2021 Season Finale for State Opera SA Announced

State Opera South Australia has announced that The Turn of Screw, The Barber of Seville and Teddy Tahu Rhodes in Concert will join Voss to complete their 2021 season.

Artistic Director Stuart Maunder said his job, first and foremost, was to respond to the world we now find ourselves in and do the best by our audiences and our industry.

“Isn't it great that in spite of all the challenges our industry currently faces in this COVID-world, we are able to deliver these absolute masterpieces to South Australian audiences - operas that utilise the very best Australian singers, craftspeople, designers, choruses and orchestras.

"We are here to put on work. To support and employ talented Australians, and to bring the very best opera possible to South Australia," Maunder said.

Prepare to embark on a chilling and horrifying descent into madness with Turn of the Screw, as internationally acclaimed Australian soprano Rachelle Durkin stars as The Governess in Benjamin Britten’s ghostly opera in September.

Based on the Henry James gothic novel, The Governess and her two young wards are overcome by the terrible and terrifying secrets of a manor house in the English countryside. Durkin portrays the naïve and principled young woman brought undone by mysterious forces hellbent on her destruction. Kanen Breen, one of opera’s most commanding dramatic forces is Peter Quint, her nemesis. The leads are supported by an all-Australian cast including Elizabeth Campbell and Fiona McArdle, under the baton of Anthony Hunt. Directed by Maunder, this is a once in a generation experience not to be missed.

Contrastingly, Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville provides a giddy romp along the path to true love, by way of serenades, ridiculous disguises, and trickery for a light-hearted performance in November.

A love-sick Count, a feisty young woman, and a barber with a cunning plan. If love makes a fool of us all, then this popular opera-buffa is one of the greats. Imprisoned by her ghastly guardian, the savvy Rosina is no match for lock and key, especially when the fast-talking, flashy Figaro turns up and promises to help her find the man of her dreams. This production features a collection of Australia’s opera stars, including Morgan Pearse as Figaro, John Longmuir as the Count, and introducing Natasha Wilson as Rosina.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes is set to dazzle audiences in November, performing a selection of favourite arias and songs from shows like The Barber of Seville to an enchanted evening in the South Pacific, Schubert Lieder to the swagger of Clancy of The Overflow.

The award-winning baritone will be joined by pianist and conductor Guy Noble culminating.

These three productions are joined by the revival of the Australian opera Voss. Based on Patrick White’s novel of the same name, this is a passion project between State Opera and Victorian Opera and has been many years in the making and is showing for one night only in September.

All four seasons are showing at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The Turn of Screw, The Barber of Seville, & Voss are on sale now. Teddy Tahu Rhodes in Concert will go on sale on Monday, 19 July.

Images: The Barber of Seville, Stuart Maunder, The Turn of the Screw and Voss.

www.stateopera.com.auImages: The Ba