ORFEO ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

Ensemble Pygmalion. Photo Frank Montagne

 

Orfeo . 

Composer Luigi Rossi. Libretto by Francesco Buti. Conductor Raphael Pichon. Pygmalion choir and orchestra.  Adelaide Town Hall. Adelaide Festival. March 4 and 6 2026

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Luigi  Rossi’s 17^th century opera Orfeo with libretto by Francesco Buti received a rapturous  ovation in a concert performance in Adelaide’s stately Town Hall. The fact that the opera was performed without the embellishment of a full scale production did nothing to diminish the sheer power and passion of Ensemble Pygmalion’s performance under the baton of the company’s founder Raphael Pichon. Singers and orchestra were unparalleled in their performance. The fact that it was a concert offering with minimal action and unpretentious modern day costuming heightened my appreciation of the opera and the unique period instrumentation. Although written almost four hundred years ago, Ensemble Pygmalion’s performance was both contemporary and relevant to our time. Rossi’s Orfeo was no museum piece in spite of its baroque composition and 17^th century period instruments which lent an unique authenticity to the performance. The singing by the principals and the chorus accentuated the drama of the fateful myth of Orpheus (Xenia Puskarz Thomas) and his beloved Euridyce (Julie Roset)

The opera opens on Euridyce’s wedding day to Orpheus. The couple are warned of bad omens but ignore the warnings and continue with the wedding much to the dismay of Aristaeus (Blandine de Sansal) who is desirous of Euridyce. He seeks the help of Venus (Camille Chopin)) to prevent the union. Venus uses deception to manipulate events and cause the ensuing tragedy. During a dance, Eurydice is bitten by a serpent and rejects any help. She dies in Orpheus’s arms and descends to Hades. Grief stricken, Orpheus implores the Fates (Laurence Kilsby, Rene Ramos Premier, Renau Bres) for help and they grant him the permission to descend and find his beloved Euridyce. In Hades, Orpheus soothes the King of the Underworld Pluto (Alex with his voice and is allowed to take Euridyce back to the earthly world. However, he must not look back or Euridyce will die and remain eternally in the Underworld. As they ascend, Euridyce takes hold of Orpheus who turns to her face and once again she dies in his arms, leaving him to bear the enormous burden of grief. The opera ends with Orpheus alone pleading with Death to let him die with his bride.

The first modern revival of Orfeo was not until 1976 in Belfast and it received its first production in Italy at La Scala in 1982. It is difficult to believe that a work so beautifully composed and orchestrated should have taken three hundred years to gain the reputation it so richly deserves. Ensemble Pygmalion has breathed life into Rossi’s remarkably relevant work and Pinchon’s mercurial interpretation lends the work an immediacy that is exciting and emotionally powerful. His use of instruments of the period such as the harpsichord, the harp, the Fagotto and the theorbos complement along with the traditional violins, violas guitas, organ and double bass an aural landscape of emotional diversity. Love, loyalty, deception,, jealousy, fate and power are  all players in this destiny of the lovers.

Rossi has written the roles of Orpheus and Aristaeus for castrato. Mezzo soprano Xenia Puzkar Thomas strikes the heart with her powerful display of grief. There is a touch of style and sophistication in her white pants suit that lends grace to her performance. Blandine Sansal’s Aristaeus sings with a despairing passion that paints her as a victim of her own weakness. Soprano Julie Roset, dressed in red, personifies sweet innocence. It is a tender performance totally befitting her naivety. There are fine performances from the other characters in this dramatic tragedy. Bass Alex Rosen fills the town hall with the power of Pluto’s authority. The real strength of the performances in this straightforward enactment of Rossi’s and Buti’s opera is Pinchon’s attention to characterization. Orfeo is Shakespearian in its scope, embracing the dark emotions of the human psyche as well as the moments of comedy that are unexpected. There are whimsical touches in the costuming and a cheeky absurdity in the portrayal of the old woman, Vecchia (Dominique Visse)

