Opera with the Stars
Shining beginning for Southern Opera
Two of Christchurch’s favourite singing sons will return home from triumphs overseas in August to take part in Opera with the Stars, a public fundraising concert for Southern Opera, the South Island’s brand new opera company.
Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, and tenor Simon O’Neill will join sopranos Suzanne Prain and Dorothee Jansen in an evening of well-known and best loved arias, duets, trios and quartets.
The two men are both Cantabrians who have forged successful opera careers in Britain, Europe and the United States.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ singing journey began in Christchurch studying with Mary Adams Taylor. After appearing with New Zealand’s major opera, concert and choral organizations he made a highly successful Australian debut in 1998 with Opera Australia. Since then he has established an international career on both the opera stage and concert platform. He sings a wide-ranging repertoire and is scheduled for his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York this 2007-2008 season.
Simon O’Neill, originally from Ashburton, is a Fulbright Scholar who made his Metropolitan Opera debut this season as Idomeneo. He is also engaged this year in performances in Covent Garden, Theater an der Wien in Germany, in New Orleans, Milan and Taipei.
But he and Teddy Tahu Rhodes were more than happy to make a quick return to Christchurch for the fundraiser, which heralds the return of an opera company to the city.
Probably the newest opera company in the world, Southern Opera is led by one of New Zealand’s best-known opera singers and administrators, Christopher Doig.
When Canterbury Opera folded at the end of last year, Doig was determined that the city should not be without an opera presence. And so a couple of months ago Southern Opera was established with sponsors happily backing the new venture.
Opera with the Stars will be the first public appearance of the new opera company and the fundraiser will not only put the new company on a solid financial footing, but also let the South Island know that the art form is once again flourishing.
Dorothee Jansen, a German-born opera and lieder star with a busy career in Europe and Britain, will also be back in Christchurch to perform in the concert. Dorothee has performed many times in New Zealand and is perhaps best known here for her programmes of the music and lieder of Franz Schubert.
Christchurch-based Suzanne Prain, whose international opera career has seen her in leading roles for Australian Opera and Opera Queensland, will also be on stage for the concert performance.
Tecwyn Evans, a young Dunedin-based conductor who is now working with Opera North in Leeds, England, is coming home to conduct the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra for the concert.
This is the opportunity for all local opera fans to enjoy a taste of what is to come as the new Southern Opera is launched on the local scene. Its first major production, Bizet’s Carmen is scheduled for a six-performance season in October in the Isaac Theatre Royal.
Bookings for Opera with the Stars can be made through Ticketek.
Dates And Locations
- Christchurch Town Hall Auditorium - Thursday 16 August 2007
Reviews
17 August 2007
Opera with the stars, presented by Southern Opera, with Dorothee Jansen, Suzanne Prain, Simon O'Neill, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the Christchurch Symphony conducted by Tecwyn Evans, Christchurch Town Hall, August 16, 8pm. Reviewed by Timothy Jones.