Night out of the year at WA Opera's effervescent The Merry Widow

The diplomat Danilo’s motto is “Love quite a lot, promise rarely, marry never”. But it’s a hard standard to live up to when the whole of Pontevedro is vying for the attention of the love of his life, wealthy widow Hanna. Someone has to keep the immense fortune (and the person attached to it) in the country.

Yes it’s Lehar’s The Merry Widow, bubbling over with opulence and mirth in a new production by Graham Murphy. The Opera Conference production premiered in Perth on 15th July as part of WA Opera’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Taryn Fiebig made her long-overdue company debut as Hanna under the baton of Vanessa Scammell, WA Opera’s first female conductor.

Taryn Fiebig as Hanna in The Merry Widow. Photos by James Rogers

If there was a lot of champagne overflowing at the interval celebrations there was just as much on stage. Michael Scott-Mitchell’s lavish Art Deco set, Justin Fleming’s new streamlined English translation and Jennifer Irwin’s dazzling costumes were the backdrop for a dance-infused show where every act was a party fizzing with romance and comedy.

Immense bronze latticework set the scene for the Embassy Ball, with sequined dresses and the gilded braiding of 1920’s Parisian high society shimmering under Damien Cooper’s creamy lights. The breathtaking Monet garden setting for Act Two’s Pontevedrian party drew spontaneous applause as the curtain lifted on a waterlilies backdrop, pastel frocks and dreamy lighting. Lehar’s ‘Love Unspoken’ wafted through this setting like an evening breeze and Fiebig and Alexander Lewis as Danilo delivered a heart melting waltz. But it was not enough to break Danilo’s scruples about money and Hanna becomes embroiled in the fledgling affair between the Baron’s wife Valencienne and a young Frenchman Camille. It was not until the Act 3 nightclub party where she joined the ‘Grisette’ girls that this high-kicking heroine revealed the details of her inheritance and steals back Danilo’s heart.

Fiebig and Lewis as Hanna and Danilo

Lehar’s score is infused with folk dances, waltzes and marches and Murphy drew on his vast background in choreography and his intimate knowledge of The Merry Widow (he danced in The Australian Ballet’s famous 1975 production) to produce an operetta brimming with movement. In fact the production was so busy there were moments where it only just held together. Fortunately the cast and creative team were well-picked to deliver the complex theatrics.

Lewis and Fiebig were youthful, full of life and constantly tripping over their love for each other. Their background in music theatre meant their dancing was as alluring as their singing. Lewis cut a rakish character from his drunken arrival looking for a desk so he could sleep (“Beds are for making love, desks are for sleeping; I only have to look at a desk and I’m out like a light.”) to his elegant dancing and delightful  light lyric tenor. Fiebig was entrancing with her clear-as-a-bell top notes offset by a growling cabaret showgirl routine all the while navigating four incredibly lavish gowns.

Taryn Fiebig and Alexander Lewis Act 3

Emma Pettemerides was big-eyed and sweet-voiced as the flirtatious Valencienne and John Longmuir sung the besotted Camille with a honey smooth gleam. Actor Michael Loney proved he could also sing and dance in a showstealing camp rendition of ‘Quite Parisian’ Baritone Andrew Foote’s comic excellence was put to good use as the foolish Baron Zeta while Sam Roberts-Smith and Jonathon Brain were quite ridiculous in their rivalry for Hanna’s fortune.

A 12-strong dance corps added feathered Grisette routines and Slavic folk dances. Murphy also put the WA Opera chorus through their paces with detailed choreography. “Women” became a Broadway-style male ensemble number complete with tuxedos, white gloves and slapstick moments such as a larrikin Mexican wave.  Throughout all the activity the chorus sound was warm hued and clean.

Fiebig and the male chorus.

There was great synergy between stage and pit. Scammell, who has built her career on stage shows, coordinated the masses with finely honed intuition. The WA Symphony Orchestra added spice to Lehar’s folk melodies, hazy romanticism to the instrumental solos and effortless lift to the dance numbers.

We rarely get operettas at WA Opera and the audience (younger than a usual opening night crowd) were captivated by the young, versatile cast and effervescent, truly beautiful production. Notwithstanding a few opening night jitters, this was an impressive launch for Murphy’s The Merry Widow. There’s still so much more to describe but instead go buy a ticket for your night out of the year; it doesn’t get much more fun than this!

Dancers during the Act 3 party

WA Opera’s The Merry Widow continues in Perth until 22nd July with an Opera Melbourne season in November and Opera Australia in December.

This review first published Limelight Magazine.

Celebrity Soft Spot Harriet O'Shannessy

Harriet O'Shannessy is calm, unflappable,and the owner of a deliciously creamy soprano voice which you will hear in WA Opera's The Merry Widow this weekend. These days she has an irrepressible sparkle in her eyes and bubbling energy; her company Freeze Frame Opera is succeeding beyond her wildest dreams.

