Prima la musica

Il nome, il nome

This is Cheryl Barker singing "Un bel di", in a production of Madama Butterfly created for her by Moffatt Oxenbould. I know you probably know that already. But Opera Australia has seen fit to post this trailer on YouTube with only the name of its next Cio-Cio San — Patricia Racette — in the associated text and tags. Whereas it seems like basic fairness to me that the person in the video be credited for it by name somewhere. So here's that somewhere.

And while I'm at it — and as it's some time since I just plain raved about her — isn't she just sensationally beautiful? I know I'm biased. Of course I am. Cheryl bias is the point of me. But there's a reason I'm so biased, and that's that she is insanely talented. She just is. En voilà la preuve. 

Am I being petty about this? Perhaps. Is my own partiality affecting me? No doubt. But come on. It's basic YouTube etiquette to credit and tag the person in your video; this also ensures it shows up in searches for that person. It's probably also a good idea to clarify that the singer in your video and the singer you're promoting as the reason to see the show are not one and the same. Maybe I'd be less irritated by this if it was a different singer, but then again, maybe not. 

Update: Whingeing on Twitter works! Opera Australia have now updated the credits and tags for this video to include the names of the performers involved. And, more significantly, they've also changed the text of the blurb itself — which previously said something like "If you need a reason to see Madama Butterfly, Patricia Racette is it" — to read "In 2011, Patricia Racette will sing the exquisite role of Cio-Cio San". Make of that what you will. Of course, none of this should have required whingeing, but it's still the desired result, so that will do for now.

2011

I am a girl who has her priorities straight, so when Opera Australia invited me to their season launch on August 18th, I didn't even need to think about where to spend that evening. At Peter Coleman-Wright's last performance as the Count in Figaro, obviously. Where else? Launch schmaunch. It takes more than the lure of free drinks and repertoire announcements to lure me away from my favourite riding-crop-wielding baritone. A lot more. Frankly, it takes Cheryl to do that. And she did do it — she made me go to London — which is how I ended up at the opera theatre last night, one day after arriving home, eschewing the launch and fighting serious sleep deprivation to get my only possible second fix of Peter's Almaviva before he disappeared, perhaps forever. And he was utterly, mellifluously, wickedly and wonderfully worth it. Pure heaven, with a diabolical streak, and while staying awake was difficult at times, none of those times coincided with his presence onstage. 

This also meant that I had to wait until late today to get my hands on the details of the 2011 season. In normal circumstances I'd have spent the last eight hours writing about them. Once again, however, my Straight Priorities have prevailed. Tonight I took my opportunity to see the second of Lorina Gore's two performances as Amina in La sonnambula. And while I can't deny I love sitting on my couch, dissecting press releases, rejoicing at fabulous prospects and weeping at dull, dull programming, I will treasure forever what I saw and heard Lorina do tonight. She was exquisite. I will write more about Sonnambula in a little while — I'm seeing Emma Matthews in it on closing night, and want to write about both of them — but this needs to be said now. Lorina's final scene rates right up there among the most perfect, beautiful things I've experienced in that theatre. I haven't cried so much at the opera since Peter Grimes. She was a total triumph. 

I, meanwhile, got home towards midnight. At which point writing the season up in full already meant sacrificing a lot of sleep. And wasn't possible either, because I still had other priorities to deal with first. Which I have. So here I am. Almost 5am. Wondering whether to have an unsatisfactory nap or just push on through. And still I haven't written a word about next year's line-up, have I? Now must be the moment.

Not quite. Just a couple of recent developments in the 2010 season which deserve pointing out before they're buried in all the inevitably longwinded discussion of 2011. The first is that Opera Australia has announced, in a reasonably low key way, that they're to begin a series of international cinema broadcasts, with DVD releases reportedly to follow. First up for such treatment is the above-mentioned Figaro. The other point is a cast change made silently on the website and so far announced nowhere that I can see — Hye Seoung Kwon has withdrawn from Der Rosenkavalier, and Sophie will instead be sung by the soprano who was my own #1 Pick for the role anyway, the fantastic Emma Pearson. I have a feeling my reprehensible plan to skip a few Act Twos has just been foiled. 

Oh dear. It is very late. Yet some particle of a newshound still urges me to post something about the 2011 season this morning. So here, for the moment, is the uncharacteristically short version, with elaboration to follow the moment it becomes possible. Because writing up the upcoming season is one of my absolute favourite pastimes and I'm not about to let today's exceptional circumstances get in the way of that for long. 

Anyway. Short version. 

REPERTOIRE
 
Sydney Summer: Madama Butterfly | Carmen | The Barber of Seville | Partenope
Melbourne Autumn: La bohème | Macbeth | The Pearlfishers | The Mikado
Sydney Winter: Capriccio | La bohème | Of Mice and Men | The Merry Widow | Lakmé | Macbeth | Don Giovanni | The Love of the Nightingale
Melbourne Spring: La traviata | Of Mice and Men | Don Giovanni  

CASTING HIGHLIGHTS

Rinat Shaham as Carmen. Patricia Racette as Butterfly. Anthony Dean Griffey as Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Cheryl Barker as Countess Madeleine. Takesha Meshé Kizart as Mimi. Elizabeth Whitehouse and Elizabeth Connell as Lady Macbeth in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. Peter Coleman-Wright as Macbeth. Julian Gavin as Don José. (This list could go on forever, depending on one's favourites, but that will do for now.)

