Sydney Chamber Opera is an opera company based in Sydney, Australia. It is a resident company at Carriageworks. The company was founded in 2010 by Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds. Its first production was in February 2011 and has since produced between two and four twentieth and twenty-first century chamber operas each year. Its repertoire typically consists of world premieres of Australian operas and recent international works receiving their Australian premieres, including stagings of

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

s or non-traditional stage works.

History and repertoire

Sydney Chamber Opera began with the world premiere of ''Notes from Underground'' by Jack Symonds and Pierce Wilcox, an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel at the Cellblock Theatre, Darlinghurst. ''

The Cunning Little Vixen ''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (original title ''Příhody lišky Bystroušky'' or ''Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears'' in English), is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a ...

'', '' The Lighthouse'', ''

Owen Wingrave ''Owen Wingrave'', Op. 85, is an opera in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James. It was originally written for televised performance. Britten had been aware of the story sin ...

'', '' Exil'', ''His Music Burns'', ''Mayakovsky'', '' Fly Away Peter'', ''An Index of Metals'' and ''O Mensch!'' were presented at Carriageworks and ''I Have Had Enough'', ''

In the Penal Colony "In the Penal Colony" ("") (also translated as "In the Penal Settlement") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919. As in some of Kafka's other writings, th ...

'' and ''Climbing Toward Midnight'' at

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

. ''Through The Gates'' was a performance for the 18th

Biennale of Sydney The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...

at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay amidst a large-scale installation by Belgian artist and '' Victory Over the Sun'' was another site-specific commission by the 20th Biennale of Sydney for performance on Cockatoo Island, reimagining an early-twentieth century Futurist work with Western Sydney artist Justene Williams. ''His Music Burns,'' '' Passion'' and '' O Mensch!,'' and ''Biographica'' were presented in the 2014, 2016 & 2017 Sydney Festivals. ''Passion'' was a revival of a production by

Pierre Audi Pierre Audi (born 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a French-Lebanese theatre director and artistic director. Early life Audi is the son of the Lebanese banker Raymond Audi and Andrée Michel Fattal, the eldest of three children.Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...

in association with

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

in October 2015, and in 2018 the previous year's production of ''

The Rape of Lucretia ''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Op. 37) is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, written for Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role. Ronald Duncan based his English libretto on André Obey's play '. Performance history The opera was fi ...

'' was co-presented by

Victorian 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 ...

and

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). History The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestr ...

at the

Dark Mofo Dark Mofo is the winter version of the MONA FOMA festival, also held in Tasmania. With many of its events taking place at night, it celebrates the darkness of the southern winter solstice and features many musical acts, large scale light insta ...

Festival.

2011–2015

''WP= World premiere; AP= Australian premiere'' * ''Notes from Underground'' (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2011) * ''

'' (

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European f ...

arr. Jonathan Dove) – AP dir. Kate Gaul (2011) * '' I Have Had Enough'' (

JS Bach JS or js may refer to: Computing * JavaScript, a high-level, just-in-time compiled, object-oriented programming language * JScript, Microsoft's dialect of the ECMAScript standard used in Internet Explorer Businesses and organizations * Jonge Soc ...

/ Jack Symonds) – WP (Symonds) dir.

Kip Williams Kip Williams is an Australian theatre and opera director. Williams is the current Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company. His appointment at age 30 made him the youngest artistic director in the company's history. Biography Williams has b ...

(2011) * ''

'' ( Philip Glass /

Rudolph Wurlitzer Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. Wurlitzer's fiction includes ''Nog (book), Nog'', ''Flats'', ''Quake'', ''Slow Fade'', and ''Drop Edge of Yonder''. He is also the author of the travel mem ...

) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2012) * ''Through The Gates'' (various songs by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

, Poulenc,

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

et al.) dir. Kip Williams (2012) * '' The Lighthouse'' (

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Musi ...

