SIMON BRUCKARD / KEVIN MARCH Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Rehearsal Room Victorian presents Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus DOUBLE BILL - NEW WORKS

Cassandra Composer Simon Bruckard Librettist Constantine Costi

Echo and Narcissus Composer Kevin March Librettist Jane Montgomery Griffiths

Creative Team Conductor Simon Bruckard Director Sam Strong Set and Costume Designer Anna Cordingley Lighting Designer Paul Jackson Sound Designer Jim Atkins

Cast Cassandra Cassandra Shakira Dugan Apollo Samuel Sakker Priam Simon Meadows

Echo and Narcissus Echo Kathryn Radcliffe Narcissus Nathan Lay Chorus Elizabeth Barrow, Emily Barber-Briggs, Heather Fletcher, Louise Keast, Jane Magao, Ursula Paez

Victorian Opera Chamber Ensemble

17, 19, 20 March 2021 Arts Centre , Playhouse

World premiere season Duration 1 h 40, including one interval Sung in English with surtitles Production

Production Team Orchestra Cassandra Stage Manager Piano 1 Meg Deyell Stefan Cassomenos Assistant Stage Manager Piano 2 Lucie Sutherland Phillipa Safey Head Mechanist Saxophone Adam Brunskill Luke Carbon Costume Supervisor Percussion Mel Serjeant Lara Wilson Assistant to Costume Supervisor Amelia Peace Orchestra Echo and Narcissus Art Finishing Viola Nicole Serjeant Katie Yap Costume Makers Flute / Piccolo / Alto Flute Emma Ikin, David Anderson, Kiran Phatak Merideth Clements Harp Melina van Leeuwen Music Staff Percussion Principal Repetiteur Lara Wilson Stefan Cassomenos Repetiteur Acknowledgements Phillipa Safey Victorian Opera thanks Daniel Noonan from Gridiron .

Rehearsal Room

P. 4 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Director’s Note

However timeless or classic a story, unifying them into a coherent visual working on it in the present will draw journey across the evening. out its contemporary resonances. So, Working on these new through the Cassandra myth, via Aeschylus Covid has been more of a joy than and others, depicts a toxic masculine a challenge, and I am grateful to culture and power dynamic that we Victorian Opera and the entire team are depressingly still contending with. for their agility, creativity and tenacity. While the original ends tragically, it The experience of these pieces feels leaves a lasting legacy as the archetypal especially pertinent for Melbourne example of speaking truth to power. in March 2021. Cassandra ends with Echo and Narcissus, via Ovid, captures a flicker of hope – the suggestion of our contemporary obsession with “new beginnings” after devastation. image. Yet it also reaches through that Echo and Narcissus fans that spark into surface to the substance of a story a flame, making its own way through about self-knowledge and acceptance. darkness toward light, culminating in The relationship between the timeless a transcendent “new thing born from and the timely, the epic and the grief’s dark ache”. Art has a profound intimate, has been exquisitely drawn capacity to heal, and music more than out by the two composer and librettist most art forms can speak directly to teams, Simon and Constantine and our souls. We hope these works provide Kevin and Jane. Both teams bring a Melbourne with some sense of “new human dimension to these mythic beginnings” after “grief’s dark ache”. stories, creating people we recognise and care about. Yet somehow both operas also retain the poetic qualities SAM STRONG of their classical sources, occasionally Director exploding into delicious flights of lyricism. Our approach to staging the operas picks up on this combination of epic and intimate. We wanted to create spaces that could feel human in their scale but that could also have a poetic dimension. We have also attempted to embrace the very different worlds of the two pieces, at the same time as

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 5 Cassandra

Truth and Power. and unsettling, but always has a kind of familiarity. The scoring for pianos, After rejecting Apollo’s advances, percussion and saxophone emphasises Cassandra is cursed: she will see the the harshness of her world as it becomes future, but no one will believe her. out of phase from reality. Her visions of the collapse of Troy are ignored and the city falls. We can all see the future. Empires will fall. Power will fade. But Cassandra’s Cassandra is one of the most story shows that there is always an compelling figures in Greek mythology inherent hope in the speaking of truth. but is profoundly undeveloped in a grander story. We wanted to reconfigure a narrative that centred SIMON BRUCKARD on this extraordinary woman. The Composer most dangerous thing a human being can do is tell the truth, and this is CONSTANTINE COSTI Cassandra’s burden. Her visions are Librettist pushed up against immense power and its most gaudy, arrogant, and vile manifestations: sexual entitlement, familial acquiescence, and the silencing of dissent. What makes these ancient stories worth staging are not their togas and lightning bolts, but their relatability. These mythical figures are imperfect. Their divine powers and bestowed curses are merely our own dreams and nightmares that emanate from somewhere deeply human. Cassandra’s story is incredibly contemporary and the perfect material for an operatic treatment. There is a heart-racing thrill of looking into the darkest and most compelling corners of the human animal. We wanted the music of the opera to reflect this darkness. It is rhythmically driving, in parts aggressive