What music gets your heart racing?

Cavalleria Rusticana – the fight scene between Santuzza and Turridu: “No, no Turridu”  either watching it or singing it! It was the first opera I was in at WA Opera and it has a special place in my heart. I watched from the wings every night to see Dennis O’Neill and Nicole Youl singing this.

What music calms you down?

I listen to 101.7FM Capital Community Radio. Best station for golden oldies. I love it. I keep saying to anyone that’ll listen that it is not just a station for “the senior citizens of Perth”!

What do you sing along to?

I love singing along to Romeo and Juliet, (Dire Straits of course!)

Singing in the WA Opera chorus for Carmen

How are you preparing for your role as Sylviane in WA Opera's The Merry Widow which opens on July 15th?

We have had a wonderful rehearsal process with Graeme Murphy creating this show before our eyes. It is great to be involved in this original production. Sylviane is a little bit quirky and also quite naughty, so it is a lot of fun. I am a privileged Pontevedrian. I get to wear three amazing and glamorous costumes that have been designed by Jennifer Irwin. So much detail and thought has gone into every aspect of this show. This opera is going to look and sound amazing.

Mark Applebaum says music should above all else be interesting. What do you think is the most important role of music?  

I absolutely agree. Interesting, and it must affect my emotions. I like watching a show when I’m so involved emotionally that I want the inevitable sad to ending to change, or when I get goosebumps and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, or when something makes me cry. Music should move emotions.

You have a soft spot for opera. What is the appeal of the art form for you?   

Opera has such power and passion.  It has the ability to speak straight to the soul, through the power of the human voice.  It is also just so impressive hearing a singer in full flight. It’s something primal and electric, and electrifying. I believe that the power to capture human emotion is the reason that opera can appeal to anyone. And, when you put that with a full orchestra…! Sensational.
 

How did Freeze Frame Opera come about?

I was inspired to start FFO to provide more opportunities for top quality Perth based singers to perform, and to increase opera audiences by making operas in a shortened format (like 20/20 is to test cricket, we are to grand opera), in a more intimate venue and in a more relaxed atmosphere. Camelot Theatre, where we performed La Boheme in May 2017, is perfect for that. The quality of the acting is as important as the singing.  Audiences have responded to that. Also, they can take their wine into the show, and come in their ugg boots if they like.  Always a good selling point.

Many would say you are mad starting FFO when opera companies around the world are going bankrupt. It is often an expensive and elite art form. What gives you hope?  

It is true - you have to be a bit mad! It consumes my waking (and sleeping) thoughts! Where there’s a will there’s a way I guess. I get lots of nice, encouraging feedback. And I get kids stopping me on the hockey field to ask “How I kept my eyes open?” when Mimi died  … so there’s hope there that the youngsters are getting interested!

O'Shannessy singing Mimi in La Boheme with Paul O'Neill as Rodolfo

Your debut opera La Boheme in May generated overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses from the Perth public. What is it that creates such a resonance with your audience, many of whom are opera virgins?  

I think they liked our 90’s grunge Boheme because the cast were so immersed in their roles, and so well suited to their roles, it wasn’t too long – (90 mins including interval), and it is such a good opera! I love it that people new to opera are coming and willing to give opera a go. I think they connected to Boheme with Rachel McDonald’s modern setting and surtitles. We hope we’ll get them hooked.

Where did you learn the skills to manage an opera company?

Definitely learning on the job! I’ve had great sounding boards in Bourby Webster (PSO), Rachel McDonald (director La Boheme) and my husband, Greg. I have collaborated with the some of the best in the business (Robbie Harrold, designer and Geoff Glencross, lighting). All have worked so hard. The singers are very much a part of the collaborative process at FFO. They even change the sets! Having produced Boheme, I feel more equipped to know what will or might come up next time.
What is the most important quality required for running a business in the arts sector?

The passion has to be there. Nothing would happen without that.

How do you go about putting together an opera such as Pagliacci from scratch? It is scheduled for mid next year and I know you have already started working toward it.   

I’ve locked down the dates at Camelot Theatre, the availability of the cast, and the director, musical director, designer and lighting designer. I will focus on obtaining funding, selling tickets and learning my role.  Boheme was pretty successful, and we all want to make sure our next show is even better!

Creative Partnerships Australia, through MATCH LAB 2017, will match up to $10,000 in donations that we receive between now and the end of September 2017.  Donations to FFO are tax deductible and details about how to donate can be found on our website: www.freezeframeopera.com. All donations are used towards furthering our aims of spreading the love of opera, and giving opportunities to talented singers

Rachel (director) and Robbie (designer) are already busy working on their vision for the show. FFO is very much a collaborative effort. And, being, FFO, there will be some unexpected things happening in this show…. All will soon be revealed!  

