Tosca!

Melbourne Opera presents Puccini’s

TOSCA

Theatre Royal, Hobart

Saturday, November 14th

“Melbourne Opera has thoughtfully chosen its cast for Tosca. Skillfully directed by Hugh Halliday on Andrew Bellchambers’ handsome staging and with Scott Allan’s atmospheric lighting, this is the finest Melbourne Opera stage design I can recall. That Melbourne Opera achieves such success without government support is miraculous”

Peter Burch – The Australian

“The musical gods be thanked that Melbourne Opera plays one of the greatest operatic hits straight down the line, with a lavish and traditional production that is at times quite thrilling”

Barney Zwartz – The Age (Melbourne)

Melbourne Opera will proudly stage one of the world’s most popular operas, Puccini’s Tosca for one night only at the Theatre Royal, Hobart on Saturday, November 14th, 2009. This follows on from Tosca’s critically acclaimed, sold-out Melbourne and Canberra seasons which took place in September and October this year.”

Tosca will feature over 80 performers, with acclaimed soprano Danielle Calder debuting in the title role of Floria Tosca; popular tenor Jason Wasley playing her lover Cavaradossi and bass baritone Lucas de Jong starring as their nemesis Baron Scarpia.

This charming new production has been designed by Andrew Bellchambers and directed by Hugh Halliday. The acclaimed Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Tasmanian Opera Chorus will be conducted by Rick Prakhoff.

Melbourne Opera is pleased to be featuring the excellent 30 voice Tasmanian Opera Chorus in this production, following their great success in La Traviata earlier this year. Formed by Melbourne Opera to give professional performing opportunities to Tasmanian singers and musically led by Hobart resident Michael Lampard, the Tasmanian Opera Chorus is proving to be a valuable addition to Tasmania’s musical landscape.

Melbourne Opera’s production of Puccini’s highly dramatic tale of passion and doomed love is set in Napoleonic Rome and features two of Puccini’s most passionate tenor arias ‘Strange Harmony of Contrasts’ and ‘The Stars Were Brightly Shining’ as well as the famous soprano aria ‘Vissi d’arte’.

Of playing the career defining role of Floria Tosca for Melbourne Opera, Danielle Calder says “Melbourne Opera has been crucial in providing me and many other singers with important opportunities to sing new roles. I have been lucky enough to also perform with Opera Australia and many other State companies, as well as overseas. Performing Tosca is a dream come true for me and it is great to be making my debut in such a difficult role amongst friends”.

Melbourne Opera Producer Greg Hocking said “One of the key missions of Melbourne Opera is to provide opportunities for Australian artists and of course we are delighted that Danielle Calder has decided to make her debut in this most celebrated dramatic soprano role with us. With all our productions being performed in English, it is exciting to think that Puccini himself not only preferred his operas to be performed in the native tongue of his audiences, but personally supervised the translations and productions of his operas in each important new territory”.

Earlier this year, Melbourne Opera produced a highly lauded, four city tour of Verdi’s La Traviata, which included a critically celebrated, sold-out season at the Theatre Royal, Hobart.

Formed in 2003 as a not-for-profit public arts company, Melbourne Opera has received critical acclaim for all its past 20 productions and has garnered more than 20 Green Room Awards nominations

Melbourne Opera prides itself on making its productions as accessible as possible by performing in English in smaller, more intimate theatres and also by offering affordable ticket prices, with some starting as low as thirty dollars.

“Melbourne Opera is committed to providing professional performing opportunities for the development of young opera singers, many of whom, such as Antoinette Halloran, Elena Xanthoudakis, Roy Best, James Egglestone and Phillip Calcagno, have gone onto distinguished careers both in Australia and overseas. It is so wonderful to see artists who got their start at Melbourne Opera go on and achieve national and international success” said Peter Clark, Melbourne Opera Chairman.

Melbourne Opera is currently the only Australian opera company currently touring full-scale operas to Canberra, Hobart, Launceston and numerous regional Victorian venues.

TOSCA DATES AND BOOKING INFORMATION

Hobart 1 performance only

Venue: Theatre Royal, Hobart

Performance: Saturday, 14th November at 8.00pm

Tickets: $30 – $75

Bookings: (03) 6233 2299

Information: www.theatreroyal.com.au
Theatre Royal Hobart