NBR NZ Opera to stage four works in 2013

NBR New Zealand Opera 2013 season

The NBR New Zealand Opera will perform three main-stage works in the 2013 season – in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. And although the Christchurch Opera company has now merged with it, there will be a separate programme in its home city.

Two of the new productions – Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman – will be presented in Auckland and Wellington, while Mozart’s Don Giovanni will be staged in Christchurch.

In addition, there will be a single performance of Acis and Galatea as part of the Christchurch programme.

Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
Auckland – ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
April 18-28

Wellington – St James Theatre
May 11-18

The season opens with Madame Butterfly, one of the most popular of all operas. Featuring the famous Humming Chorus and One Fine Day, Puccini’s masterpiece is a tender love story of longing and betrayal that beautifully juxtaposes the youth and innocence of Cio-Cio San (Butterfly) with the callousness of Pinkerton, the American naval officer, to deliver a work of great emotional integrity.

Set in the Japanese city of Nagasaki around the turn of last century, this new production is created by Australia’s award-winning Kate Cherry.

NBR New Zealand Opera general director Aidan Lang says Kate Cherry’s productions are always striking, and that this one will be no exception. “She and designer Christina Smith have created a stylish and exquisite set with a minimalist Japanese aesthetic and gorgeous, period costuming.

“Cio-Cio San and Lieutenant Pinkerton are among the world’s most-loved operatic couples and with the electrifying combination of Australian soprano Antoinette Halloran (who sang Mimi in La Bohème in 2008) and Italian tenor Piero Pretti in these roles, this beautiful, tragic love story will be taken to another level.”

Also in the cast are Peter Savidge as Sharpless, Lucy Schaufer as Suzuki, James Rodgers as Goro and Richard Green as The Bonze.                          

The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner
Wellington – St James Theatre
September 14-21

Auckland – ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
October 5-12

“As a passionate practitioner of theatre in music I think of the scene in which the ghostly crew of the Dutchman’s ghostly ship answers the call of the chorus on shore as one of the most hair-raising in opera.” – Wyn Davies, conductor

The second production, which tours to Auckland and Wellington, celebrates the bicentenary of the birth of Wagner with his first great opera, The Flying Dutchman. This will also be an alternative for those unable to attend his Ring Cycle in Melbourne during November.

Aidan Lang is excited to be presenting The Flying Dutchman. “This is a fantastic, big opera with an incredibly challenging score, strong and enigmatic characters, brooding tension and boundless emotion.

“To do the work justice it needs an outstanding director, and we have that in dynamic young Australian Matthew Lutton, who is known for his intense theatricality.

“It also needs superb singers who are also compelling actors. And to that end, we have a line-up including electrifying Irish soprano Orla Boylan as Senta, top New Zealand bass Paul Whelan as Daland, British tenor Peter Auty as Erik (an impressive Turiddu in last year’s Cav & Pag), and returning after a star turn as Enrico in 2007’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Welsh baritone Jason Howard as The Dutchman.”

This new production is the first Wagner opera presented by The NBR New Zealand Opera and the first step in an important new series of collaborations with Opera Queensland.

The Wellington season also sees a departure from the norm, with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra accompanying instead of the Wellington Vector Orchestra.

Don Giovanni
Christchurch – CBS Canterbury Arena
August 21-24

“As with all great pieces, the possibilities for Don Giovanni are endless, which is why it will continue to be performed forever. If Mozart is Shakespeare, then Don Giovanni is his Hamlet – an eternal work which continues to ask questions of performers and audiences.” – Mark Stone, Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni, The NBR New Zealand Opera’s first main-stage production for Christchurch, is one of the greatest creations of all opera.

With a hedonistic womaniser at its heart who will stop at nothing – even murder – in the pursuit of pleasure, Mozart’s serio-comic opera has become one of the most popular in the repertoire, drawing rapturous audiences since its première in 1788.

Bringing this masterpiece to the stage is Christchurch-born director Sara Brodie. “Working with a grand, visually imposing set, Sara will take a fresh and incisive approach to this enigmatic work,” Aidan Lang says.

“Sara also has a reputation for getting great theatrical results from her singers, so with a cast that features top New Zealand singing actors Jonathan Lemalu and Anna Leese, along with high-flying British baritone Mark Stone as Don Giovanni, what you see on stage will be thrilling."

The Christchurch Symphony orchestra and the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus will be conducted by Wyn Davies.

Acis & Galatea by George Frideric Handel
The Woolshed, Tipapa Estate, North Canterbury
February 23

The second opera in Christchurch will be a specially mounted new production of Handel’s Acis & Galatea in the stunning setting of Tipapa Estate in North Canterbury.

Nymphs, shepherds and a jealous giant make up the cast of this delightful pastoral opera – Handel’s first dramatic work written in English and his most popular by far.

The production, directed by Aiden Lang and conducted by Erin Helyard, will uniquely reference the early settler history of Tipapa homestead and features some of New Zealand’s brightest rising opera stars, including  Andrew Grenon (Acis), Emma Fraser (Galatea).