Children’s opera isn’t something we see a lot of in Perth but I know you have plans to change that. Is  opera an art form for kids?   

Yes! Thinking about this question made me think about my first experience of opera. I was in Year 7 and our wonderful, unforgettable music teacher, Miss Stevens, adapted Mozart’s The Magic Flute for us. I played Papagena. I would like to introduce more kids to the magic of opera. This December, we are planning to launch an opera designed to tour to primary schools. The opera we are working on is a shortened version of Dvorak's Rusalka (based on the Hans Christian Andersen) fairy tale. The launch will be at Camelot Theatre in Mosman Park and we'd love people to bring along their kids and grandkids, in the Christmas pantomime tradition. From 2018, we would love to offer the show as an incursion for primary school children in metropolitan and regional schools in WA.

At the opening night of La Boheme I met your greatest fan; your husband Greg is a very proud groupie! Is running Freeze Frame a whole family affair? How do you manage work/life balance with young children?  

Husband groupie. That’s cool. I like it when he’s in the audience cos he cheers as though he’s at the rugby! It is certainly a family affair. Not just my husband, but the kids get involved, dropping off flyers etc. They also come to the shows. They are the motivation, and part of the team. Robbie (our designer’s) kids were helping making props for Boheme. Maybe we can even use them on stage in the near future. Mine would like that…  if it meant pocket money!

What is your favourite place in Perth?  

The beach. Good for the soul.

Do you have a soft spot for anything else or is life all about the music?  

At the moment, outside of opera, it is all about the kids and their interests, and then there’s wine and coffee of course! I'm also a bit of a Dockers tragic.

Thank you Harriet O'Shannessy for sharing with us. You can get tickets to hear Harriet sing in The Merry Widow here, and go here to support Freeze Frame Opera and find out about future operas. 

Celebrity Soft Spot Carolyn Chard

This year the West Australian Opera celebrates its 50th anniversary and at the helm is Carolyn Chard, general manager for nearly two decades. Carolyn worked in arts management across multiple platforms in Perth before discovering opera. She shares a glimpse of the inner workings of the company and why 'music is the strongest form of magic'.

What music gets your heart racing?

Dance music with a heavy beat, the kind you feel in your body on a dance floor.
Beautiful music, music that speaks to your soul  (too many to name plus depends what mood I am in; today maybe Parsifal overture, Mahler 5; tomorrow I would name others). Some renditions of Ave Maria just melt me; at other times I dissolve listening to Nick Cave’s Into My Arms.

What calms you down?

Massage
Walking on the beach
Beautiful music

What do you sing along to?

‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams (although you don’t want me to).

This year WA Opera celebrates its 50th year. The company has been collecting stories and memories from past cast and audience members. What have you learned about WA Opera from these?

That there is an appreciation for the company and a memory bank that is very personal and individual to many patrons; that the company has made an impact on collective memory. The stories are all on the website and worth reading at waopera.asn.au.

Carolyn with the ‘hero image’ marketing team

What is the role of an opera company in a city like Perth?

To present the artform in a beautiful theatre, to maintain the tradition of grand opera in an isolated city.

You walk something of a tightrope balancing traditional repertoire with bold contemporary repertoire like new works by Richard Mills and Iain Grandage. How do you navigate the responsibilities of expanding your audience while also retaining traditional subscribers?

It’s a risk every time and actually hard to navigate or balance through the level of risk you are willing to expose the company to. How do you measure what that success looks like? Is it financial success at the box office? Artistic success? What if you have one without the other? Is it still worth the investment event at the cost of forgoing other work?

The WA Opera team is a small family. International singers often talk about the warm welcome they receive when performing here. What is special for you about your team?

I try to engender a caring culture where we welcome and look after people, Many years ago a theatre director pointed out to me that we trade in human emotion, that’s our widget, our product. It means that we have to look after that carefully and that boils down to looking after people. I work with some wonderful, committed, energetic and enthusiastic people who love the company and the theatre, who have a passion for opera and who take great  pride in our singers, our chorus, our creative colleagues and WASO musicians.

In your other life (before opera) you were in banking and fashion design. You worked in management roles for Barking Gecko and Deckchair before heading into opera in 2001. What was the appeal of opera?

At Wesfarmers Centenary Dinner with her daughter

I studied fashion design. I worked in banking. I promoted bands, events and DJs in clubs during the dance music and rave scene in the eighties and nineties (The Prodigy, Blackbox, Kevin Saunderson, Dream Frequency, Sasha). I did the arts management degree at WAAPA and moved into theatre management at Deckchair Theatre and Barking Gecko Theatre (during this tenure we established the Awesome Festival). I worked with Black Swan Theatre, Perth Theatre Company and Kulcha. I met Richard Mills when we co-produced the Britten children’s opera Noyes Fludde/Noah’s Flood and he encouraged me to consider the management role with opera. He taught me much about the artform and engendered a passion for producing and presenting opera. I worked with my Australian opera colleagues at Opera Conference and was invited to a dual senior management position with Opera Australian based out of Sydney and Melbourne offices. I was invited to resume the general manager’s role with WAO when my successor moved to the CEO position with WASO.

