2005 Season | Melbourne Opera

2005 Season

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Die Fledermaus

by Johann Strauss

A sparkling production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at Her Majesty’s Theatre with guest stars Rosamund Illing and John-Michael Howson, starring Joanna Cole, Geoffrey Harris, Roger Howell, Lucas de Jong, Stephen Smith, and Lee Abrahmsen. Directed by Hugh Halliday; conducted by Greg Hocking.

Conductor: Greg Hocking
Director & Choreographer: Hugh Halliday
Design Consultant: Adam Gardnir
Lighting Design: Nick Merrylees

with the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Presented at Her Majesty’s Theatre 24, 27 November & 3 December 2005

Introduction and Synopsis (opens in new window)

Don Giovanni

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Melbourne Opera’s third production (first in the City) for 2005 was Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Collaborating again with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart in Don Giovanni explores the dark side of traditional comedy. This is an opera of enormous power and eloquence, depicting the exploits and eventual punishment of an inveterate womanizer.

Starring: Joanna Cole, Margaret Haggart, Roger Howell, Antoinette Halloran, Richard Curtin with Christopher Tonkin & Phillip Calcagno as the Don.

Featuring: James Egglestone, Danielle Calder, Derek Welton, Adrian Tamburini, Matthew Davine, Laurence Meikle, Lee Abrahamsen, Suzan Stafford.

Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Conducted by: Greg Hocking

Presented at the beautiful Athenaeum Theatre in July 2005

Synopsis (opens in a new window)

The Tell Tale Heart

by Dennis Vaughan

At the 2005 Castlemaine State Festival, Melbourne Opera also presented the world premiere of Melbourne composer Dennis Vaughan’s The Telltale Heart, from the story by Edgar Allan Poe, a one-man opera starring James Egglestone, directed by Hugh Halliday, and with a handpicked orchestra conducted by the composer.

This devastatingly theatrical piece innovatively staged in a mine building was the smash hit of the Festival.

A Gothic horror for tenor voice and orchestra

’TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous. I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?’

The Tell-Tale Heart is the spine-tingling story of a crime carefully planned and executed over eight days. The fear of an old man’s vulture eye consumes our narrator. It makes his blood run cold. He cannot escape. Terror reigns as his fears grow. Will he fall victim to the madness he hopes to elude? Dennis Vaughan has created an atmospheric score dripping in harmonic dissonance. International opera director Hugh Halliday uses the unique location and architecture of the Wattle Gully Gold Mine Shed to create an unforgettable evening of suspense.

Composer: Dennis Vaughan
Libretto: Edgar Allen Poe (based on his short story of the same title)
Director: Hugh Halliday
Starring: James Eggleston (Belcanto Scholarship Winner) as The Narrator
Wattle Gully Gold Mine Shed, Chewton

Madama Butterfly

by Giacomo Puccini

Melbourne Opera in association with Michael Gudinski’s Opera on the Green re-presented its 2004 production of Madama Butterfly at the Rochford Estate Winery in Coldstream, Victoria, in a stunning outdoor performance on a perfect evening of Melbourne’s Indian Summer. Starring Antoinette Halloran, David Rogers-Smith, Roger Howell and Kathryn Grey, directed by Caroline Stacey, with the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Greg Hocking.

This stunning production of Butterfly was then presented as the opening item in the 2005 Castlemaine State Festival, with the same forces in two sold-out performances.