P. 6 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Echo and Narcissus

The stories of Echo and Narcissus mirror were placed beneath the original are two of the more than 250 ‘origin melody, and its reflection played. myths’ told in the Roman poet Ovid’s In their purest form, Echo’s story and Metamorphoses. In Ovid’s strange Narcissus’ story are the same story: a and fairy-tale like world, each of his deep yearning interrupted by hardship characters undergoes a change, turning which transforms them into something suffering into sublime transformation. profound and beautiful. And in a way, The preconceptions we have of these their story is our story as well. In that characters – Echo, a disembodied spirit, Echo and Narcissus is dedicated acoustic phenomenon; Narcissus, a to the Victorian arts workers, the arts pathologically self-absorbed egocentric institutions who worked to support – are not the living, breathing artists during the pandemic, and to the characters we meet in Metamorphoses. people of the State of Victoria. In Ovid, Echo is a young nymph, A new thing born from grief’s dark suffering a curse that she cannot speak ache. but only repeat words she hears. Narcissus is a young man who shows selfish cruelty in rejecting Echo’s love, KEVIN MARCH yet when he falls hopelessly in love with Composer his reflection, is truly pitiable. Echo JANE MONTGOMERY GRIFFITHS and Narcissus both are doomed to a Librettist love that can never be returned and with every sound they speak or repeat, their personal sorrow and longing are revealed. The story is perfectly suited to musical treatment and many of this opera’s compositional techniques are themselves echoes, reflections, and transformations. The canon, for example, consists of a melody in one voice that is echoed note for note by a second voice. This musical device is perfect for depicting a character who can only echo what another says, and the canon’s inverted melody is as if a

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 7 Synopses

Mythic stories open portals to Time passes via an intense and truths which remain renewable brooding baritone saxophone solo and relevant to the unfolding and we enter a vision of a party drama of our human story through celebrating the end of war – in the time. Myths contain an essence future. Cassandra dances with her recognisably true but sometimes father, Priam. Apollo wheels out a inexpressible in ordinary words, cake with a horse on top. Priam eats that is why they have fascinated some cake and dies: “Who could opera makers since the inception of have predicted this?”, asks Apollo the form. It is why we have chosen sarcastically. to make this mythic double bill Now time shifts back to the apparent during times which have brought defeat of the Greeks by the Trojans. into question some assumptions “What a victory, what an historic day!”, we have probably thoughtlessly exclaims Priam. Cassandra attempts accepted in happier, more stable to warn Priam, who is consequently times. angry. He eats the gift cake from the Cassandra Greeks and dies exactly as Cassandra’s previous vision of the future. Cassandra of Troy, Priam’s daughter, is cursed by the god Apollo, Son of Zeus, The opera concludes with a series of for her rejection of his desire. She has statements of final despair. Apollo the gift of seeing the future, but the asks: “Do you really think it matters curse of not being believed by anyone, whether you tell the truth or not? including most painfully, her father If they don’t want to hear it, there’s Priam. Cassandra’s predictions of the nothing you can do.” fall of Troy were ignored with fatal Cassandra resonates this futility, but consequences. develops the notion of “divine silence, Our story opens with Apollo divine emptiness, not beautiful nor sad attempting to seduce Cassandra as - there is no plan, there is no end, only she repeatedly declines his advances. new beginnings”. Apollo, rejected, asks: “Who are you to say no to me?” Angry, he invokes his godhood to create Cassandra’s future: she will see the devastation of the fall of Troy and Priam’s death but will not be believed.

