre and has frequently performed in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Leese</span> New Zealand opera singer

Anna Leese is a New Zealand born soprano opera singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Ritchie</span> New Zealand composer

Anthony Damian Ritchie is a New Zealand composer and academic. He has been a freelance composer accepting commissions for works and in 2018 he became professor of composition at The University of Otago after 18 years of teaching composition. Since 2020 he has been head of Otago's School of Performing Arts, a three-year position. His works number over two hundred, and include symphonies, operas, concertos, choral works, chamber music and solo works.

Dame Isoleen Heather Begg was a New Zealand-born operatic mezzo-soprano who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom and Australia. She was "a versatile artist" with a "gift for comedy", and became renowned as the title role in Bizet's Carmen, Amneris in Verdi's Aida and in lighter operas such as The Gondoliers.

Iosefa Enari was a New Zealand opera singer who was born in Samoa. The Iosefa Enari Memorial Award, presented annually by Creative New Zealand, recognises Enari's pioneering contribution to Pacific Islands opera. Enari was the Artistic Director of Classical Polynesia, the first New Zealand opera combining traditional Samoan words and music with classical opera.

The New Zealand Dance Company is an Auckland based, nationally focused contemporary dance company.

Richard Meckiff Campion was a New Zealand actor, theatre director, and producer. Campion and his wife Edith Campion co-founded New Zealand's first professional theatre company, the New Zealand Players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tecwyn Evans</span> New Zealand conductor and composer

Tecwyn Evans is a New Zealand conductor. He holds a faculty position teaching conducting at the University of Auckland School of Music and in 2018 he was named as Director of Music of Den Jyske Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Marie Hart</span> American opera singer

Megan Marie Hart is an American operatic soprano from Eugene, Oregon, performing in leading operatic roles and concerts in America and Europe.

That Bloody Woman is a 2015 punk-rock musical written by Luke Di Somma and Gregory Cooper. It is based on the life of Kate Sheppard and charts the suffragism struggle in New Zealand and its opposition by Richard Seddon. The musical was commissioned by Christchurch Arts Festival and premiered there in August 2015. It played in Auckland and Christchurch in 2016, and toured New Plymouth, Wellington and Dunedin in 2017. An original cast recording was made and released in 2016. That Bloody Woman is set to hit the Christchurch stage once again as Showbiz Christchurch prepare for their opening night on 5 July, featuring an all-female creative team and rock band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Performing arts in New Zealand</span>

Performing arts in New Zealand include amateur and professional presentations of theatre, circus, dance and music where it accompanies live performance. Aotearoa New Zealand has an active contemporary performing arts culture; many people participate in performing arts activities and most people live near an arts centre or theatre building.

The Dame Malvina Major Foundation, named after New Zealand soprano Malvina Major was established in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Brodie</span> New Zealand theatre director and choreographer

Sara Brodie is a New Zealand theatre director and choreographer.

Emily Jean Mair was a Scottish-born New Zealand opera singer, pianist and vocal coach. She trained a number of well-known New Zealand opera singers, including Simon O'Neill and Aivale Cole.

Tracy Grant Lord is a leading New Zealand scenographer and costume designer of ballet, theatre and opera. She has worked with numerous Australasian performance companies including the Royal New Zealand Ballet, New Zealand Opera, Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Queensland Ballet as well as the Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland Theatre Companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Medlyn</span> New Zealand opera singer (born 1958)

Helen Medlyn is a New Zealand mezzo-soprano opera singer, musical theatre actor, media producer and gardener. She is particularly known for her comic roles and for her cabaret performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Wilson</span> New Zealand opera singer

Natasha Te Rupe Wilson is a New Zealand soprano opera singer of Māori and Pākehā heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas de Mallet Burgess</span> American dancer, choreographer and director

Thomas de Mallet Burgess is a theatre, musical theatre, and opera director from the United Kingdom. He founded the Perth opera company Lost & Found, and was General Director of New Zealand Opera from 2018 to 2023 before selected as artistic director of Finnish National Opera.

Eleanor Bishop is a New Zealand stage director, producer and playwright. Her play Yes Yes Yes co-written with Karin McCracken for young people about relationships and consent has been seen throughout New Zealand, in Montreal, Wales and Catalonia.

