2010 Annual Report Part 1 - Opera Australia

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT CONTINUED
Edinburgh, where it won the Edinburgh Festival’s highly coveted ‘Angel
Award’. Elgar Howarth’s music direction, Neil Armfield’s direction, Brian
Thomson’s ingenious design and Peter Coleman-Wright heading an all
Australian cast, ensured a brilliant success for the Company.
Just as important were the revivals for the year, which saw us bringing
favourite productions back to the stage as well as beautifully performed
revivals of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard
Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, which allowed both Cheryl Barker and
Catherine Carby such important role debuts, as the Feldmarschallin and
Octavian respectively.
Of course there is much more to our national company than its main
stage seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, all of which demonstrates our
ambition to engage as broad a community as possible:
Oz Opera
In 2010 Oz Opera presented a new touring production of La traviata
directed by Rachel McDonald which captured the beauty and gritty
reality of the story. Conducted by Ollivier-Philippe Cunéo and later in
the season by Simon Thew, performances were given in 25 communities
across Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the Australian
Capital Territory reaching over 17,000 audience members. The forty
performances of the season were held in diverse venues ranging from
Hobart’s Theatre Royal, to a high school basketball court in Cowra and
a tarpaulin-covered pig shed known as Morundah’s much-treasured
Paradise Palladium Theatre.
An important part of the Regional Tour is the education workshops and
master classes with local schools and community groups known as the
Australia Post Opera in Schools Program. Fourteen workshops were led
by Eddie Muliaumaseali’i and were facilitated by the singers, orchestra
members, and creative artists. In 2010, for the first time the technical
crew also took part!
Anke Höppner as Minnie
La fanciulla del West
Oz Opera’s Schools Company tours took place in primary schools in
regional and metropolitan Victoria and New South Wales. Just under
25,000 students in Victoria were delighted by performances of Sid the
OPERA AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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