P. 8 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Echo and Narcissus Echo, cursed by Juno for talking too much, was condemned to always repeat the last words of others. Narcissus was cursed by Nemesis, the Greek goddess of revenge, because his careless beauty broke so many hearts. She caused him to fall in love with his own reflection – consequently he is angry with anyone who loves him. Echo fades away until only her voice remains, transformed into a stone. Narcissus metamorphosises into a flower which bears his name. The opera begins with a portrait of Echo’s desire for the beauty of Narcissus. She attempts to engage with him, he rejects her in anger. Mortified, she begins her transformation into a stone. The second part of the opera is a portrait of Narcissus and his unconscious self-infatuation. He beckons to the beautiful reflection and the image dissolves, the possibility of consummated love vanishes, his transformation begins; an image of life’s fragility and transitory nature.

Rehearsal Room P. 9 Creative Team

Conductor, composer and pianist Simon Bruckard is a member of music staff at Opera and conducts regularly with Victorian Opera in Melbourne. Simon’s youth opera The Selfish Giant was premiered in October as a part of Victorian Opera’s 2019 season. In 2020 he was commissioned to write the chamber opera Cassandra for Victorian Opera, which will be performed in March 2021. Simon has conducted La bohème and for the City of Stonnington’s Opera in the Park. For Victorian Opera he has conducted Hansel and Gretel, Alice Through the Opera Glass, The Pied Piper, Remembrance and The Grumpiest Boy in the World. Simon Bruckard Conductor and Composer

Constantine Costi is a based director, writer, and co-artistic director of Redline Productions at the Old Fitz. His directing highlights include the feature film A Delicate Fire for Pinchgut Opera based on the madrigals of Barbara Strozzi, Brandenburg Orchestra’s Karakorum starring , the award-winning production of Bittersweet Obsessions, and Messiah which played to standing ovations and sell-out seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and for Constantine was co-director of Werther with director . In 2021 he is thrilled to be at the helm of La traviata on Sydney Harbour for Opera Australia and a Constantine Costi Kurt Weill double bill at Sydney’s legendary Old Fitz Theatre. Librettist

Kevin March’s works have been performed in Australia and North America by Victorian Opera, & Étienne Dupuis, Opéra de Montréal, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton Opera, One Ounce Opera, PLEXUS, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, , Ironwood, Halcyon, and the New York City Opera. His awards include grants from the Australia Council and Arts Victoria, first prize in the 3MBS National Composer Awards and the Dorian La Gallienne Prize. His music has been broadcast on ABC Classic FM, 3MBS, and featured in the ABC National documentary Modern Muses: The Greeks and New Music. His opera Les Feluettes was nominated for an Opus Award and Kevin March two Sterling Awards. His works are published by Wirripang and the Composer Australian Music Centre.

P. 10 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Jane Montgomery Griffiths is a writer, actor and academic. Her plays include Sappho…in 9 Fragments, Wild Surmise and Antigone (Malthouse Theatre), Eurydike (NIDA), Sectioned (ABC RN) and the for Kevin March’s opera, Razing Hypatia. She has won the RE Ross playwriting award and has been nominated for the Victorian and NSW Premiers’ Literary Awards and Green Room award for new writing. As an actor, Jane has performed with theatre companies across the UK and with Malthouse, MTC, Belvoir and Bell Shakespeare. She has taught at Cambridge, Leeds and La Trobe Universities and was Professor of Theatre at Monash University. Jane Montgomery Griffiths Librettist

As an award-winning director, Sam has created productions for all Australian state theatre companies, Belvoir, Griffin Theatre Company, and the Melbourne and Sydney Festivals. His directing credits include Emerald City, Jasper Jones, Twelfth Night, Working Dog’s The Speechmaker, Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and The Boys. As an arts leader, Sam has been Artistic Director of and Griffin, Chair of Circa, Associate Artistic Director of MTC, Literary Associate at Belvoir, and dramaturg at Red Stitch. Sam is currently Chair of Melbourne Fringe, and his next project is the world- premiere stage adaptation of Trent Dalton’s novel Boy Swallows Universe. Sam Strong Director

Anna Cordingley is an award-winning set and costume designer whose designs have been seen by audiences throughout Australia, Europe, Britain and the United States. Anna also designs exhibitions and events; and creates public art and installations. Selected designs include: for Victorian Opera, Salome, Sunday in the Park with George, The Threepenny Opera (Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse); (Opera Queensland); (Opera Australia, costume); for Melbourne Theatre Company, Storm Boy (Queensland Theatre), Jasper Jones, Abigail’s Party set: for Bell Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Richard III; for Malthouse, Anna Cordingley Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid. She is currently designing a new Set and Costume Designer production of for Opera Australia. Anna has won a Helpmann Award for Best Set Design and two .

