Melbourne Opera mines Australian talent in new Rheingold

By Sandra Bowdler, 08 February 2021

Loading, please wait...

“Anthony Negus, a British conductor with impeccable Wagnerian credentials”

Reviewed at Regent Theatre, Melbourne on 8 February 2021

Wagner, Das Rheingold

Melbourne Opera

Anthony Negus, Conductor

Suzanne Chaundy, Director

Andrew Bailey, Set Designer

Warwick Fyfe, Wotan

Darcy Carroll, Donner

Jason Wasely, Froh

James Egglestone, Loge

Simon Meadows, Alberich

Michael Lapina, Mime

Adrian Tamburini, Fasolt

Steven Gallop, Fafner

Sarah Sweeting, Fricka

Lee Abrahmsen, Freia

Roxane Hislop, Erda

Rebecca Rashleigh, Woglinde

Louise Keast, Wellgunde

Karen Van Spall, Flosshilde

Melbourne Opera Orchestra

A stunning Meistersinger from Melbourne Opera

Sandra Bowdler, 16th February

After its Bendigo Ring, Melbourne Opera brings off another artistic coup with a fabulous performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Melbourne's splendid Royal Exhibition Building.

*****

Götterdämmerung triumphantly crowns the all-Australian Bendigo Ring

Sandra Bowdler, 2nd April

Melbourne Opera maintains the high standard of its all-Australian endeavour to the very end in a triumphant Götterdämmerung.

*****

Under the dragon's eye: Melbourne Opera's Ring continues in Bendigo

Sandra Bowdler, 31st March

Melbourne Opera's Siegfried continues the dramatic excitement and first class singing of it predessors in the Bendigo Ring cycle, including a great performance of the title role by Bradley Daley.

*****

Stunning Walküre in Melbourne Opera's Ring cycle in Bendigo

Sandra Bowdler, 26th March

Melbourne Opera's Walküre outdoes expectations, with really splendid singing and all-round performances, led by Lee Abrahmsen's Sieglinde.

*****

Das Rheingold in Gold Rush Bendigo

Sandra Bowdler, 24th March

A strong opener to Melbourne Opera's all-Australian complete Ring, the first to be performed outside a state capital, in the regional Victorian city of Bendigo.

****1

A marvellous Walküre from Melbourne Opera

Brian Angus, 9th February

Melbourne Opera have done a magnificent job with this Die Walküre production. Everything about it has succeeded. And maybe in Zara Barrett they have discovered a new Brünnhilde.

*****

More reviews...

Sandra Bowdler

Sandra Bowdler was born and educated in Sydney, and has pursued a career as an archaeologist since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1970. She is now Emeritus Professor of Archaeology and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Music. Since attending a production of Handel’s opera Alcina at the Sydney Opera House in 1982, she has become a devotee of the works of GF Handel, and Baroque music generally. In 1996 she began writing opera reviews for online outlets, graduating to more professional sources by 2000. In 2007, she inaugurated Festival Baroque Australia in Perth, Western Australia, Australia’s first Baroque music festival. Under that banner, she curated two festivals and several concerts in Perth.