Lyndon William Terracini,

OSI OSI may refer to: Places * Osijek Airport (IATA code: OSI), an airport in Croatia * Ősi, a village in Veszprém county, Hungary * Oši, an archaeological site in Semigallia, Latvia * Osi, a village in Ido-Osi, Ekiti State, Nigeria * Osi, Ekiti ...

(born 1949), is an Australian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

and from 2009 to October 2022

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

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 ...

Early life

Terracini was born in 1949, the oldest of four children born to Shirley and Vita Terracini, and grew up in

Dee Why, New South Wales Dee Why is a coastal suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of Northern Beaches ...

. His paternal grandfather, the son of an immigrant from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, converted to Christianity from Judaism and joined the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

. He grew up in a devout Salvationist family and played multiple instruments in the Salvation Army band, including

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" ...

and

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

. He later studied music 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

Terracini's professional operatic debut was in 1976 as Sid in The Australian Opera's production of ''

Albert Herring ''Albert Herring'', Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten. Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera ''The Rape of Lucretia''. The libretto, by Eric Cr ...

'' at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. The same year, he sang in the Australian premier of

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

's '' El Cimarrón'', conducted by the composer at the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

. Henze and Terracini later collaborated on several projects in Italy, where Terracini lived for much of the 1980s. Terracini eventually moved back to Australia and settled in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It ...

. In 1993, he was the founding artistic director of the Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA). He was later artistic director of the

Queensland Music Festival The Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is a series of musical events staged in a number of locations in Queensland, Australia, usually around late July, every second year. It is financially supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queens ...

in 2000 and the

Brisbane Festival Brisbane Festival is one of Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in Brisbane, Australia. Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, ...

from 2006 until 2009. In 2009, Terracini was headhunted to join

as artistic director. He initially concentrated on "reliable crowd-pleasers such as ''

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 ...

'' and ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''" to rebuild the organisation's finances in the wake of the

Global Financial Crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. He later diversified Opera Australia's offerings with "opera on TV, digital opera with LED screens, and opera on the beach and the harbour". In 2012 he launched an ongoing series of outdoor summer operas on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, sponsored by

Haruhisa Handa is a Japanese religious leader and a businessman. Handa is the Chairman and spiritual leader of the Shinto-based religion World Mate. He is also known by the name in his artistic career, as well as the pen name . He also uses the pseudonym , w ...

. Terracini has received some criticism from the local industry for his use of foreign performers. In 2019 the organisation's board extended his contract to 2023. In October 2022 he announced his resignation from Opera Australia.

Personal life

The actress

Catherine Terracini Catherine Terracini (born c. 1982) is an Australian actress and producer born in Lake Como, Italy. She is the daughter of opera singer and artistic director of Opera Australia, Lyndon Terracini and arts administrator Elizabeth Terracini. Cather ...

is his daughter, and his brother is criminal defence barrister Winston Terracini SC. Terracini had two daughters from his first marriage, who were born in Palanzo near

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

. In January 2014, Swiss soprano

Noëmi Nadelmann Noëmi Nadelmann (born 6 March 1962) is a Swiss soprano with a wide repertoire, ranging from Baroque opera to contemporary works. Career Nadelmann was born in Zürich; her mother, Rachel, was an actress, her father, Leo (1913–1998), a pianist an ...

announced that she and Terracini had resumed a relationship that was interrupted 23 years before and that she would move to Australia. She did, and they married in 2019. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Terracini was appointed as a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM), "for significant service to the performing arts as an opera performer, director and administrator." In 2018 he was appointed Commander of the

Order of the Star of Italy The Order of the Star of Italy ( it, Ordine della Stella d'Italia ) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 2011. The order was reformed from the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity by the 11th President of Italy, Giorgio Napoli ...

by the Italian government.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Terracini, Lyndon 21st-century Australian male opera singers Operatic baritones Living people 1949 births Date of birth missing (living people) Opera managers University of Sydney alumni Australian people of Italian-Jewish descent Australian Salvationists Singers from Sydney Members of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian male opera singers