What are you proudest of in your years with WA Opera?

I have worked in opera now for almost two decades, in two stints as General Manager with this company split by a few years with the national opera company based out of both Sydney and Melbourne. I am proud of presenting and producing two of Richard Mills’s works, both new operas with the Perth Festival – Batavia, which was commissioned by Opera Australia as part of the Centenary of Federation and first presented in Melbourne in 2000, and The Love of the Nightingale which was part of the Wesfarmers Arts Commissioning Series. Both operas were composed and conducted by Richard Mills and both directed by Lindy Hume. They had a special rapport which translated well on stage. On opening night of Batavia in Perth the CEO of Opera Australia turned to me and shook my hand and congratulated me on getting the work into the theatre and onto the stage (it was a production that I had been told ‘would not fit the Maj’ and, with my clever Production Manager Mandy Farmer, we found a way to store some of the scenery between Acts in containers on the street)

You are one of a very few women heading up an arts company in WA. Any ideas why there aren’t more women in management roles?

Sometimes it just cyclical – there have been times when the four major companies in WA have been headed by women. Right now three of the four majors have women leaders (Nat Jenkins at Black Swan and Jess Machin at the ballet while my predecessor Craig Whitehead heads WASO).

WA Opera's first mainstage production for the year is opera Tosca which opens on March 28th with Antoinette Halloran in the title role, Paul O’Neill as Cavaradossi and Teddy Tahu Rhodes returning as Scarpia. Perth audiences last saw Tosca in 2011. What does this New Zealand production by Stuart Maunder have to offer?

Stuart is a wonderful colleague with great insights into character and story as well as understanding the music and the genius of it. For this particular season Stuart and I actually negotiated a production swap – he has enabled us to present the New Zealand Opera production of Tosca which he directs and I have enabled him to take the WAO Lindy Hume production of Carmen so effectively we swapped productions.

Teddy has sung Scarpia here for me before and I am so pleased that we have Antoinette in her debut with this company – and in role suited so well to her – and also delighted to welcome Paul O’Neill back after many years in Germany (he left as a young man and has returned, with his beautiful family including four children, to make his home base in Western Australia again)

Mark Applebaum says music should be above all else be interesting. What do you think is the most important role of music?

I think music should make you feel. Or just ‘does’ make you feel.

I love a quote from Marilyn Manson that ‘music is the strongest form of magic’.

I mentioned the song ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams and there’s a quote from Rusty Rueff contemplating why that song become such a global hit; he said ‘I think its because at the time the world was looking for something…we were recovering from a recession, war and many other things…and we needed a movement of hopefulness that allowed us to stop the madness for a moment and pick us up. Will it be timeless? Maybe for the generation who were in the heart of the trouble. Maybe they will reflect back on this time and remember this song and make it timeless’.

Where did you learn the skills to manage an opera company?

I did the three-year arts management degree at WAAPA which, some twenty five years ago, included foundations of law, economics, human resource management, marketing, business management in the main ECU stream as well as full involvement in arts campus life doing front of house, publicity, ticketing and so on. Before that and after that it was about learning on the job. Plus I think you need a natural aptitude for the skills required. You need to have a passion and love for the work each day. The hours are long and there is no corporate paypack so it’s usually an intrinsic reward we chase.

You were involved in the #artsmatters push to get arts into the pre-election political debate. What’s it going to take to get arts on the radar of our major political parties? 

The central premise of that campaign is very simple; that the arts matter. The arts matter to all of us. We all need to lead on this. Everyone is impacted by the arts. It’s up to each of us to engage, promote and participate in the arts, all arts: performing arts, visual arts, literary arts, music, film, design, libraries, dance, comedy, circus, puppetry, mime, books, magazines, apps, games, fashion, writing, singing, dancing, acting.

With a new state government we have a fresh start to engage. I want everyone to get the message that so many others articulate better than me:

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life

 (Pablo Picasso)

Art is the only serious thing in the world

 (Oscar Wilde)

If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams 

(Yann Martel, Life of Pi)

Running through Melbourne streets to an Opera Australia meeting.

What do you have a soft spot for?

I love words and music. Two of my favourite quotes are from The Little Prince: ‘The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart’. And another, which to me applies not only to music but to values I hold true like kindness and truth and love, is: ‘And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye’.


Thank you to Carolyn Chard for participating in the Celebrity Soft Spot series. Tosca opens on March 28th. For more information go to WA Opera. 

