South Africa, New Zealand and Australia announce a new collaboration of unprecedented scope … Opera. Six Southern Hemisphere opera companies: Cape Town Opera, West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland, New Zealand Opera, State Opera of South Australia and Victorian Opera, have collaborated to create a new production of Verdi’s Otello.
Africa’s premiere opera company, Cape Town Opera, has thrilled audiences around the globe for the past decade, from its home soils in Southern Africa to countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Israel, the United States and Australia. Acclaimed for the vibrant vocalism and high-octane stage performances of its artists, CTO’s soloists and chorus have won the hearts of critics and audience members wherever they travel.
With all this talent both emerging from and migrating towards the Mothercity, Otello will première in Cape Town on 6 April, 2013, followed by its Australian première in Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre on 24 October, 2013, with subsequent seasons in Wellington, Auckland and Adelaide in 2014 and Melbourne and Perth in 2015.
This bold new production will be realised by an international creative team headed by Australian award-winning director Simon Phillips and assisted by South African director Matthew Wild, with Australian set and lighting designers Dale Ferguson and Nick Schlieper respectively, and South African costume designer Michael Mitchell.
Well known for directing the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Phillips’ directorial work ranges from Shakespeare to musicals including the Australasian version of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Love Never Dies, as well as the operas La bohème, Falstaff, L’elisir d’amore and Lulu in Australia, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni in New Zealand, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Billy Budd in Germany.
“I’m so thrilled to be working on this breath-taking piece,” said Phillips. “I have a vivid memory of the first time I saw the Act 2 duet between Otello and Jago performed, sitting on the edge of my seat, galvanised by the perfect confluence of music and drama.”
Performances are on in the Opera House at Artscape, Cape Town Saturday 06 April @ 18:00; Tuesday 09 April @ 19:30; Thursday 11 April@19:30 and Saturday 13 April @ 19:30. Book at Computicket.
At the launch of this tri-nations collaboration last year, Cape Town’s deputy mayor Ian Nielson welcomed the collaboration as a good opportunity “to further boost the city as one of great entertainment”. Cape Town Opera’s Managing Director, Michael Williams said, “We are thrilled to be a part of this innovative new partnership. For such an ambitious collaboration, we felt it was only right to begin with an ambitious opera. With the extraordinary demands it makes on the lead tenor, chorus and orchestra, it’s a daunting undertaking for any opera house. This co-production will allow us to share strengths between the participating companies. It’s the perfect choice to launch this partnership with a bang.”
