Eucalyptus, the fully realised new opera, made its premiere at Brisbane Festival in a co-production by Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Perth Festival and Opera Queensland. Based on Murray Bail’s fantastical, haunting 1998 novel of the same name and winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Eucalyptus was first performed in a concert version earlier this year…
What a story! What power! What magnificent singing and acting and one of the most dramatic scores in opera. Then we had murder, torture, rape and suicide for good measure. There’s no doubt Opera Queensland’s Tosca had everything and it was brilliantly revealed on opening night. What has been described as the greatest opera of…
Back when I was reviewing for Brisbane’s Spectrum radio show I created the “Scottie” Awards. They were based entirely on my taste in entertainment and collated basically as a tribute the people who gave me a lot of pleasure and whose work I admire. This year I have decided to revive this annual event. So…
Lindy Hume’s darkly delicious production of the Mozart masterpiece Don Giovanni has “hit” written all over it. From the stirring opening overture to the amazing finale, with fifty-odd mostly naked women pushing Don Giovanni to hell, it gripped, titillated, amused, and at times brought gasps of disbelief from a shell-shocked audience. There was no watch…
