Sydney Chamber Opera is an opera company based in Sydney, Australia. It is a resident company at

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, ...

. The company was founded in 2010 by Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds. Its first production was in February 2011 and has since produced between two and four twentieth and twenty-first century chamber operas each year. Its repertoire typically consists of world premieres of Australian operas and recent international works receiving their Australian premieres, including stagings of

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarel ...

s or non-traditional stage works.

History and repertoire

Sydney Chamber Opera began with the world premiere of ''Notes from Underground'' by Jack Symonds and Pierce Wilcox, an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel at the Cellblock Theatre, Darlinghurst. '' The Cunning Little Vixen'', ''

The Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower aiding marine navigation. Light House, Lighthouse, or The Lighthouse may also refer to: Art and architecture Actual lighthouses Buildings called "Light House" or "Lighthouse" * Light House (Aarhus), a skyscraper under ...

'', '' Owen Wingrave'', '' Exil'', ''His Music Burns'', ''Mayakovsky'', ''

Fly Away Peter ''Fly Away Peter'' is a 1982 novel by Australian author David Malouf. It won The Age Book of the Year award in 1982, and is often studied at senior level in Australian high schools. Plot summary ''Fly Away Peter'' is an Australian novel set ...

'', ''An Index of Metals'' and ''O Mensch!'' were presented at

and ''I Have Had Enough'', ''

In the Penal Colony "In the Penal Colony" ("") (also translated as "In the Penal Settlement") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919. As in some of Kafka's other writings, the ...

'' and ''Climbing Toward Midnight'' at

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including C ...

. ''Through The Gates'' was a performance for the 18th

Biennale of Sydney The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales a ...

at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay amidst a large-scale installation by Belgian artist and '' Victory Over the Sun'' was another site-specific commission by the 20th Biennale of Sydney for performance on Cockatoo Island, reimagining an early-twentieth century Futurist work with Western Sydney artist

Justene Williams Justene Williams (born 1970) is an Australian artist. Williams works across different media including photography, video, performance, installation and sound. Williams has exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally. Her works of ar ...

. ''His Music Burns,'' '' Passion'' and '' O Mensch!,'' and ''Biographica'' were presented in the 2014, 2016 & 2017 Sydney Festivals. ''Passion'' was a revival of a production by Pierre Audi. ''Fly Away Peter'' toured to Arts Centre Melbourne in association with Melbourne Festival in October 2015, and in 2018 the previous year's production of '' The Rape of Lucretia'' was co-presented by

Victorian Opera Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as ...

and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra at the Dark Mofo Festival.

2011–2015

''WP= World premiere; AP= Australian premiere'' * ''Notes from Underground'' (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2011) * '' The Cunning Little Vixen'' (

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European ...

arr. Jonathan Dove) – AP dir. Kate Gaul (2011) * '' I Have Had Enough'' ( JS Bach / Jack Symonds) – WP (Symonds) dir. Kip Williams (2011) * ''

'' (

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

/ Rudolph Wurlitzer) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2012) * ''Through The Gates'' (various songs by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism o ...

Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kn ...

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

et al.) dir. Kip Williams (2012) * ''

'' (

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Mus ...

) dir. Kip Williams (2012) * ''Climbing Toward Midnight'' (Jack Symonds /

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

) – WP dir. Netta Yashchin (2013) * '' Owen Wingrave'' (

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

/ Myfanwy Piper) – AP dir. Imara Savage (2013) * ''Exil'' ( Giya Kancheli) – AP dir. Adena Jacobs (2013) * ''...pas à pas – nulle part...'' ( György Kurtág /

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic ex ...

) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014) * ''Into the Little Hill'' ( George Benjamin /

Martin Crimp Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Au ...

) – AP dir. Sarah Giles (2014) * ''Mayakovsky'' (Michael Smetanin / Alison Croggon) – WP dir. Kat Henry (2014) * ''

'' (Elliott Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Imara Savage (2015) * ''An Index of Metals'' ( Fausto Romitelli / Kenka Lekovich) – AP dir. Kip Williams (2015)

2016

* ''Passion'' ( Pascal Dusapin / Rita de Letteriis) – AP dir. Pierre Audi (revival dir. Miranda Lakerveld) * ''O Mensch!'' ( Pascal Dusapin /

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...

) – AP dir. Sarah Giles * '' Victory Over the Sun'' (Huw Belling / Pierce Wilcox) – WP dir. Justene Williams/ Pierce Wilcox * ''Notes from Underground'' (Jack Symonds / Pierce Wilcox) – WP new version dir. Patrick Nolan

2017

* ''Biographica'' ( Mary Finsterer / Tom Wright) – WP dir. Janice Muller * '' The Rape of Lucretia'' (

/ Ronald Duncan) dir. Kip Williams

2018

* ''The Howling Girls'' (

Damien Ricketson Damien Ricketson (born 9 May 1973) is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music. He is best known for his innovative compositional practice and in his capacity as the co-founder and co-artistic director of Ensemble Offspring. He is ...

) – WP dir. Adena Jacobs *
Resonant Bodies Festival
' (featuring

Sofia Jernberg Sofia Jernberg (born 5 July 1983, in Ethiopia) is a Swedish experimental singer, improviser, and composer. She is widely known for expanding the "instrumental" possibilities of the voice and is active both as soloist and in various bands. Her musi ...

, Rully Shabara, Deborah Kayser, Sonya Holowell, Mitchell Riley and Ariadne Greif)

2019

* ''

La Passion de Simone ''La Passion de Simone'' is an oratorio (or opera) composed by Kaija Saariaho to a libretto in French by Amin Maalouf, first premiered in a staging by Peter Sellars. The work, subtitled "a musical journey in 15 stations", centers on the life a ...

'' ( Kaija Saariaho,

Amin Maalouf Amin Maalouf (; ar, أمين معلوف; born 25 February 1949) is a Lebanese-born French"Amin ...

) with Jane Sheldon, soprano; Jack Symonds, conductor – AP directed by Imara Savage *'' Oscar and Lucinda'' (Elliot Gyger / Pierce Wilcox) with Jack Symonds, conductor; Patrick Nolan, director

2020

* ''Breaking Glass'' (

Georgia Scott Georgia Scott is an Australian composer, orchestrator and arranger. She graduated with Honours from the Royal College of Music, Royal College of Music, London and completed her Master of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2020 where ...

/ Peggy Polias / Josephine Macken / Bree van Reyk) - WP with Jack Symonds, conductor; Danielle Maas & Clemence Williams, directors

2021

*
Future Remains
' (

/ Huw Belling & Pierce Wilcox) - WP with Alexander Berlage, director

Key personnel

Jack Symonds is the Artistic Director. Huw Belling is Principal Artistic Associate. Danielle Maas, Mitchell Riley, Jane Sheldon, James Wannan and Pierce Wilcox are Artistic Associates. The company has typically engaged stage directors from a theatre background, often making their operatic debut, e.g.

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

artistic director Kip Williams. The company has also been noted for developing talented young singers.

References

External links

*
Carriageworks
{{authority control Australian opera companies Music in Sydney 2010 establishments in Australia Musical groups established in 2010 Performing groups established in 2010