Pinchgut Opera Announces Two Operas, Two Concerts, And Performances In Two Cities For 2019 Season

Australia's only Baroque opera company, the acclaimed Pinchgut Opera, announce their most ambitious program to date. The 2019 season will feature an expanded offering of two operas and two concerts, with performances in both Sydney and Melbourne, from a program of internationally celebrated artists. Pinchgut Opera rediscovers operatic masterpieces from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 2019 the company will stage four seasons: in April, Pinchgut performs a concert of Bach's Easter Oratorio together with Telemann's Thunder Ode; in June, Monteverdi's final opera The Return of Ulysses; in August, the multi-award-winning counter-tenor Valder Sabadus will perform in Australia for the first time for one night only; and in December Pinchgut will stage Vivaldi's favourite opera, Farnace.

Erin Helyard, Artistic Director of Pinchgut Opera describes the 2019 program as "a special year for both Pinchgut and myself, as we move together into a new phase of expanded musical activities on a voyage of discovery and delight. In 2019, we are thrilled to be able to present for the first time, alongside our main stage productions, concerts featuring some of the world's greatest exponents of music of this period in performances of masterworks from this beloved repertoire. We have assembled some of the world's finest voices - some already Pinchgut favourites - to bring these gems to life."

The Operas:

Based on the final chapters of Homer's Odyssey, Monteverdi's late masterpiece, The Return of Ulysses, is an epic yet intimate story of love, constancy and sacrifice. This production will be directed by Chas Rader-Schieber, designed by Melanie Liertz, and features Portuguese tenor Fernando Guimarães, last seen in Australia in the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra's Handel: Heaven, as Ulysses, a role he has sung to international acclaim. Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby, whose performances have earned her rave reviews around the world, joins him as Penelope. Widely acclaimed as Monteverdi's crowning achievement, The Return of Ulysses was his first opera for the city of Venice, with its humming network of thriving and competing opera houses. Gramophone has described Monteverdi as illuminating 'almost every aspect of human experience in a way that was without precedent' in this, his final opera.

Vivaldi's Farnace is a passionate drama of political and dynastic intrigue. In the ultimate test of family loyalties, Farnace and his mother-in-law Berenice are pitted against each other for political gain and control of the kingdom. Farnace premiered in Venice while the composer was at the pinnacle of his operatic career; it was revised in 1731 in Pavia and again in 1738 in Ferrara. Pinchgut will present the 1738 version, a score filled with Vivaldi's characteristically wide and varied array of orchestral colours, vocal splendour and heart-breaking melodies. The title role will be sung by renowned countertenor Christopher Lowrey, with Jacqueline Dark as his scheming mother-in-law. Joining them are Helpmann Award winner Taryn Fiebig, Helen Sherman and emerging Australian countertenor Max Riebl, in his Pinchgut debut.

The Concerts:

In April, Pinchgut performs Bach's Easter Oratorio, a masterly celebration of Eastertide joy. Presented in its original one-to-a-part setting, audiences can experience the artistry of each performer in a true showcase for the singers and Pinchgut's Orchestra of the Antipodes. Alongside Bach Pinchgut will present Telemann's Thunder Ode. Never before performed in Australia, this is one of Telemann's greatest masterpieces: a rousing work which calls forth the natural elements and celebrates the power of creation. The vocal line-up includes soprano Alexandra Oomens, mezzo-soprano and rising star Anna Dowsley, tenor Richard Butler, baritone David Greco and Andrew O'Connor, bass.

Valer Sabadus is well established within the ranks of the world's top countertenors. Pinchgut is delighted to be bring the two-time winner of the ECHO Classic Award to Australia for the first time. Sabadus shot to international fame in 2012 with his outstanding interpretation of the role of Semira in Leonardo Vinci's opera Artaserse at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Theater an der Wien in Vienna and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has since enjoyed rave reviews and engagements throughout Europe in both opera and concert repertoire. Erin Helyard will conduct 'Australia's finest Baroque band' (Bachtrack) the Orchestra of Antipodes alongside this star countertenor for an evening of Vivaldi, Hasse, Porpora and more.

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