q opera: A SEASON OF SPLENDOUR
Violetta wears velvet and lace and drinks the very best champagne from crystal glasses. Her parties are legendary, her company desired. She's free and freespirited, living outside society's bounds, and for this courtesan, it seems like the party will never end. Could a little love really change everything?
La Traviata is so popular because it puts a life we can only dream of on stage, with its risqué glamour, joys and sorrows.
Verdi's music sings of freedom with flying melodies, makes merry with rousing drinking songs and leaves us, at the last, with passionate duets between breaking hearts.
This production by Elijah Moshinsky is one of our most successful, featuring lush party scenes in Paris and beautiful autumn afternoons in the countryside. Lavish, crowded sets and exquisite costumes combined with Verdi's famous tunes offer the perfect way to experience opera for the first time, or the chance to revisit a favourite with an exciting new cast.
Outstanding young American soprano Corinne Winters makes her Australian debut in her signature role. ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, STATE THEATRE APRIL 17 – MAY 11, 2018
She lived for love. On this desperate day, can she find the strength to kill for it? Three ominous chords ring out of the orchestra pit and the mood is set. On stage, the soaring marble columns are brilliant with light, but somewhere out of sight, a shadow looms. A runaway prisoner bursts into the chapel, and the opera takes off: a gripping tale of love, lust and betrayal unfolding at breakneck pace.
Tosca has everything: a real and worldly love, an extraordinary heroine and the greatest villain in all of opera.
Tosca's dramatic music demands powerhouse performers. American soprano Latonia Moore takes on Floria Tosca, a role coveted for its vast dramatic arc and show-stopping aria, ‘Vissi d'arte'. She leads a brilliant cast under the baton of sensational young conductor Andrea Battistoni.
ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, STATE THEATRE APRIL 24 – MAY 10, 2018
The hero no one needed embarks on one last noble quest. From a time where men were brave and bold comes the dreamer, Don Quichotte.
He chases bandits. Tilts at windmills. Serenades the pretty girls. He's a hero like the knights of old, pursuing dreams the world forgot.
It takes a special performer to make you fall in love with this eccentric character. Ferruccio Furlanetto's Don Quichotte is famous.
He takes the dreams and delusions of the famous knight-errant and paints an earnest and endearing portrait of a man out of time. Furlanetto's Don Quichotte is brimful of whimsy and bursting with bravery. His sonorous bass finds all the colours of Massenet's lush, romantic score.
He performs with brilliant French conductor Guillaume Tourniaire and Sian Pendry as the damsel Dulcinée. ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, STATE THEATRE MAY 3 – 12, 2018 For further information and bookings, goto www.opera.org.au