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 11 Creatives

Paul Jackson is a multi-award-winning designer who has worked with Australia’s leading arts organisations and internationally, lecturing in design at the , RMIT University and the Victorian College of the Arts. His work has featured in festivals and programs in the United States, Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom. Paul was listed in The Bulletin’s Smart 100 for 2004, was the Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellow for 2007 and was an Artistic Associate at Malthouse Theatre from 2007–2013. He has won a Helpmann Award, seven Green Room Awards, two Sydney Theatre Award and three APDG awards. He is both a Churchill and an Australia Council Fellow. Paul Jackson Lighting Designer

Jim Atkins designs and mixes sound for a host of live, installed and recorded situations nationally and internationally. Recent highlights include The Black Rider and Lorelei (Victorian Opera/Malthouse); Australian Ballet Summertime Gala (MCA); One Infinity (Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Festivals); Pleasure Garden (Sydney Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, City of London Culture Mile), 24 reasons to Party (Kate Ceberano /Adelaide Symphony Orchestra); Setan Jawa (AsiaTOPA/ Humboldt Forum Kultur, Berlin); Between 8&9 (Chamber Made, Castlemaine Festival, Chengdu China); National Geographic, Symphony for our World (); Carmen in Jim Atkins the Square (State Opera South Australia); Absolute Bird, Sounds of the Sound Designer Outback (City of London Sinfonia).

P. 12 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Cast

Shakira made her operatic debut with Victorian Opera singing Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) in 2017. In 2019, her roles included Flower Maiden and Squire (Parsifal), soloist (Alice Through The Looking Glass) and Heroic Bel Canto for Victorian Opera. She debuted internationally singing Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) for the Australian International Opera Company’s tour of China. Other career highlights include Watkin Wombat (Magic Pudding the Opera), Octavian (), The Little Sweep, Little Joe (Brundibar), Theresa II (Four Saints in Three Acts), Smeton (Anna Bolena). In 2021 Shakira will perform The Cuckoo (The Sleeping Shakira Dugan Beauty) and the title role in Cassandra. Cassandra

Tenor Samuel Sakker holds a BMus from Queensland Conservatorium and was a young artist at House, Covent Garden. Career highlights include: Alfredo (La traviata, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden), Mozart Requiem with Sir Antonio Pappano and Joyce DiDonato (Royal Opera Japan Tour), Rodolfo (La bohème, Scottish Opera) Don Jose (Carmen, Danish National Opera), Florestan (Fidelio, Lyric Opera of Ireland), Cpt. Nolan (Grammy-nominated Doctor Atomic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Adams), Mahler’s Das Lied von Der Erde (Stadttheater Klagenfurt & The Royal Ballet, Sam Sakker Covent Garden), and Erik (Der fliegende Holländer, Angers Nantes Apollo Opéra, Cape Town Opera, and Nederlands Reisopera).

Baritone Simon Meadows is a stalwart of the Australian opera stage and is much-loved by audiences across the country. His roles have included Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos (Victorian Opera), Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Australia), Jimmy in Stuart Greenbaum’s The Parrot Factory (Victorian Opera), the Lieutenant in Kate Miller-Heidke’s The Rabbits (Opera Australia) and Alberich in (Melbourne Opera). He is also an acclaimed concert singer, performing as the baritone soloist in the world premiere of ’ song cycle “In Tempore Bello”. He performed the lead role of Rupert Brooke in Nicholas Vines’ opera Simon Meadows The Hive (Chamber Made Opera) for which he received a Green Priam Room Award nomination.

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 13 Cast

Winner of the 2014 Herald Sun Aria, Melbourne-based soprano Kathryn Radcliffe has recently made several important débuts - Delia in for Opera Australia, The Queen in The Princess and the Pea for Victorian Opera and as Frasquita in Carmen for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, she sings Leila in Victorian Opera’s production of The Pearl Fishers and Echo in Kevin March’s new opera Echo and Narcissus. For Victorian Opera, she also performed The Blue Fairy in Respighi’s The Sleeping Beauty. She made her Vienna debut in a small role in The Cunning Little Vixen.

