Of Mice and Men - Opera Australia

Of Mice and Men - Opera Australia Overview The praise just keeps coming for award-winning tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. Now, at last, he makes his Sydney debut in a signature role, Lennie, in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie are migrant farmhands during the Great Depression. Their only home is a communal bunkhouse under the lonely prairie skies. But they are different to their fellow workers. They have a plan, a dream of buying a farm and making a life. If, that is, George can keep Lennie, who has the strength of a giant, but the mind of a child, out of trouble… Legendary film director Bruce Beresford continues his exploration of New World opera with the Australian premiere Of Mice and Men, based on John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella.

Contact (+61 2) 9318 8200
Website www.opera-australia.org.au
Location Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, NSW 2000

Sydney Opera House to host The Planets - A Journey in HD

The Planets - A Journey in HD is a new show available to people who have taken cheap flights to Sydney.

It combines the dramatic orchestral force of Gustav Holst's acclaimed composition with high definition images of space captured by NASA probes and the Hubble telescope.

This unique performance at the Sydney Opera House will see Emmanuel Pahud, principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic, take a central role in the first half of the show.

"Holst's Planets wasn't written for the movies, but it could have been - it has the monumental character and emotional force of a great film score," the organisers pointed out.

As well as Pahud, the performance will feature the ladies of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and conductor Ludovic Morlot.

It will be staged at 20:00 local time on July 8th and 9th and 19:00 on July 11th.

To reach the Sydney Opera House, take a bus, train or ferry to Circular Quay and walk for about five minutes.

Ballets Come with a Little Cut and Thrust

The first, Checkmate, features the swords and comes from Dame Ninette de Valois. She was born in Ireland in 1898 – giving herself the French-sounding name while a teenager – and went on to found a London ballet school that was the precursor to the Royal Ballet School. Her Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet toured to Australia in 1956, sowing the seeds for what would become the Australian Ballet. She gifted Checkmate to the Australian Ballet in 1986. Her dramatic, expressionistic 1937 work danced upon a chessboard stars the duplicitous Black Queen who leaves a trail of death and destruction in her wake.

Concerto is from the Scottish-born Sir Kenneth MacMillan - he wrote to Dame Ninette at age 15 using his father’s name to score a place in her ballet school. His 1966 work, danced to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2, is considered technically fiendish. “It’s an extraordinarily taxing ballet,” says McAllister. “He put in all these really, really hard steps. It’s a beautiful piece of music – quite glorious – but it’s tricky with these quite intricate rhythmic patterns.”

Christopher Wheeldon created After the Rain in 2005 for the New York City Ballet. Continuing the intergenerational thread among these choreographers, Sir Kenneth once gave Wheeldon inspirational advice: “You seem to have some talent for choreography; you should take every opportunity you have to practice it and make ballets.”

Wheeldon took Sir Kenneth’s advice to heart. Today, he’s still just 38 but is considered one of the world’s best choreographers. “His work looks contemporary but it’s so timeless,” says McAllister.

For those ballet aficionados wondering what might be in store for the company’s 50th anniversary next year, McAllister says: “Next year is the year – we’ve got a mixture of heritage, new and important works.” All will be unveiled in August.

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Mechanical Symphony to Scare off Opera House's 22,000 Unwanted Neighbors

Often found roosting together, hanging upside down by one foot from outstretched tree branches, the furry, gray-headed flying foxes are a popular attraction at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden.

But soon the endangered species -- also known as fruit bats -- will no longer be able to call the Opera House’s 30-hectare back garden home.

Despite a last-ditch legal bid from animal welfare groups to allow the flying foxes to roost in peace, the Federal Court recently upheld the federal government’s approval for the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust to begin evicting the bats.

In May, the flying foxes will be blasted with the recorded sounds of chainsaws and tractors for 10 minutes every hour. The goal: to disrupt the bats' sleep and force them to move away from their harbor-side nests to alternative daytime roosts.

The Trust argues the colony of some 22,000 flying foxes is destroying historic trees and plants. So far, it says, they have killed 30 palms and 28 mature trees –- including a rare, 153-year-old Kauri Pine -- and damaged 300 more.

If the flying foxes are not relocated, it warns, more heritage trees and palms would be threatened and the area may be closed down for health and safety reasons.

The court's approval comes with conditions: the operation must be supervised by an independent group of observers, and it can only be carried out until July to avoid interrupting the bats' mating season.

“The relocation is planned to be a win-win for the flying foxes and the Royal Botanic Garden,” says the Trust’s executive director, Dr. Brett Summerell.

Dr. Summerell insists the flying foxes will relocate to familiar areas away from homes –- including one existing camp at Ku-ring-gai Flying-fox Reserve. Residents and farmers will not be affected, he says.

“We will be conducting extensive monitoring of the flying foxes' movements and have procedures in place in an effort to prevent them from settling in unacceptable locations,” Dr. Summerell says. “We’re conducting the most extensive scientific research study ever on this threatened species, contributing to conservation work to protect them.”

Read more: Opera House's bats get moved along | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/sydney/visit/sydney-opera-houses-neighbours-22000-bats-be-evicted-962070#ixzz1KlzIZK90

Now that's a download: 101 musos enter real world - To play

After uploading winning performances, an entire cyber-orchestra will meet in the very real surrounds of the Concert Hall.

More than a few nerves will be jangling when YouTube brings 101 musicians from all over the world to the Sydney Opera House in March.