Though Ensemble Pygmalion’s performance of Orfeo may be considered minimalist in the Adelaide Town Hall setting, this is a work that still resonates through the ages. The themes are universal, the travails of life and death, the fears and the dreams that rule our destiny. Under Pinchon’s baton Rossi’s Orfeo is exceptionally innovative, bridging as it does the Italian and French traditions. It is because of this influence that we can be still surprised by the emotional shifts and variations as the characters love, suffer and die. On a narrow stage Ensemble Pygmalion’s performance  is highly dramatic and at other times, gentle and tender as in the Act 1 duet between Orpheus and Euridyce. Singers, orchestra and choir create a musical landscape of such passion and humanity that we are swayed by the myth and Pinchon’s magical interpretation of Rossi’s centuries old work.

It is a privilege to be introduced to this work, performed so magnificently by singers and musicians of extraordinary talent and insight. Pinchon’s conducting is playful and liberating. He inspires exceptional originality in the playing and in the performances of his principal artists and the choir, who at one point sing from the balcony, surprising, delighting and filling the auditorium with the thrill of the performance.

Originally, the opera was staged with huge scenery and complete operatic spectacle. I found myself fully immersed in the passion and the performance in concert with only the musicians and the singers to make Orfeo an unforgettable highlight of the Adelaide Festival.

Photos by Claudio Raschella

Orfeo Programme. af26-show-programs-pygmalion-orfeo-fv.pdf

MY BRILLIANT CAREER - The Canberra Theatre

 

Kara Gare as Sybylla Melvyn in Melbourne Theatre Company's production of 
 My Brilliant Career.

Book: Sheridan Harbridge & Dean Bryant – Lyrics: Dean Bryant – Music: Mathew Frank

Director: Anne Louise Sarks – Musical Director: Victoria Falconer

Choreographer: Amy Campbell – Set & Costume Designer: Marg Horwell

Lighting Designer: Matt Scott – Sound Designer: Joy Weng

Presented by Melbourne Theatre Company – Canberra Theatre - 7 to 15^th March 2026

Opening Night performance on March 8^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Kala Gare as Sybylla Melvyn in My Brilliant Career.

How appropriate that Canberra be the first city outside Melbourne to experience performances of this joyous, much-lauded new musical since its Melbourne premiere in 2024, given that in the main street of nearby Queanbeyan is a plaque honouring Miles Franklin whose 1901 novel provided the inspiration for this musical and who lived much of her life in this district.

Happily, it is obvious from the moment the cast of Melbourne Theatre Company’s audacious musical adaptation of My Brilliant Career take the stage, it is clear that they, and the creative team, not only understand Miles Franklin’s fiercely independent heroine, but relish her contradictions.

Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant’s book and lyrics, and Mathew Frank’s music brim with vitality, wit, and a distinctly Australian sense of place. 

Drew Livingston - Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward -Kala Gare - Victoria Falconer - Raj Labade in My Brilliant Career 

 The restless energy of Sybylla Melvyn is captured in an extraordinary central performance by Kala Gare that is as mercurial as it is magnetic. Her command of the stage is remarkable, often addressing the audience directly, one moment tossing of a sardonic quip, the next revealing a flash of vulnerability that makes her journey all the more compelling.

Gare is supported by the original multi-skilled ensemble cast who all play musical instruments, perform Amy Campbell’s clever evocative choreography, as well as bring to life, the multitude of diverse characters who inhabit Sybylla’s world over the years.

Directed with an un-erring eye for visual interest and performance possibilities by Anne Louise Sarks, Raj Labade earned sighs as Harold Beecham, the romantic suitor who almost succeeds in persuading Sybylla to abandon her life’s priorities.

Kala Gare (Sybylla Melvyn) - Raj Labade (Harold Beecham) in My Brilliant Career.