Freeze Frame Opera - giving opera a good name!

The launch of Freeze Frame Opera on Thursday night was everything they promised it would be: affordable, accessible, appealing and #noboringbits!!!  Opera at the Movies was my first review for Australian Book Review. You can read an excerpt below and for the full review go to the ABR Arts Update.

Harriet O'Shannessy, founder of Freeze Frame Opera. Photo Eva Fernandez

Opera is dead, the scare-mongers have been warning us for years. Yet Perth is witnessing an operatic renaissance with the launch this week of the third new company in six years. The emergence of the organic, grassroots organisations is all the more miraculous given the devastation inflicted on the small to medium arts sector by government funding cuts in May. 

The new opera companies are distinctive for their flexibility, open-mindedness and their ability - despite Perth’s post-boom economic downturn – to attract a diverse and enthusiastic audience. How has it happened? Is it the quality of the singers, the compact well-networked art scene, a nose for where to find money or the WA entrepreneurial spirit?

At the Movies set. Photo Rosalind Appleby

The launch of Freeze Frame Opera involved all of the above. ‘Opera at the Movies’ opened on November 17^th and was sold out across four nights. Audience members collected their free popcorn on arrival at Pakenham Street Art Space (a converted Fremantle warehouse). Children on beanbags formed the front row around a stage built from a kombi-van, a staircase and an upright piano. The van was obviously chosen for the first number on the program, the infamous scene from Priscilla Queen of the Desert featuring Verdi’s “Sempre libera... Follie!” belted from the top of a bus. The drag queen was enacted by performance artist Lady Diamond (Simon Morrison-Baldwin) in silver spandex, the aria was sung by soprano Emma Pearson and excerpts from the film were projected on a screen. Lady Diamond then took on the role of narrator and the evening continued with various movies providing a launch pad for different operatic numbers...

To continue reading go to https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/opera-and-music/101-arts-update/3698-freeze-frame-opera-launch

Soprano Emma Pearson and her amazing wig!

The Elixir of Love review

The set is built from corrugated iron dotted with sheep and when love-sick Nemorino sets eyes on Adina he declares “She’s a corker”.  Previous productions of Donizetti’s 1832 opera The Elixir of Love have been set in the wild west or at the beach but now it has arrived in the outback.

Rachelle Durkin as Adina and Aldo di Toro as Nemorino

Simon Phillips’ popular 2001 production has finally made it to Perth and it bubbles with the laugh-out-loud immediacy of a musical. The West Australian Opera’s revival by Cathy Dadd features a starry cast led by Rachelle Durkin as station owner Adina and Aldo di Toro as the local shearer Nemorino. Set designer Michael Scott-Mitchell’s corrugated red hills, windmill and vibrant blue sky are brightly lit by Nick Schlieper while Gabriela Tylesova’s frocks, suits and hats (dusted with ochre colours) place the action in pre-World War One.

Marco Nistico is Dr Dulcamara

Dr Dulcamara (a pompous Marco Nistico) arrives as the Rawleigh’s Ready Relief man and the love potion he sells the gullible Nemorino is a bottle of Coca-Cola, apparently introduced to Australia around this time. With new confidence Nemorino pretends to ignore Adina, who responds cattily that his love for her will “stick like a dag to a sheep”.

Sergeant Belcore (a gallant Jose Carbo) arrives with troops and almost convinces Adina to marry him despite a groin strain as he goes on bended knee. The resourceful set converts to a cow shed for the wedding scene between Adina and Belcore and then a chook house where the farm girls  cluck over Nemorino’s windfall inheritance. Nemorino can’t believe the rapid effectiveness of the potion as the girls suddenly clamour for his attention, led by a hilariously over the top Jennifer Barrington as Giannetta.

Filled with hope Nemorino sings his big showstopper A Furtive Tear. On opening night the dreamy-eyed and big hearted di Toro delivered a spacious, simple and achingly sweet aria. It was the icing on the cake of a career-highlight performance where di Toro’s Nemorino won over the audience even as he was shunned by Adina, stealing hearts with his mix of stumbling shyness and boyish exuberance.

Durkin, reprising the role with di Toro for the third time, gave the most multi-hued performance I’ve seen from her. Her strawberries and cream coloratura was marvellously expressive and after her robust flirtations the sotto voce timidity with which she declared her true feelings for Nemorino were breath taking.

It was one of many moments where the opera cut through the clanging clichés and ribald humour and went straight to the heart. An energetic chorus under new head of music Thomas Johnson and a tight sparkling WA Symphony Orchestra under Stuart Stratford completed the picture. The Elixir is the second sensational theatre season this year from a company which appears to be thriving under director Brad Cohen. Whatever the magic potion is I hope WA Opera can keep it coming.

This review copyright The West Australian 2016.