References

  1. ↑ Dart, William (9 December 2002). "Nicholas Tarling: On and Off: Opera in Auckland 1970-2000". The New Zealand Herald (book review). Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Simpson 2000, p. 126.
  3. ↑ "Opera merger welcomed | Ministry for Culture and Heritage". mch.govt.nz. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  4. ↑ "New Zealand Opera". ASEF culture360. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  5. ↑ "Artist development with NZ Opera | Dame Malvina Major Foundation". 15 May 2015. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  6. ↑ Trott, Donald (7 April 2014). "Introducing Jonathan Alver". Donald Trott. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  7. ↑ "NZ Opera's General Director Heads To Scotland". Scoop News. 26 October 2005. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  8. ↑ "New Zealand Opera appoints new General Director" (Press release). New Zealand Opera. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2020– via Scoop Media.
  9. ↑ "Meet the team: Thomas De Mallet Burgess". NZ Opera. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  10. ↑ "Burgess made Artistic Director of Finnish National Opera". Daily Finland. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  11. ↑ "The new NZ Opera: progressive rather than radical". RNZ. 2023-11-14. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  12. 1 2 3 Dekker, Diana (27 August 2011). "Something to Sing About". Dominion Post Weekend. pp. 4–10.
  13. 1 2 Hatton, Emma (28 May 2021). "Opera drama: Third of NZ Opera board resigns over artistic direction concerns". Stuff. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  14. ↑ Simpson 2000, p. 129.
  15. ↑ Swarbrick, Nancy. "Creative life - Music". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  16. ↑ "About Us". NZ OPERA. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  17. ↑ Biss, Rod (8 May 2010). "A marriage of roles". New Zealand Listener: 36.
  18. ↑ Wilshere, Garth (June 2010). "Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)". New Zealand Opera News: 54–59.
  19. ↑ Dart, William (9 June 2021). "William Dart: Marriage made in heaven". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  20. 1 2 3 NZ Opera (29 March 2006). "Spellbinding Opera Puts the Magic into Winter". Scoop News. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  21. ↑ Dart, William (3 October 2006). "Faust makes much of mockery and magic". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  22. 1 2 Westwood, Matthew (25 September 2008). "Janacek's masterpiece of restraint". The Australian.
  23. 1 2 Herrick, Linda (19 June 2008). "Singing for their supper". New Zealand Herald. p. 7.
  24. ↑ Wilson, Roger (15 October 2008). "As good as it gets". Capital Times. p. 9.
  25. ↑ Dart, William (19 September 2009). "An Onegin not to be missed". New Zealand Herald. p. 15.
  26. ↑ McNaught, Josie (1 September 2009). "The Designer: Why Genevieve Blanchett is designing her first opera set". Home New Zealand: 139.
  27. ↑ Button, John (12 October 2009). "Eugene Onegin delivers on promise of excellence". The Dominion Post. p. 7.
  28. ↑ McLean, Kate (14 October 2009). "Anna Leese shines". Capital Times. p. 13.
  29. ↑ Dart, William (17 August 2011). "Two magnificent stories for the price of one". Weekend Herald. p. 18.
  30. ↑ Bryan, Mary (25 May 2011). "Famous opera takes centre stage". Wanganui Midweek. p. 22.
  31. ↑ Taylor, Lindis (2 June 2012). "So many delights". New Zealand Listener: 45.
  32. ↑ McLean, Kate (23 May 2012). "Triumph for a tour de force". Capital Times. p. 9.
  33. ↑ Dando, Ian (7 September 2013). "Its dignity is not negotiable". New Zealand Listener: 42–43.
  34. ↑ Kerr, Elizabeth (17 August 2013). "A harmonious ending". New Zealand Listener. pp. 44–45.
  35. ↑ Mechan, Peter (2015). "New Zealand Opera's Tosca: what a production, voices, playing and conducting! – Seen and Heard International". Seen and Heard International. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  36. ↑ "New Zealand Opera 2019 Season". Heart of the City. 2019. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  37. 1 2 Elliot, Douglas (18 October 2019). "A significant achievement for New Zealand Opera". The Opera Critic. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  38. ↑ Button, John (4 October 2019). "NZ Opera's 'The Turn of the Screw' a ghost story riddled with ambiguity". Stuff. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  39. ↑ Holden, Simon (20 October 2019). "Ambiguity rules in New Zealand Opera's Turn of the Screw". Bachtrack. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  40. ↑ Holden, Simon (13 March 2020). "Inside out: Eight Songs for a Mad King in Auckland". Bachtrack. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  41. ↑ Triplow, Grant (19 October 2020). "Review: New Zealand Opera's The Human Voice". Cityscape. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  42. ↑ "Eight Songs For A Mad King - Ellen Melville Centre, Auckland". UnderTheRadarNZ. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  43. ↑ Destination NZ (7 October 2020). "Q&A: Thomas de Mallet Burgess on the future of New Zealand opera". www.destination-nz.com. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  44. ↑ Button, John (3 March 2020). "New Zealand Festival Review: 'Eight Songs for a Mad King' well worth experiencing". Stuff. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  45. ↑ "Tūranga hits high note with opera in library". Christchurch City Council Newsline. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  46. ↑ Kidd, Sarah (30 October 2020). "Stage Review: Semele, Auckland New Zealand, 2020". Ambient Light. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  47. 1 2 Kerr, Elizabeth (11 November 2020). "New Zealand Opera's Semele – a sumptuous operatic feast". Five Lines. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  48. 1 2 "Tim Finn Pasifika production to open New Zealand Opera's 2021 season". Stuff. 2021-03-13. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  49. ↑ Martin, Clare (19 March 2021). "Live Review: Ihitai 'Avei'a – Star Navigator, Auckland March 19". NZ Musician. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  50. 1 2 Kerr-Lazenby, Mina (15 May 2021). "Unruly tourists, the opera: An unlikely show inspired by the 2019 notorious Brit travellers". Stuff. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  51. ↑ Cameron, Hugo (16 May 2021). "Unruly tourists who raised hackles across New Zealand to be depicted in new opera". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  52. ↑ Reymer, Lisette (16 May 2021). "Saga of infamous 'unruly tourists' to become an opera". Newshub. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  53. ↑ Cameron, Hugo (16 May 2021). "Misbehaving English family to be depicted in new opera". RNZ. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  54. ↑ "Opera singer and teacher appointed to NZ Opera board". The University of Auckland. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  55. ↑ "The Unruly Tourists 2022". NZ OPERA. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  56. ↑ Kerr, Elizabeth (7 June 2022). "The Strangest of Angels: a psychological operatic drama". Five Lines. Retrieved 2022-09-01.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.