Drew Livingstone, Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward, Ana Mitsikas, Christina O’Neill, Jarrad Payne, Melanie Bird, (replacing original cast member HaNy Lee) as well as musical director, Victoria Falconer, who moves through the show as an ethereal, non-verbal musical muse underlining nuances and heralding changes of mood with her violin, all contribute captivating characterisations, except perhaps for the McSwats , who, while entertaining, definitely belong in cartoon-land.   

Visually, the staging is a delight. Marg Horwell, aided by Matt Scott’s painterly lighting design, cleverly conjures up dusty expanses of the bush, elaborate mansions and ballrooms with a set that shifts seamlessly between pastoral beauty and the claustrophobia of small-town life. Her costumes are equally imaginative, allowing the storytelling to move through years without the need for the actors to leave the stage for costume changes.

Similarly, the tapestry of lilting folk-infused melodies and punchy ensemble numbers that make up Mathew Frank’s tuneful score, together with Dean Bryrant’s perceptive lyrics propel the story forward without ever feeling forced. Particularly memorable are “In the Wrong Key” in which Sybylla pinpoints her own personality and “Prince of a Girl”, her father’s perceptive description of his daughter.

What impresses most is the production’s tonal balance. It honours Franklin’ s century old text, while speaking directly to a contemporary audience, never shying away from the grit beneath the romance. The humour is sharp, the pacing brisk, and the emotional beats land with satisfying precision.

In short, My Brilliant Career is a joyous, intelligent, and deeply Australian musical that celebrates self-determination without sentimentality. It’s the kind of theatre that leaves you walking a little taller, and perhaps like Sybylla herself, a little more determined to write your own story.

Fresh from a sold-out revival season in Melbourne and following its Canberra season, My Brilliant Career moves on to seasons in Sydney (Mar. 21 – April 26) and Wollongong (May 8 – 17).  If it comes your way, don’t miss it.

Karla Gare in My Brilliant Career.

                                                             Photos by Pia Johnson 

   This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au

MY BRILLIANT CAREER

 

Book by Sheridan Harbridge & Dean Bryant

Music by Mathew Frank, Lyrics by Dean Bryant

Directed by Anne-Louise Sarks

Melbourne Theatre Company production

Canberra theatre Centre, Canberra Theatre to 15 March

 

Reviewed by Len Power 8 March 2026

 

Miles Franklin’s much-loved 1901 book, My Brilliant Career, became a deserved success as a movie in 1979. Could lightning strike twice with this new musical staging of the story? The answer is a resounding ‘Yes’!

The story focuses on a young woman, Sybylla Melvin, in rural Australia in the late 19^th century whose aspiration to become a writer is at odds with society’s expectations of a woman at that time.

The cast of 10 create a series of vivid country characters and, when they’re not acting, they’re the musicians as well! With the band onstage throughout and part of the action, it’s like being at a bush concert with a story. Marg Horwell’s clever set design suggests the time and locations and her costume design adds period colour to the actors’ characterizations.

Kala Gare (Sybylla)

Outstanding in the Melbourne Theatre Company cast is Kala Gare in the central role of Sybylla. From the beginning, Gare draws the audience in with her energetic, brash, funny and deeply sensitive performance as this young woman. She sings superbly and dances like a whirlwind.

Kala Gare (Sybylla) and cast members

The other cast members play multiple roles. There is particularly fine work by Raj Labade as Harry, the man who wants to marry Sybylla, Drew Livingstone as Father and Jay-Jay, Ana Mitsikas as Grannie and Christina O’Neill as Mother and Helen. Melanie Bird, Lincoln Elliott, Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward, Victoria Falconer and Jarrad Payne also give vivid characterizations.

Kala Gare (Sybylla)

Mathew Frank, music, and Dean Bryant, lyrics, have produced a rousing score that blends contemporary pop, bush ballad and raucous pub rock. There are several memorable songs including, This Piano, Turn Away From The Mirror, I Will Wait With You and Someone Like Me. The whole cast play and sing this appealing musical score very well.

