Lindy Hume (born 25 August 1961) is an Australian opera and festival director, who has worked throughout Australia and internationally.

Early life

Hume was born in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

and grew up in

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

and Annandale. Her father taught primary school and also worked as a film censor. Her mother was a psychologist at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

Career

Hume was Artistic Director of

West Australian Opera West Australian Opera (WAO) is the principal opera company of Western Australia and is a resident company at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth. The company formed in 1967 and works in close association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. It pr ...

(1992–1996), OzOpera and

Victorian State Opera Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as ...

(1996–2001), and Director of the

Perth International Arts Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

(2004–2007). She was appointed as Director of the

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...

in 2008, and led it from 2010 to 2012. As of June 2017 she is Artistic Director of

Opera Queensland Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981 under the name ''Lyric Opera of Queensland'' after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in ...

. Her productions for Opera Queensland included a 2014 season of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

'' inspired by Italian Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

. She fosters the creation and presentation of performance in regional Australia, and performances in eight regional Queensland centres of Puccini's ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...

'' in 2014 featured local singers in the chorus. Her freelance productions also included a season of Gluck's ''

Iphigénie en Tauride ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (, ''Iphigenia in Tauris'') is a 1779 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard. With ''Iphigénie,'' Gluck took ...

'' for Sydney's

Pinchgut Opera Pinchgut Opera is a chamber opera company in Sydney, Australia, presenting opera from the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. Founded in 2002, Pinchgut stages two operas each year in Sydney's City Recital Hall. It also perfor ...

, described by Hannah Cunningham of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' as "a near perfect production".

Awards

Hume received

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical t ...

and

Green Room Awards The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne. The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy formed the Green Room Awards A ...

in 2002 for Best Director for the world premiere of Richard Mills' ''

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

''. Her 2010 Sydney Festival won five Helpmann Awards including Best New Australian Work for ''Smoke & Mirrors'', Best Major Event (''Festival First Night''), and Best Classical or Orchestral Concert (''Oedipus Rex/Symphony of Psalms''). She was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

in 2007. Hume was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the

2021 Australia Day Honours The 2021 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2021 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley. The Australia ...

, for "For significant service to the performing arts, particularly to opera."

Selected productions

Australia/New Zealand

* ''Carmen, Don Giovanni, Fledermaus, La Périchole, Les pêcheurs de perles'' (

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...

) * ''Cinderella, Rigoletto'' (

) * ''The Love of the Nightingale'' (

) * ''Orlando, Trouble in Tahiti, The Barber of Seville'' (OzOpera) * ''Alcina, Orpheus in the Underworld'' (

) * ''Carmina Burana'' (

State Opera of South Australia State Opera South Australia (SOSA) is a professional opera company in Adelaide, South Australia, established in 1976. History State Opera South Australia was established in 1976 as a statutory corporation under the ''State Opera of South Aust ...

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

) * ''Idomeneo'', ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' (

) * ''Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor'' (

New Zealand Opera New Zealand Opera is New Zealand's only full-time professional opera company, formed in 2000 from the merger of companies in Auckland and Wellington (and later Christchurch). New Zealand Opera is headquartered in Parnell, Auckland, stages severa ...

International

* ''La bohème'' ( Deutsche Staatsoper – Berlin) * ''The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto, Die Fledermaus'' (

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

) * ''Tolomeo'' (

Muziektheater Transparant Muziektheater Transparant is a Flemish theatre company founded in 1994. They produce music theatre and their own versions of opera, operas. The artistic directors are Guy Coolen and Wouter Van Looy. Among the past and current composers in residence ...

– Belgium) * ''Don Pasquale'' (

Oper Leipzig The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany. History Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspi ...

) * ''Radamisto'' ( Handel Festspiele and

Opernhaus Halle The Halle Opera House () is an opera house in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. Originally named the Halle Town Theatre (), the theatre was built in 1886. A bomb attack on 31 March 1945 destroyed much of the original building. Restorative work ensued a few ...

) * ''A Streetcar Named Desire, Norma'' (Opera Theatre St Gallen – Switzerland) * ''Così fan tutte'' (

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

– London), * ''Albert Herring, Phaedra'' (

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

– UK)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hume, Lindy 1961 births Living people Australian opera directors Female opera directors Members of the Order of Australia Helpmann Award winners People from Paddington University of Western Australia alumni