2003 Season | Melbourne Opera

2003 Season

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The Magic Flute

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Following the sold-out triumph of La Traviata in June, and Bizet’s ever-popular The Pearlfishers in September, Melbourne Opera’s final production for our debut 2003 season was The Magic Flute.

Sung in English in a new translation, The Magic Flute is Mozart’s final masterpiece, a stunning mixture of low comedy and high seriousness as two young men and women find maturity and love through trial.

This new production was directed by Caroline Stacey, designed by Kaoru Alfonso, conducted by Maestro Armando Krieger, Warwick Stengards, and Greg Hocking, and featured the acclaimed Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus along with a cast of extraordinary Australian singers.

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The Pearl Fishers

by Georges Bizet

Following the sold-out triumph of La Traviata in June 2003, Melbourne Opera’s next production was a brand new production of Bizet’s ever-popular The Pearlfishers. This was the first Australian performance of Bizet’s original version of 1863.

Sung in English, the Pearlfishers features some of the best loved music in all opera, including the memorable duet In the depths of the temple, Leila’s aria, and the magnificent Brahma chorus.

This new production was directed by Plamen Kartaloff, designed by Kaoru Alfonso, conducted by John Dingle and Greg Hocking, and featured the acclaimed 45-voice Melbourne Opera Chorus and Orchestra along with a cast of extraordinary Australian singers.

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La Traviata

by Giuseppe Verdi

A new production of Verdi’s moving drama of passion and doomed love, La Traviata, at one of Melbourne’s finest opera venues, the historic and intimate Athenaeum Theatre.

With many of Australia’s finest artists led by Helen Noonan, this glamorous new production was set in the dazzling demi-monde of the Paris of the 1920’s. Verdi’s brilliant score contains some of the most famous and moving music in all opera as the Italian master traces the downfall of the fascinating courtesan Violetta just as she has love within her grasp.

Australian conductor Greg Hocking, whose previous credits include performances of Nabucco and Turandot in Europe in 2002, as well as the acclaimed Melbourne production of Tosca, directs the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Directed by Blair Edgar with elegant design by talented young Melburnian Gareth Blaha, and costumes by Silvia Scodellaro. Music and theatre lovers loved this splendid new production of one of the great masterpieces of the operatic canon.