The Programme

This page contains details about last year’s show. Information about Victorian Opera’s programme with Richard Gill this year will be posted here soon.

HIGHLIGHTS from seven of the world’s favourite operas will be performed at Opera in the Otways.

Victorian Opera’s musical director Richard Gill has handpicked the programme to be performed by a 12-piece orchestra and four exciting singers.

“For the Otways we have chosen a gala concert of well-known operatic arias and ensembles from seven popular operas. Tunes galore with more and more!”, he said.

He has chosen three works, including the Overture to Barber of Seville, from Rossini’s comedy masterpiece celebrated for its humorous word-play, irreverence and exuberance.

Three works will be featured from Bizet’s French opera about the beautiful gypsy with a fiery temper – Carmen. Flower Song and Gypsy Dance are among the selection.

From Mozart’s final masterpiece The Magic Flute, set in Ancient Egypt, the audience will be treated to Ach, ich Fuhl’s emotional soprano aria, and the Papageno and Pamina duet – an ode to love.

Set in a comic framework Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro examines the complexities of marriage, relationships, infatuation and lasting commitment. Victorian Opera will perform three pieces from Figaro including the anthemic Non più andrai.

From Puccini’s Tosca we will hear the heart-rending E lucevan le stelle and six pieces from Mozart’s Così fan tutte – the opera about two sisters, two soldiers, a holiday villa by the sea in Naples and a theme of fiancé swapping. Lessons in love are certainly surprising from this sensual story.

We will also hear a quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto – the story of the licentious duke who ravishes his hunchback jester’s over-protected daughter.

More than 20 works will be performed by Victorian Opera.

We are continuing to confirm acts for Opera in the Otways. Follow us on @otwaysopera or keep coming back to this site for regular updates.

A Fine Cast

Dimity Shepherd Roger Lemke Carlos Barcenas Emily Burke

MEZZO soprano Dimity Shepherd and baritone Roger Lemke make a welcome return to Opera in the Otways – they were both extremely popular with the audience at last year’s event.

Joining them in 2011 are Columbian tenor Carlos Barcenas and soprano Emily Burke who was runner-up in the ABC TV series Operatunity Oz in 2006.

Emily has performed extensively on the concert platform, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, and Adelaide Art Orchestra. Her recent engagements include performing the role of Giannetta in The Elixir of Love, for Opera Queensland, understudying the role of Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw for Victorian Opera and performing in Nabucco in Tokyo.

For Opera Australia, Dimity Shepherd has sung Rosina in The Barber of Seville for OzOpera; Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Rebecca in the world premiere of Paul Grabowsky’s Love in the Age of Therapy. She has also created the title role in the world premiere season of Jonathan Mill’s The Ghost Wife for the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals.

Roger Lemke is one of Australia’s leading baritones who has combined a successful career in opera, as a concert singer as well as a performer in music theatre. He has appeared with all the major opera companies in Australia and New Zealand in major roles such as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and Sharpless in Madame Butterfly.

He is well known for his performance as Marcello in the Baz Lurman production of La Boheme for Opera Australia.

  • Damian Callinan

    Damian Callinan

    AWARD winning stand-up comic and culture vulture Damian Callinan is MC and host of the fourth Opera in the Otways. Damian is one of the most prolific, versatile and creative comic artists working in Australia today.

    As an award-winning comedian, TV sketch show star, broadcaster, director, actor and writer, Damian delights in creating and inhabiting off-beat landscapes of ridiculous but fully realised, sympathetic characters.

    His media credits include Spicks & Specks, Skithouse, The Wedge, Comedy Slapdown, Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala, Before The Game, The Fat, and various guest spots and co-hostings on Triple J, Mix FM and ABC Local Radio.

    He works consistently in the corporate sector and is an accomplished comic actor, appearing in productions including the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), in venues from the Sydney Opera House to The Arts Centre, Melbourne.

    In 2011, Damian has been performing his 10th solo show, The Merger, a special commission from Vic Health and Regional Arts Victoria, and is developing his own kids’ sitcom for ABC3.

  • The Stiletto Sisters

    The Stiletto Sisters

    THE Stiletto Sisters, part of the Opera in the Otways line-up, play wild gypsy melodies, seductive tango rhythms and sensuous songs from Europe and Latin America. They are celebrated for their energetic performances of music that will make you swoon.

    The vibrant trio, featuring Hope Csutoros on violin, Judy Gunson on piano accordion and vocals, and double bassist Jo To are favourites at The Famous Spiegeltent, the Castlemaine State Festival and have sold out year after year at the Port Fairy Spring Festival.

    Their most recent European Tour culminated in them playing in the Prague 9 Gates Festival.

    The Stiletto Sisters perform with extraordinary emotional range from extreme delicacy to blazing intensity and more than a touch of humour.

    Beware, Stiletto Sisters performances do come with a health warning – the velvety seduction of their three-part harmonies for Latin, Yiddish and Hungarian love songs has caused many to feel faint with delight.

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