Expertly directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, this is a magical show that offers everything that a good musical should. The music lifts the story to another level emotionally, while the cast offer striking performances in this strong, well-presented story with an atmospheric setting.

 

Photos by Pia Johnson

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 9 March 2026.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

My Brilliant Career - Melbourne Theatre Company

 

 My Brilliant Career, adapted as a musical from the novel by Miles Franklin.  Melbourne Theatre Company at Canberra Theatre Centre, 7 – 15 March, 2026

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Opening Night March 8

CREATIVES
Director Anne-Louise Sarks
Musical Director / Additional Music Arrangements Victoria Falconer
Choreographer Amy Campbell
Set & Costume Designer Marg Horwell
Lighting Designer Matt Scott
Orchestrator / Vocal Arranger James Simpson
Sound Designer Joy Weng
Associate Director Miranda Middleton
Associate Set & Costume Designer Savanna Wegman
Assistant Musical Director Drew Livingston

CAST (alphabetical order – Collective Ensemble)
Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward; Melanie Bird; Lincoln Elliott
Victoria Falconer; Kala Gare; Jack Green; Raj Labade; Drew Livingston
Meg McKibbin; Ana Mitsikas; Christina O’Neill; Jarrad Payne

Key acting roles:
Kala Gare as the protagonist Sybylla Melvyn. The ensemble includes Raj Labade (Harry/Peter), Drew Livingston (Father/Uncle Jay-Jay/M’Swat), Ana Mitsikas (Grannie/Rose Jane), and Christina O'Neill (Mother/Aunt Helen/Mrs M'Swat)


The very best theatre happens when the source material is emotionally honest and the writers, directors, designers, choreographers, musicians and actors create an original way to present on stage a work both thoroughly entertaining and true to its source.

This adaptation of Miles Franklin’s My Brilliant Career as music theatre by Melbourne Theatre Company is a wonderful example.  It takes Franklin’s understanding of herself as a woman growing up in 1899, making it available for our young generation in the 21st Century through music, song and dance as the story which Sybylla Melvyn tells us is “about – me!”

In this way, Sybylla – in effect the young Miles Franklin – takes us into her confidence.  As her mother shows her, to see herself in a mirror is to see her external attributes; but it does not reveal her real self.  

Entirely appropriately for our modern concerns about, for example, the destructive effects – especially in girls and young women – of the misuse of imagery on internet social platforms, Sybylla’s search for how to find and, for herself, how to become “someone like me” – very often generating shout out loud comedy – creates for us empathetic depth.  We feel for Sybylla, for Miles, for ourselves as we react to and reflect on their experiences, and so by a kind of osmosis understanding grows.

While writing the original My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin was what we know nowadays as a young adult, just turning 21 as her first novel was published.  Opening night at the musical was full of cheers and whistles, and sighs – not only from the young, though I admit as an octogenarian I only clapped in admiration – standing with everyone for the final ovation.  

To achieve such great theatre, all the performers work as an extraordinary ensemble company, playing out all the characters over time as musicians, dancers, singers, mimes and actors with such precision, in itself a powerful reason to not miss My Brilliant Career – the Musical.

Though, as Sybylla insists, her story will not be a romance, and has no plot, I think it is fair to say that the performances by Kala Gare and Raj Labade as Sybylla and Harry are especially memorable.

It’s exciting to watch; ironic humour abounds; thoughtful on social issues; and emotionally honest.

A brilliant career for Melbourne Theatre Company; a brilliant theatre experience here in Canberra.

Kala Gare as Sybylla 
My Brilliant Career - Melbourne Theatre Company 2026

MARY SAID WHAT MARY SAID ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

  

Mary Said What She Said 

Directed by Robert Wilson. With Isabelle Huppert. Text by Darryl Pinckney.Music by Ludovico Einaudi. A production by Theatre de Ville-Paris. Festival Theatre. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival March 6-8 2026.

