Victorian Opera Receives Classical:Next Innovation Award Nomination

Victorian Opera has been nominated for the 2017 Classical:NEXT Innovation Award.

Renowned for its contribution to the development of new Australian opera and music theatre, Victorian Opera has premiered 17 new works in its 11 year history. As a national leader in the commissioning and presentation of new Australian opera, Victorian Opera is extraordinarily proud to receive this international recognition.

In the past 12 months, Victorian Opera has continued to evolve the art form through the world premiere of five new works, the use of technology from live-streaming to 3D digital scenery, and cross art-form collaboration.

Classical:NEXT is the most important classical music meeting and is the only event of its type where all sectors are involved. The Classical:NEXT Innovation Award was designed to place the spotlight on forward-thinking activities taking place around the world. "This award aims to give international recognition to the people who are doing the most to push things forward with daring yet intelligent, effective and successful "out-of-the-box" thinking, planning and action," said Jennifer Dautermann, Classical:NEXT Director.

Victorian Opera most recently premiered 'Tis Pity: An Operatic Fantasia on Selling the Skin and the Teeth. In 2016, Victorian Opera's new works included new baroque opera Voyage to the Moon, musical Banquet of Secrets, community opera The Pied Piper and a reimagining of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Laughter and Tears, in collaboration with Australia's national circus company Circus Oz.

Technology was further embraced in Victorian Opera's Season 2016 with the company's first exclusively online production, The Darkest Night. For the second time, Victorian Opera collaborated with Deakin Motion.Lab to develop 3D digital scenery for a production: the Australian premiere of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts (pictured). This followed Victorian Opera and Deakin Motion.Lab's 2015 critically acclaimed collaboration on a production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.

Victorian Opera's Season 2017 continues to demonstrate this commitment to innovation. The company's next production, Respighi's The Sleeping Beauty, will feature a cast of singers performing alongside 25 life-sized puppets.

Victorian Opera's Managing Director Andrew Snell was elated to learn the news of the company's nomination: "As a relatively small and young company, Victorian Opera is immensely proud to receive this international recognition. We work tirelessly to reimagine our art form and evolve opera in a dynamic way. This daringness and point of difference regularly leads to thrilling collaborations and mind-blowing productions. We are so happy to be recognised as a leading force in the innovation of our art form."

The 2017 Classical:NEXT Innovation Award winner will be announced in Rotterdam on 20 May. The full list of nominees is available via Classical:NEXT's website.

Photo: Charlie Kinross

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