After auditioning and being judged online, then rehearsing and communicating online, for some of the musicians, just leaving cyberspace for the Concert Hall in Sydney will mark the first time they’ve travelled outside their home countries.

For four of the selected musicians, the pressure will be even higher – they’re the ones who scored a coveted soloist spot at the March 20 multimedia extravaganza, which audiences can catch in person at the Concert Hall or online. The gala performance includes not only performances of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Mothership, a special commission from American composer Mason Bates, but vast images projected onto the interior and sails of the Opera House.

Advertisement: Story continues below Canberran John Burgess is one of the lucky soloists. He auditioned on a custom-made electric double bass then sent his video to the judging panel. The Sydney Symphony was one of nine orchestras from around the world, including London Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker, which helped judge the musicians.

His fellow soloists, a Brazilian electric guitarist, an American violinist and a Chinese player of the guzheng - a traditional plucked instrument invented about 91BC.

The international music experts liked more than 300 finalists from 46 countries; the YouTube user community then had their say during a week of online voting in December. San Francisco Symphony music director and London Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, took the online votes into consideration when selecting the orchestra he will conduct in Sydney.

Three other Aussies made the final cut: cellist Mathisha Panagoda from St Ives in Sydney, violinist Rollin Zhao from Brisbane and timpani player Brent Miller from Toowoomba.

Panagoda told The Sydney Morning Herald: “It felt a little bit weird filming myself playing and then uploading it to the internet for everyone to see, for all the other cellists out there to see. It was a bit daunting and a bit embarrassing.”

Miller, meanwhile, is delighted to have the chance to show off his instrument in such grand surrounds. “There are limited opportunities for me to play the timpani and this experience will realise my lifelong dream to perform in one of the world’s most iconic concert halls,” he says.

The orchestra’s 101 members and soloists range from 14 to 49 years old and include amateur and professional musicians, students and teachers. They will take part in a week-long classical music summit with Tilson Thomas and other performers, culminating in the concert. YouTube is donating all box-office proceeds to the Opera House’s digital education initiatives.

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Opera House upgrade announced (Sydney CBD Hotels)

Premier Kristina Keneally has unveiled a $152 million upgrade of the Sydney Opera House – the biggest building works on the site since its October 1973 opening.

“Our Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognised buildings in the world and the upgrade is about securing its long-term future,” Premier Kristina Keneally said.

“The Sydney Opera House is the single master work of a recognised architectural genius – Jorn Utzon.

“It is unquestionably the most significant building of the 20th century – and we are going to keep it that way.”

The upgrade, supporting about 500 jobs and funded in this week’s NSW Budget, will focus on:

• Improving safety and security;

• Building a new lift for the opera theatre; and

• Removing trucks from the world-famous forecourt through the construction of an underground tunnel.

This means pedestrians will have safe and unimpeded access to one of the busiest tourist and cultural precincts in Australia.

The Sydney Opera House attracts more than 7.4 million visitors a year. It contributes more than $1 billion to the Australian economy through tourism, hospitality, travel and other activity – and supports more than 12,000 jobs.

In 2002, Mr Utzon said: “As time passes and needs change, it is natural to modify the building to suit the needs and technique of the day."

In 2007, the cultural, heritage and architectural importance of the Sydney Opera House was recognised by its inclusion on the World Heritage List.

Under the historic upgrade – known as the Vehicle Access and Pedestrian Safety Project (VAPS):

• A new tunnel will be built from the bottom of Macquarie Street to a new underground loading dock – removing about 1,000 heavy vehicles movements a week from the forecourt and improving pedestrian safety;

• A new scenery platform lift to the existing Opera Theatre dock will be built underground to load and unload large and often cumbersome sets;

• Additional tunnels will connect the new underground loading dock to new lifts for food and beverage deliveries and deliveries to the concert hall and the three smaller theatres on the western side of the building; and

• The Bennelong Drain will be relocated as part of the project - the stormwater drain services the northern section of the Sydney CBD.

Premier Keneally joined the NSW Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal and Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge at the Sydney Opera House to make the formal announcement.

Construction is scheduled to commence at the Opera House in early 2011 with completion planned for mid-2013.

“This upgrade will revitalise the Sydney Opera House – visitors and tourists will be able to experience the precinct surrounds freely, safely and with an unobstructed view of the World Heritage-listed icon,” Ms Keneally said.

“For the Sydney Opera House, this new underground roadway and loading dock will improve business efficiency, improve occupational health and safety and preserve essential site heritage and conservation values.

“Removing heavy vehicles from the pedestrian area will also extend the life of the Northern Broadwalk structures by up to 30 years thereby avoiding costly structural repairs in the short term.”

Mr Roozendaal said the strong financial position of the NSW Budget allows the Keneally Government to invest in this important upgrade work.

“This is a major investment for the state’s future – not just improving one of Australia’s most important icons but also securing the future of a major sector of our economy and the $1 billion it injects into the Australian economy every year,” Mr Roozendaal said.

Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge said the Sydney Opera House is one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world.

“The Sydney Opera House is a precious destination for artists and performers around the world,” Ms Judge said.

“It’s timely that we invest in its future by making these improvements, ensuring that the building and its surroundings are safer and better for the thousands that work and visit there each day.

“The seven venues are in use 363 days a year and last year hosted 1.3 million paid attendances at 1,667 performances,” Minister Judge said.

There will be some operational impacts to the site whilst the works are underway however performances, guided tours, food and beverage and retail operations will continue throughout the duration of the project.

Monday, 07 June 2010 15:03 Written by Troy Dodds