Credits.  Costumes by Jacques Reynaud. Associate director Charles Chemin. Associate set design. Annick Lavallee-Benny. Associate light design Xavier Baron. Associate costume design Pascale Paume.  Collaboration for Movement Fari Sarantani. Sound design Nick Sagar. Makeup design Sylvie Cailler. Hair design Jocelyne Milazzo. Translation from English Fabrice Scott.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Isabelle Huppert as Mary Stuart in
Mary Said What She Said

I open this review with a qualification. I do not speak French. I was seated in the fourth row of the Dress Circle, quite a distance away from Isabelle Huppert playing Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland and the Isles. I found it very difficult to read the fast surtitles although there was considerable repetition of historical facts and events and focus at the same time on Huppert’s remarkable performance. Perhaps like some I know I might have been less alienated in the stalls and more unconcerned with close attention to Pinckney’s text as it flashed across the screen.

Having said that,and occasionally choosing to escape the surtitles and focus entirely on the stage, Mary Said What She Said is an extraordinary production. That is hardly surprising given Robert Wilson’s legendary reputation as an experimental director of the avant-garde whose productions envelop the senses and infuse the intellect. Of course, with the legendary Isabelle Huppert as his Mary, Wilson is assured of a tour de force performance and for almost two hours Huppert commands the stage with a performance that galvanizes and commands complete immersion.

A plush red scalloped curtain hangs across the proscenium arch. In the centre of the curtain on a small screen is a film of a dog chasing its tail again and again. At times it stops, staring bewildered out towards the auditorium. And then it begins again, a premonition of what will come as Mary grapples with her demons, her history and her tragic fate. Throughout the performance Darryl Pinckney’s poetic translation is repeated time and time again, as though Mary is besieged by her thoughts, her fears and her unjust fate.

 

The curtain rises on the vast Festival Theatre stage. A silhouetted figure stands facing the steel blue lit cyclorama with a single light beaming out towards the audience. Wilson’s design is enigmatic, inviting an audience to seek meaning. The bright light appears celestial, a gateway to destiny. Ludovico Enaudi’s composition is tempestuous, overpowering as an omen of impending doom. It is operatic, underscoring the drama of the performance and the passion of the text.

Slowly, Huppert turns towards the audience.  Her white face comes into view, the lips part and Mary’s story unfolds in a monologue that tumbles from Mary’s mind, sometimes recounting the events of her life, sometimes confused, abused, betrayed, 

Darryl Pinckney’s text translation is relentless in its poetic account of Mary’s fated life. It is the rousing libretto to Einaudi’s soaring composition. We see Mary through a silhouetted figure against a light that leads her on away from this earthly realm. Her fate is assured. Her destiny still uncertain.

Huppert plays a woman possessed and obsessed. Born in 1542, Mary is crowned Queen of Scotland when she is only one year old. At fifteen she sails to France to be betrothed to the Dauphin and is accompanied by four maids all called Mary, as is Mary’s mother, the Dowager Queen. At the age of 15 Mary is married. What follows is a life of three marriages, plots, intrigue and murders and eventual imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth to prevent any uprising. For eighteen years she is kept in captivity until Elizabeth finally signs the death certificate. She is brutally beheaded in 1587, leaving behind her son James who will one day succeed to the English throne on the death of the Virgin Queen. It is Mary’s ultimate revenge from the grave.

On a bare stage, Huppert inhabits the vast space with magnetic control. Her voice is amplified creating a cavernous echo to her suffering, her betrayal by Mary Fleming and the loyalty of her best friend Mary Beton. Stillness gives her strength. The flailing arms and repetitive movements heighten the turmoil and the pain. Memories of love and happier times sway in her dancing. Huppert’s performance is remarkable. She is in every sense a queen. There is defiance and despair as she reiterates the events and the people that have brought her to her terrible fate.