) dir. Kip Williams (2012) * ''Climbing Toward Midnight'' (Jack Symonds / Richard Wagner) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2013) * ''

'' (

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Myfanwy Piper Mary ''Myfanwy'' Piper (; Welsh: ; 28 March 1911 – 18 January 1997) was a British art critic and opera librettist. Biography Mary Myfanwy Evans was born on 28 March 1911 into a Welsh family in London. Her father was a chemist in Hampstead, n ...

) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2013) * ''Exil'' (

Giya Kancheli Gia Kancheli ( ka, გია ყანჩელი; 10 August 1935 – 2 October 2019) was a Georgian composer. He was born in Tbilisi, Georgia but resided in Belgium. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kancheli lived first in ...

) – AP dir.

Adena Jacobs Adena Jacobs (born June 1982) is an Australian theatre director. She has worked in Australian independent theatre with her company, Fraught Outfit, of which she is artistic director, and has also directed for various mainstage companies. She was " ...

(2013) * ''...pas à pas – nulle part...'' (

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. Biography Györ ...

/ Samuel Beckett) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014) * ''Into the Little Hill'' ( George Benjamin /

Martin Crimp Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Aust ...

) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014) * ''Mayakovsky'' (Michael Smetanin / Alison Croggon) – WP dir. Kat Henry (2014) * '' Fly Away Peter'' (Elliott Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Imara Savage (2015) * ''An Index of Metals'' ( Fausto Romitelli / Kenka Lekovich) – AP dir.

(2015)

2016

* ''Passion'' ( Pascal Dusapin / Rita de Letteriis) – AP dir.

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

) – AP dir. Sarah Giles * '' Victory Over the Sun'' (Huw Belling / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Justene Williams/ Pierce Wilcox * ''Notes from Underground'' (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP new version dir. Patrick Nolan

2017

* ''Biographica'' (

Mary Finsterer Mary Finsterer (born 25 August 1962) is an Australian composer and academic. Life Finsterer was born in Canberra in 1962; her siblings are the actors Anni Finsterer and Jack Finsterer. She graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Music degree fro ...

/ Tom Wright) – WP dir. Janice Muller * ''

'' (

Ronald Duncan Ronald Frederick Henry Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was an English writer, poet and playwright of German descent, now best known for his poem '' The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ''The Rape of Lucr ...

) dir.

2018

* ''The Howling Girls'' ( Damien Ricketson) – WP dir.

*
Resonant Bodies Festival
' (featuring Sofia Jernberg, Rully Shabara, Deborah Kayser, Sonya Holowell, Mitchell Riley and Ariadne Greif)

2019

* '' La Passion de Simone'' (

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...

, Amin Maalouf) with Jane Sheldon, soprano; Jack Symonds, conductor – AP directed by Imara Savage *''

Oscar and Lucinda ''Oscar and Lucinda'' is a novel by Australian author Peter Carey which won the 1988 Booker Prize and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker. Plot introduction It tells the story of Oscar Hopkins, th ...

'' (Elliot Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) with Jack Symonds, conductor; Patrick Nolan, director

2020

* ''Breaking Glass'' ( Georgia Scott / Peggy Polias / Josephine Macken / Bree van Reyk) - WP with Jack Symonds, conductor; Danielle Maas & Clemence Williams, directors

2021

*
Future Remains
' (

/ Huw Belling & Pierce Wilcox) - WP with Alexander Berlage, director

Key personnel

Jack Symonds is the Artistic Director. Huw Belling is Principal Artistic Associate. Danielle Maas, Mitchell Riley, Jane Sheldon, James Wannan and Pierce Wilcox are Artistic Associates. The company has typically engaged stage directors from a theatre background, often making their operatic debut, e.g. Sydney Theatre Company artistic director

. The company has also been noted for developing talented young singers.

References

External links

*
Carriageworks
{{authority control Australian opera companies Music in Sydney 2010 establishments in Australia Musical groups established in 2010 Performing groups established in 2010