Culture
Opera
Pure joy online as Yarra Valley opera brings the love, not the fail
Forced online this year, the Yarra Valley Opera Festival showcased impressive talents and powerful music.
- by Barney Zwartz
Latest
Performing arts
Fancy a phone call from Beethoven?
A new 'telephone opera' offers a one-on-one encounter with a distant love.
- by Kylie Northover
Performing arts
This may be the end of opera as we know it
Opera Australia will abandon its traditional seasons in Sydney and Melbourne in favour of producing more musical theatre, outdoor events, indoor “bespoke” performances and even films.
- by Nick Galvin
Performing arts
Denied their live stage, Pinchgut Opera feels the love on film
The Baroque specialists will soon release A Delicate Fire, a 60-minute film featuring the music of 17th-century composer Barbara Strozzi.
- by Nick Galvin
Exclusive
Performing arts
A magpie's song that lifted the darkness: new opera tells potent tale
Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham's grandparents lived for decades with permits and curfews. Her new opera, she hopes, will lift the darkness of ignorance.
- by Nick Miller
Performing arts
Despite dramas - and a pandemic - Victorian Opera plays on
Half its lifetime ago, Victorian Opera faced a financial nightmare. It survived and is planning a post-COVID recovery on its 15th anniversary.
- by Nick Miller
Coronavirus pandemic
Redundancies will gravely weaken orchestra, musicians say
Sixteen musicians of Opera Australia's orchestra have been made redundant in an operational restructure.
- by Linda Morris
Arts
Modern opera festival moves from the Valley to the digital frontier
It's important for people to get used to paying for performances online, says the Yarra Valley Opera Festival artistic director.
- by Nick Miller
Coronavirus pandemic
Opera Australia to be taken to Fair Work over redundancies
Opera Australia is embroiled in a dispute over staff redundancies as it battles for survival.
- by Linda Morris
Arts
With his laptop balanced on a book stack, Darcy sang for his big break
Singing professional opera over a backing track is a lot harder than it sounds - especially with so much at stake.
- by Nick Miller
Arts
Starved of opportunity, singers find comfort in cooking
Two talented singers were on the verge of cracking the big time: but for now they're back in the kitchen, exploring their culinary heritage.
- by Catherine Lambert