The Riders review

 A down-to-earth Aussie guy is renovating a cottage in Ireland and missing home. He sings of ‘The blow of sunlight striking up from a Perth beach’. It sounds familiar and yet so unusual to hear Western Australia mentioned in an opera. But WA Opera’s The Riders, based on a novel by Tim Winton with music by Iain Grandage and sung by predominantly WA singers, is very much a WA affair.

Images from the Victorian Opera 2014 production of The Riders.

The plot follows Scully as he builds his wife Jennifer’s dream house then discovers at the airport that only his daughter has arrived. The blow sends him reeling across Europe searching for his missing wife. The light in the darkness is the relationship between Scully and his daughter Billie.

Under Marion Potts' direction the opera, like Winton’s novel, left most questions unanswered. Alison Croggon’s libretto cleverly diffused Winton’s novel into a poetic 90 minute work. The opera diverges from the book by creating a speaking role for Scully’s absent wife Jennifer.  Emma Pearson’s golden, wonderfully flexible soprano brought vulnerability and complexity to Jennifer who described her family alternately as ‘millstones dragging me down’ and ‘Torn off me like a scab, when do I stop bleeding?’.

The role of Billie was shared by Rosanna Radici and Mia Beattie. On opening night 15 year old Radici navigated complex harmonies and rhythms with spot on accuracy, her pure soprano the calm epicentre of a whirlwind opera.

James Clayton’s clean diction and grief-laden delivery made Scully instantly likeable and also threatening as he tussled with his own jealousy and love.

Wade Kernot as Arthur, Matthew Lester as the painter Alex and Fiona Campbell as Marianne were outstanding in supporting roles. The three also represented a kind of Greek chorus, singing with beautifully balanced harmonies.

Dale Ferguson’s set used trestles to create architectural scaffolding, furniture and the impression of silhouetted horses. A huge projected arrivals screen (Matt Scott lighting) established the airport scene while the stage revolve gave a sense of constant movement.

Iain Grandage’s music conveyed both the emotional and geographical trajectory of the opera. Under conductor Brad Cohen the 14–piece WA Symphony Orchestra moved seamlessly from minimalism to serialism via cabaret and folksong. The relentless pace of Scully’s chase was heard in the constant triplet rhythms which also represented the mythological Riders Scully encountered in Ireland who threaten to drag him into the past. The tension of unanswered questions was heard in the atonal harmonies while the bird-like solo recorder interludes played by Genevieve Lacey evoked isolation and freedom.

The opera concluded with Scully facing the Riders for the last time and choosing to move on from his memories. Billie blew out one of the three candles and the stage lights dimmed as the duo reclaimed their little family. Opera’s capacity to captivate never ceases to amaze me, and the impact of The Riders was all the greater given the home-grown nature of the story. A stunning piece of theatre we can be unashamedly proud of.

This review copyright The West Australian 2016.

The Riders

I am so excited about The Riders opening in Perth next week. Tim Winton's Booker Prize short-listed novel has been turned into an opera by librettist Alison Croggon (also a fantastic critic) and composer Iain Grandage, who won his first Helpmann award for his music for Winton's Cloudstreet.

I love the idea of a home-grown opera, with lines like "The blow of Perth sunlight striking up from a white beach" and an almost-entirely WA cast. James Clayton seems born for the role of Scully: rough, tenderhearted and with magnetic stage charisma.

Then there's the idea of Winton's metaphors (the three candles, the references to birds, the Celtic mythology and the Irish song quotes) being illuminated by music. Wagner would have a field day with the leitmotif potential in Winton's novels! I look forward to hearing what Grandage does.

The Riders was produced in 2014 by Opera Victoria and Malthouse Theatre. c Jeff Busby

My interview with soprano Emma Pearson gives a fascinating insiders perspective on The Riders. And here is a preview from The West Australian newspaper to whet your appetite:

Grandage Rides Winton Tale

Revivals of new Australian stage works are rare enough but it is rarer still to see one name at the heart of three productions in just the first few months of this year.

Multiple award-winning composer Iain Grandage’s fingerprints are all over the scores for Barking Gecko-Australian Opera’s The Rabbits and the Sydney Theatre Company’s The Secret River.
Grandage, who picked up the first of his five Helpmann Awards for his Cloudstreet score in 2002, is back in his old hometown of Perth to work with WA Opera on his revival of another Tim Winton adaptation, The Riders.

Based on Winton’s 1994 novel about an Australian man’s desperate search for his wife across Europe, Grandage’s opera was premiered by Opera Victoria and Malthouse Theatre in 2014.
WA Opera artistic director Brad Cohen, in his first full season at the helm, has given Grandage, librettist Alison Croggon and director Marion Potts the opportunity to restage The Riders with the benefit of lessons learnt from those first performances.