Finally the flailing ends. The repetitive railing against her fate subsides. Huppert unveils a Mary now resigned to her fate, accepting of her imminent death. There is pause to reflect on Mary’s cruel fate. It is here in the final moments of the play that we may empathize. Huppert’s stylized performance of the fated historical figure is highly representational, a marionette of history’s destiny. Huppert is one possessed by the torments of the mind, an abstraction of her earthly fate. In Wilson’s stylized vision Mary Said What She Said reveals more poignantly the struggle for any woman to claim her rightful place in the world.

 

 

Isabelle Huppert is Mary Stuart in
Mary Said What She Said.

Perhaps this is the enlightenment that collaborative artists Wilson, Huppert, Pinckney and Einaudi have constructed and challenged the audience to see. It is for those who submit themselves to the search for the light to learn and understand what Mary said.He was due to appear and

Robert Wilson never lived to see Mary Said What She Said performed to standing ovations at this year’s Adelaide Festival. He died last year, leaving a legacy that will be a lasting inspiration to theatre makers the world over. Huppert’s performance as Mary Stuart in Mary Said What She Said is a shining testimony to Wilson’s gift to the theatre. The Adelaide Festival performance is a gift to audiences fortunate enough to see this trailblazing director’s work.

Photos by Lucie Jansch

WORKS AND DAYS ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2026

 

Works and Days. 

Coproduction Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d'Europa, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg

with the support of the tax shelter measure of the Belgian federal government via Gallop Tax ShToneelhuis/FC Bergman. The Dunstan Playhouse. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival 2026.

Credits: Direction, scenario, scenography Stef Aerts, Joé Agemans, Thomas Verstraeten, Marie Vinck. Performers Stef Aerts, Maryam Sserwamukoko, Yorrith De Bakker, Marie Vinck, Gudrun Ghesquiere, Fumiyo Ikeda, Geert Goossens, Gloria Aerts. Musical composition and live performance Joachim Badenhorst, Sean Carpio. Costume design An D'Huys. Light design Stef Aerts, Joé Agemans, Ken Hioco. Production manager Kristien Borgers.Technical production manager Diederik Suykens. Production Toneelhuis | FC Bergman.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.

Toneelhuis/FC Bergman from Belgium return to Adelaide with a work inspired by the Greek Poet Hesiod’s original verse of the same title, Works and Days. But in the same way that the company astounded Festival audiences with their iconic The Sheep Song in 2023, Work and Days is also  a non-verbal collection of theatrical imagery that startles, shocks, amazes and paints a portrait of human development that is both prophetic and frightening.  

The audience is introduced to a community of villagers carrying out their daily tasks in the fields. A plough tears up the stage, shocking the audience with the unexpected as pieces of timber are torn from the floor. It is the image of labourers in the field, tilling the soil. A live hen produces an egg as seeds are flung into the earth, ready for a new harvest. The imagery is rural. Blankets flung over actors transform them into animals. An elephant gives birth to a calf. The calf becomes a young girl. The elephant’s carcass releases a naked male body strung up like meat in a butcher’s shop. A maypole appears in the centre of the stage as the frame of a dwelling is lifted into position as a communal gathering place. These are the images of rural peasant life, a world of toil and ritual, of life and death of love and birth. Musicians Joachim Badenhorst and Sean Carpio accompany the action with a composition inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  In place of a string orchestra, Badenhorst and Carpio have created a sounsdcape for clarinet, saxophone, flute and organ, sometimes recreating Vivaldi’s melodies and at other times improvising and marking the show’s progression from the communal collective in the opening scenes to the fragmentation of community, stripped naked of identity. It is a prophesy of lost humanity. 

 

Life changes.  Wooden slats of bright colours are taken from the earth. A young girl stares at the  multicoloured trees of wood circling and moving like members of a secret coven. The world of the village  vanishes as a steam engine moves onto the stage adorned with naked bodies in a frieze of adoration.  Steam billows through the stage as an industrial world displaces the agrarian lives of the people in the village. A naked man rides the steam engine like a bronco urging it to do his will. The naked frieze writhes slowly in idolatory. The new age becomes the altar of their worship.

