Liane Keegan Aboard for 3D Flying Dutchman

Liane Keegan, Australia’s only Dramatic Contralto, appears in the Victorian Opera’s ground-breaking3D production of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the Palais Theare, St Kilda, during February. She spoke to Peter Kemp.

Melbourne born, Liane Keegan knew from her school days that a life on stage was for her. As a youngster she was taken to opera rehearsals and upon hearing leading dramatic soprano Rita Hunter, she knew where her future lay.

The accepted wisdom in the early 1990s was to go overseas to study. So, off Liane went, for 20 years. Between 1992 to 2012 she sang around 65 different roles. How does she remember all those roles, I asked.

“I don’t remember them all immediately but (once I’m) into rehearsals it doesn’t take long.”

A highlight of Liane’s international career came in Berlin, performing in The Magic Flute before an audience of 10,000.

Liane has no trouble with the many languages in which opera is sung; indeed she is rather pleased to have had a piece written specially for her in Chinese, which she has sung this six times in the space of two years.

Back home for two and a half years, Liane finds it very different to sing in front of the relatives and friends who have been watching her since her earliest performances, though many, like her mother, have “missed out on 20 years of her development with her overseas performances.”

Liane says it’s a different and pleasant feeling singing in her home town. She has also  sung in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. Now firmly settled in Melbourne, since returning to Australia she has been busy with recitals, performances and recordings.

While it seems like a jetsetting career, Liane admits she had little time to see other countries during her international career?

“I go from airport to theatre and rehearsals but later this year I plan to have a holiday to visit some tourist spots that I didn’t see when I was singing.”

Liane is impressed both by the operatic talent in Australia and the number of smaller companies that do more contemporary operas than the bigger companies will attempt. She wants more support for home grown talent, so performers don’t necessarily have to go overseas to get experience before getting jobs at home.

Liane is appearing in Victorian Opera’s unusual new production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman; 3D scenery developed by Deakin Motion lab will be used to recreate The Flying Dutchman ghost ship and the seas on which it sails. Audiences will experience this Wagnerian masterpiece through 3D glasses.

Liane assures me that the glasses won’t interfere with audience members’ view of the singers.

She has nothing but praise for the conductor Richard Mills, who is fantastic in taking risks, and director Roger Hodgman, believing this show will set the benchmark.

The Australian Youth Orchestra, she says, is fantastic, while the Men’s Chorus is outstanding, and singing lustily.

She praises the acoustics of the Palais Theatre as absolutely amazing, with voices clearly heard across the auditorium without amplification.

Liane Keegan is warm and friendly; totally unaffected by her long and outstanding career.

The Flying Dutchman

14, 17, 19 February 2015, 7:30pm


The Palais Theatre
, St Kilda

Tickets from $50-$110.

VOyage under 30s for $30

Bookings 136 100 or online at ticketmaster.com.au

Image: Liane Keegan with Lori Phillips.