WHY I'M EXCITED

Cheryl's Capriccio and Peter's Macbeth are predictably at the top of my list. I've been waiting for Rinat Shaham to hit Sydney for a while. Patricia Racette! Obviously, even though I wish they were giving her a new production of Butterfly. Christopher Alden directs Partenope, so that should be fun. Two meaty and reasonably glamorous roles for gorgeous Jacqui Dark, rather than the usual grandmothers and bit parts. I'm intrigued by The Love of the Nightingale. And while I haven't studied it all too deeply, my sense is that the casting across the board is slightly more rational than previous seasons have been. 

WHY I'M NOT EXCITED

I don't know when I've seen so many warhorses in one place. Carmen AND Pearlfishers AND Lakmé, all in one year? Butterfly AND Bohème? And while I understand that we need the warhorses to finance the exciting oddities, there is also such a thing as middle ground and I don't think this season really covers it. To be honest, it's the least exciting season I've seen since I've been here. Of course, I thought that about the 2010 season too, and strong casting has helped to cheer me up. That could happen again, especially with a few very starry names on the roster. But I don't think it's enough, and I'm counting on what I know, guess, and have heard rumoured about 2012 — the first season to be completely programmed by Lyndon Terracini — to compensate.

DIVA OF THE YEAR

There's no question this is a Year of Emma. La Matthews sings Leila, Lakmé, Partenope and Philomele in The Love of the Nightingale. Nobody else even comes close to such dominance. So, Emma fans, rejoice. Everyone else, well, maybe consider switching camps. (Or travelling, which is what I just might need to do about the Barker-Coleman-Wrights.)

COSTUME NIGHT POSSIBILITIES

Mice and men for Of Mice and Men. Togas for Nightingale. Kilts and Braveheart facepaint for Macbeth. "Team Emma" t-shirts for practically everything. 

CAMPAIGN

Fairly certain the Don Giovanni (a return to the old Jarvefelt production, not Elke Neidhardt's from 2008) will be the Prague version, and thus omit Elvira's "Mi tradi". But I want Jacqui to sing it. Don't you? So I'm wondering if we might need to launch a Twitter/Facebook campaign for its inclusion. 

OPERA-BY-OPERA DISSECTION

Forthcoming. In the meantime, feel free to do your own dissecting/rejoicing/complaining in the comments. 

Gran ventura, riverenza

Goodness me. Look what a few minutes of strategic Googling netted me today.

"This summer she returns to the San Francisco Opera for Marguerite, and next season she returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore, Opera Australia as the title role in Madama Butterfly, the Los Angeles Opera as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw, and the Washington National Opera as the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride." [emphasis mine, obviously]

And who is "she"? Why, Patricia Racette, of course. Wait. Let me re-punctuate that. Patricia Racette! Back at Opera Australia! I knew she'd sung Marguerite here some years ago but never imagined we'd be able to get her back. I'm thrilled to have been proven wrong. Patricia Racette! This makes me very happy. I love her, I have done for years, and it's not often (these days) that OA imports stars of her magnitude. So my hat is off to them, and to her, for making it happen; long may such importation continue. 

My question now is whether this means a new production. After all, it will only be two years since our last Butterfly; and publicity then did make reference to "one final season". I can't help hoping so. I mean, I love Moffatt Oxenbould's Butterfly. It's one of my favourite stagings of anything ever. But I think the splash of Patricia Racette, back in Australia and singing her signature role, demands the splash of a new show. I also, somewhat less rationally, think I might have trouble coping with one Butterfly I Love in a production so closely linked to another. Moffatt's Butterfly began as Cheryl's Butterfly and should depart as such; Patricia's should be as absolutely hers as possible. 

That's all detail though. Mostly I'm just excited and impressed. This is very good news. Patricia Racette!

Borough gossip

Just so  you know, I've re-started the Opera Australia Futures page. I know, 2009 hasn't even finished — let alone 2010 — but since rumours are already starting to float my way regarding OA's 2011 season, it seemed the right time to relaunch. 

Not that we've got much to go on so far. Just Of Mice and Men, Partenope and Macbeth, and almost no casting to report. Still, it's a start, and just those three operas offer plenty of fodder for casting dreams, I'm sure. 

Anyway, if you're as keen as I am to have surprises spoilt, you might want to keep an eye on this page. It's amazing the information an ear to the ground and a bit of creating Googling can elicit; I think we assembled almost the entire 2010 season there prior to its announcement. And of course, if you've any information to share, it's more than welcome. Be as anonymous or as pseudonymous as you like. 

Of course, putting these little snippets together does rather turn one's mind to the future, and to dreams of what the other 10 or so operas in the 2011 season might be. As I understand it, this will be the last season programmed by Richard Hickox; 2012 will belong to Mr T. My own wishlist is of course miles longer (and far less probable) than anything the late maestro could have put together, but I'm very very keen indeed to see what — if anything — makes it in, and what surprises lurk. In the meantime, well, a girl can dream. And so can you — consider yourself officially invited to share your dreams, hopes, wishes and so on for 2011 in the comments below. I might throw a few of my own together for a future post.