Grandage says he is “beyond thrilled” that WA Opera is giving The Riders another outing, particularly because of his and Winton’s WA heritage and the fact that Fremantle is a kind of Ithaca in the odyssey of lovelorn Scully and his daughter Billie.

Read the rest here.

The opera season runs April13th - 16th. For tickets go to www.waopera.asn.au

Celebrity Soft Spot Emma Pearson

Emma Pearson studied voice at the University of Western Australia and the Australian Opera Studio. She was principal artist at the Hessisches Staatsheater in Wiesbaden Germany from 2005-2014 and her schedule now includes Opera Australia, Opera New Zealand, Minnesota Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia.  Emma was in Perth last year singing Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and is back at WA Opera this month for The Riders, a new opera based on Tim Winton's novel.  There are rumours we may be able to woo this hard working and incredibly talented soprano back to Australian shores - read on for more details!

What music gets your heart racing? 

There are definitely heart racing moments in The Riders, "The Storm" in particular is fun and wild. An electric guitar solo wouldn't be out of place!

What calms you down?

Relaxing music, I look forward to albums by the cellist Sol Gabetta and singer/songwriter Laura Marling. I saw Simone Young conduct a wonderful Lohengrin at Zürich Opera last year, now I love listening to "Mein lieber Schwan" remembering that feeling Klaus Florian Vogt created with his voice.

What do you sing along to? 

Wade and I spent many hours driving around Germany, Switzerland and Italy so we were always singing in the car, usually Mumford & Sons, Rufus Wainwright or Dave Dobbyn. 

This month you are singing the role of Jennifer in The Riders, an opera by Iain Graindage (composer) and Alison Croggon (librettist) based on the novel by Tim Winton. It is a very WA affair! The soprano, composer and novelist are from Perth and The Rider’s protagonists are from Perth. Is this the closest association Perth has ever had to opera?!? 

Pearson singing the Queen of the Night aria

Yes the entire cast (a part from Wade my New Zealand-born husband) grew up in or now live in Perth. The two girls sharing the main role of Billie (Rosanna Radici & Mia Beattie) are very smart middle-school music students at M.L.C. Richard Mills based his opera Batavia (2001) off the coast of W.A., but I think this is the first time anyone has sung lines such as "The blow of Perth sunlight striking up from a white beach" operatically! Tim Winton has given us reminders of experiences this cast and this audience all know so well. "A sniff of eucalypt, and memory rushes in like a fever." We have to thank Alison Croggon for all that she has incorporated in the libretto. West Australians can be very proud of this piece.

The opera opens with Scully in Ireland waiting for his wife and daughter to arrive from Perth. Only his daughter gets off the plane so the opera follows the journey of Scully searching Europe for his missing wife. The opera could be taken as a warning not to chase elusive hopes from the past. Is it a dark story? What can the audience expect?

It's a dark story in that it explores what happens when we suddenly lose the most valuable thing in our lives. The audience will see Scully go through the stages of grief, dragging his daughter through dangerous places to find Jennifer. The hunt for her is gripping but his daughter Billie's singing will melt your heart and it is also is really uplifting when you see that in the end, Scully has the strength of character not to look for his love anymore. We see him evolve. Before Alex (the painter) kills himself, he sings to Scully, "Sometimes the only end of something, is the end you make." 

The Riders are from celtic mythology, terrifying, faceless horsemen who try to drag us back to the past. At the end of the opera Scully sings "Every night they'll be here...but I'm not waiting with them, not in life, not in death, not any more." Our director Marion Pott's idea of Billie carefully blowing out one of the three symbolic candles burning in their window, always has me reaching for tissues at the end.

You are playing the role of Scully’s missing wife Jennifer. Is she a heroine or an anti-hero?

It is a really interesting character and I have tried to understand her point of view even though at first, to be honest, I sided with Scully. Because in the book, Jennifer comes across as unbelievably selfish and delusional about her artistic potential. But the question why she really runs away is always left unanswered. In the opera Marion, Iain and Alison have given Jennifer a more sympathetic voice, she represents people who value high-achievement and self-discovery over romanticism and family obligation.We are assuming she is still pregnant when she runs away. Iain has written her music beautifully so that the audience will be more sympathetic towards her. She doesn't feel a bond with her daughter or husband anymore, only suffocation. Some of my friends feel she is a heroine, someone who remains true to herself, no matter the cost. 

How did you prepare for the role? 

I started by reading the book and Iain sent us an early version of the score months ahead of time so we could start tinkering. I like starting ahead of schedule on modern opera roles so that the intervals and rhythms become second nature and you can just concentrate on singing technique, realistic movement and your part as a reliable cog the whole machine.

How are rehearsals going? 