At the front of the stage a lone old woman pulls on the plough as rain falls. She alone flails against the passage of time and progress. She tugs in vain until she falls with a scream. As if by magic the lights come up to reveal  a perfectly inlaid mosaic of colour,casting aside the drab grey of the past to present  a new age. She moves onto the mosaic of coloured wood strewn with the pure beauty of the naked body. She sits a solitary  relic of a faded past, disoriented in a modern world. A robotic dog enters. It leaps at the old woman and pineapples explode from beneath the floor. Slats of wood fling into the air, disturbing the symmetry and order of the inlaid floor. A new world erupts about her. Her past is a forgotten time. Her future an uncertain world.

Toonelhuis’s imagery is startling in its originality. Each image is a cameo, perfectly designed, superbly crafted, evocatively underscored by Badenhorst and Carpio’s musical responses and resonating with meaning. It may be a lament for a lost age or an alluring promise of the new. However one may interpret the imagery and its significance in a modern world, Toonelhuis/FC Bergman’s production of Work and Days stuns with its inventiveness, its visual and musical artistry, and its power to provoke thought and excite the imagination. It is presented by a remarkable ensemble, performing with absolute precision and  economy  of purpose and action.  No action is superfluous to the theme. Every moment evokes a response. Work and Days needs no words.  The power of the image to tell a story will live in the memory long after leaving the theatre.

Photos by Kurt Van der Elst

 

 

VISSI D'ARTE - ITALIAN SONGS AND ARIAS IN RECITAL

Eleanor Greenwood, soprano

Bradley Gilchrist, piano

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, March 7

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

In their recital, soprano, Eleanor Greenwood, and pianist, Bradley Gilcrist, demonstrated a rich tradition of Italian vocal expression. Song and aria alike were driven by drama, intensity, and emotional truth and the works gave voice to themes of love, longing, devotion and despair.

Greenwood is a graduate of the ANU School of Music and Royal Academy of Music Opera Studio. In 2023, she won the Opera Awards prize in Sydney, and she has performed across Australia, the UK, Europe and China. Recent role debuts include Tosca in Germany and Turandot in London.

Eleanor Greenwood (soprano)

Bradley Gilchrist completed a Bachelor of Music at the WA Conservatorium of Music, and post-graduate studies in accompaniment and piano performance in Sydney and Madrid. He has given solo and chamber music recitals across Australia and overseas and he has been repetiteur for many of Sydney’s chamber opera companies.

Bradley Gilcrist (piano) and Eleanor Greenwood (soprano)

Commencing with three love songs, Se tu m’ami (If you love me) by Giovanni Pergolesi, Amarilli by Giulio Caccini and Caro mio ben (Dearest my beloved) by Giuseppe Giordani, Greenwood sang with great sensitivity. Her rich soprano and clear diction made the songs an engaging opening to the recital.

Moving to opera, she performed a wide-ranging set of songs by Scarlatti, Gluck, Bellini, Verdi and Puccini. Singing with great control, her powerful voice seemed to make even the most difficult passages seem effortless. Her fine singing of O del mio dolce ardor (Oh, of my sweet ardor) from the opera, Paris and Helen, by Gluck, was one of the highlights of this recital. Gilcrist’s accompaniment for this song was particularly notable.

Her singing of the well-known Casta diva from Bellini’s Norma was another highlight, especially her unaccompanied singing towards the end of the song. The emotion displayed in her performance was impressive.

We were expecting the recital to finish with Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s Tosca, but after giving a superb performance of this difficult aria, we were treated to a fine Climb Ev’ry Mountain, then an aria from the Ring Cycle by Wagner and, finally, O Mio babbino caro (O my dear papa), also by Puccini.

The wide-ranging program of songs gave Greenwood the opportunity to show her vocal versatility and, with the fine accompaniment by Gilcrist throughout, the result was a highly memorable recital.

 

Photos by Dalice Trost

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on March 8.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.