Category: Anna Dowsley

ANNA BOLENA, is an Italian opera written in 1830, by Gaetano Donizetti, using the court of Henry VIII and his forcing of divorce from his second wife Anne Boleyn and the courting of his third wife Jane Seymour as the spine of the narrative. There is very little historical nuance to this libretto by Felice Romain but a great deal of dramatic confabulation to engender as much drama as possible to allow the creation of great dramatic music from orchestra and singers. Solo, duet and other figurations of ensemble, backed by the presence and usage of a large chorus and…

  Opera Australia present FAUST, an Opera in five acts by Charles-Francois Gounod. Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, after Michel Carre’s FAUST ET MARGUERITE (1850) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s FAUST, Part 1. In the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. I have not, of late, attended Opera Australia (OA). The choice of work presented, by that company, seems to be repetitive with not enough variety of repertoire, or interesting singers, to attract me, considering the cost outlay. The last live opera I attended was in New York, where I attended a performance of Shostakovitch’s THE…

  Sydney Chamber Opera presents, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH. J.S. Bach. Jack Symonds. At the Parade Playhouse, Parade Theatres, Kensington. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH is the third work by this new Sydney Opera Company this year. It has been, then, considering the monumental task of producing opera, a very prolific year. It began with a new work NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND by Jack Symonds and Pierce Wilcox, followed by Leos Janacek’s THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, mid year. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH is the pairing of J.S. Bach’s “Ich habe genung…”(1727) with a reply piece, “Nunc dimitis”, musically different, by Jack Symonds…