We end a full run of the opera passing a box of tissues around, it's pretty moving! Brad Cohen is there every day refining our diction, style, tuning. Marion Potts is changing some aspects from the original Melbourne production to suit His Maj's stage and incorporating our ideas if they fit with the style of the piece. A great luxury! Iain has been here and has shown us more than the notes on a page can. If only Verdi was still able to do the same for his operas! James Clayton is singing this enormous lead role superbly.

Where did you grow up and what led you into opera? 

I grew up on a rural property in Wanneroo, my Dad grew and exported wildflowers. We moved in to Wembley in my final years of highschool at St Mary's A.G.S. I studied classical singing at St Mary's, loving Lieder and baroque music, but wasn't very keen on opera until I saw a Deborah Warner production of Britten 's Turn of the Screw at Covent Garden in 2002.

From where I sit opera singers have a grueling job. To be successful singers must have not only natural vocal talent and years of technical training, but also the tenacity to learn at least five languages, be an outstanding actor and maintain excellent physical health. All the while working late nights, travelling lots and engaging with seriously psychologically challenging roles! How do you do it?! 

You have to put yourself first, like Jennifer! Or find a partner with similar values. And have very understanding parents.  It also helps, a lot, to have a dual passport. It is an itinerant lifestyle, you have to be prepared to live away from loved ones for months at a time. I was lucky to have an intense self-improvement period at the Australian Opera Studio, be touring operas at 23 and then fall into a safe job at a German opera house at 24. I slowly added international destinations to my workload with mixed results!

Pearson and Wade Kernot

Your husband Wade Kernot is principal bass at Theatre St Gallen in Switzerland. What are your tips for managing a long-distant marriage? 

After 5 years of travelling to see each other we are now both freelancing and can even work together on operas occasionally (like The Riders). Now we travel together more often. Skype was our lifeline, we always talked through everything we were experiencing and held the same future goals in our heads. 

You finished working in Wiesbaden in 2014 and the State of Hessen awarded you the honorary title of “Kammersängerin” - the youngest opera singer to have ever received this title. Since then you seem to be much in demand around Australia and in Europe. Why did you opt for a freelance lifestyle and what is the plan for the next stage of your life? 

While I was very grateful for the nine years of salaried income at Wiesbaden, I started to get run down trying to branch out into other opera companies, keep up with family in Australia and NZ and try to start my own family. It was burning the candle at every end. I reached a point where the freelance work was enough to live on, so that when our Intendant retired in 2014, I decided not to take a "Fest position" in another company and finally move in with my husband in Switzerland.

When I last interviewed you in 2006 you had a soft spot for the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus. What is your dream role now?

Haha that is a funny reminder! I suppose it was 10 years ago. I sang my dream role last year, Violetta in La traviata for Opera Queensland. I also had a wonderful time singing Hilda in Henze ' s Elegy for Young Lovers recently. It was very challenging music but a funny/tragic Miss Haversham-type character role. I would love to perform that opera again in English (text by W. H. Auden) one day.

Opera is such a huge part of German culture where it holds intellectual and political sway. What do you feel the art form has to say to Australians, where opera isn’t so mainstream?

It is human nature to enjoy stories, escapism and live music. These days it's also rare to hear live music with your own ears, free of microphones and sound engineering. Come to the opera to be soothed or moved and hear the power of the natural human voice. I was watching a Katy Perry concert on the plane recently and with the sound down it was basically opera just without a story line. The desire for the grandeur and spectacle of our artform is still there. The main difference with Australia and Germany is Australian parents don't take their children to symphonic concerts, theatre, ballet or opera, as often. Our children become adults who are unsure of what to expect inside formal performance venues, like an adult going to church for the first time. 

Where are you spending your spare moments in Perth? 

I am trying to keep up with the changes in this lovely city since I left in 2003! I am intrigued by Print Hall in St George's Tce, Gordon 's Garage in Gordon St and love Bivouac and Sneaky Tony's in Northbridge. On weekends I visit my parents at their home in Dawesville- it's so peaceful there and the beaches from Tim's Thicket to Miami are great.

What’s it going to take for us to woo you back to Australia? 

A small male child might make an appearance in our lives in August, we hope! He will definitely make us settle down near family for a while.  

Do you have a soft spot for anything else in life or is it all about the music? 

It's mostly languages, music, art and cheese sandwiches with me these days. I have a soft spot for public libraries, big and small. I'm compiling a mental list of the vinyl albums I want to own once we settle down. I'm also trying to be a better cook and baker, thanks to the all inspiring TV show Great British Bake Off. 

Watch Emma Pearson in her debut at Opera Australia singing Queen of the Night in David Freeman's The Magic Flute.

Thank you Emma for making time for Celebrity Soft Spot. The Riders opens at His Majesty's Theatre on April 13th. For tickets go to WA Opera.  To listen to more from Emma Pearson go to https://m.soundcloud.com/emma-pearson or her website http://www.emmapearsonsoprano.com.