Kathryn Radcliffe Echo

Nathan has won the National Liederfest, Australian Music Events’ Opera Scholar of the Year, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria, and placed third in the Herald Sun Aria. Nathan also won the 2016 Australian International Opera Award, allowing him the opportunity to study with highly acclaimed international tenor Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice. Nathan has performed with Opera Australia, Melbourne Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, The Song Company, and extensively with Victorian Opera. Over the last two years, Nathan has toured internationally Nathan Lay with popular Australian classical-crossover group The Ten Tenors. Narcissus

P. 14 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Rehearsal Room About Us

Reimagining the potential of opera and musical theatre, for everyone

Victorian Opera is the state opera an Australian Major Performing company of Victoria. We make creative, Arts company in 2019. In 2021 we accessible and affordable work for will transition to the newly formed everyone while adventurously evolving National Performing Arts Partnership our art form. Framework. Since the company was founded in As the world went into lockdown, we October 2005, Victorian Opera has got to work; sharing our passion far and entertained hundreds of thousands wide with a range of web series and of people with our imaginative online performances. Returning home approach to opera and musical theatre. to the stage, we embrace the new Each year, we premiere at least normal and will continue to perform in one new Australian opera and have Victoria’s finest theatres and concert commissioned 32 new works since our halls to give our audiences the best formation. possible and safest experience. We employ hundreds of people across Be it live or online, Victorian Opera is the creative industries, recruit some of here to inspire you. the finest local singers, and collaborate with Australia’s leading companies, venues and learning institutions. The next generation of talent is developed from the ground up through the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus @VictorianOpera #VictorianOpera Ensemble (VOYCE) and our innovative Access All Areas: Livestream Program. We also stage opera in Tasmania biennially to share the joy of our art form even further. Recognised for our unique contribution Photography: Phoebe Powell to the country’s operatic landscape, pp. 2, 4, 9, 15, 22 Victorian Opera proudly became Cover illustration: Hipworth

P. 16 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Our Team

Founding Music Director Finance & Corporate Services The late AO CRM and Ticketing Manager Nichole O’Duffy Victorian Opera Board IT and Operations Coordinator Chairman Genevieve Overell Peter Darby Roger Box, Vivienne Corcoran, Richard Kurth, Siobhan Lenihan, Marketing Selina Lightfoot, Stephen McIntyre, Grant Marketing Content Producer Powell, Patricia Stebbens, Oshadee Siyaguna Beata Bowes (Board Observer), Anna Pitt (Board Observer) Media and Communications Executive Scott Whinfield Executive Graphic Designer Artistic Director Sharni Morter Dr Richard Mills AM Chief Executive Officer Development Elizabeth Hill-Cooper Head of Development Head of Finance and Corporate Services Louise O’Loughlin Stephen Sweeney Philanthropy Executive Peter Garnick Artistic, Engagement & Production Development Coordinator Head of Production Rhylla Mitchell Damion Holling Office Administrator Education Manager Silvana Vaxelaire Ioanna Salmanidis Head of Music Season Staff Phoebe Briggs Intimacy Coordinator Repetiteur Michaela Banas Phillipa Safey Surtitle Operator Company Manager Timothy Mallis Luke Hales Mechanists Assistant Company Manager Emily Campbell, William Campbell, Hannah Bullen Dean Krober, Tiernan Maclaren Production Manager Orchestral Management Eduard Inglés Carlos E. Bárcenas Deputy Production Manager Peter Darby Production and Music Coordinator Carlos E. Bárcenas VOYCE Director Angus Grant

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 17 Thank You

Patron-In-Chief Richard Laslett & Colin Gunther The Hon. Linda Dessau AC, RJ-AM Charitable Trust Ian Manning & Alice De Jonge Founding Benefactors Ms Linley Martin The Late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC Ian Merrylees Lady Potter AC Dr Paul Nisselle AM & Mrs Sue Nisselle Leadership Syndicate ($40,000+) Tom & Ruth O’Dea Dr Richard Reed & Vivienne Reed OAM Jane Hemstritch Tomasz & Elzbeita Romanowski Hans & Petra Henkell Prof Cheryl Saunders & Ian Baker Dr Michael Stubbs & Malcolm Roberts Marian & Ken Scarlett OAM Artistic Director’s Circle ($10,000+) Craig D’Alton & Peter Sherlock Carolyn & Stephen Coffey Lynne Sherwood John & Diana Frew Rosemary & Dr Alan Tait Greig Gailey & the late Geraldine Lazarus Secret Admirers (2) Elizabeth Hill-Cooper Silver Patrons ($1,000+) Suzanne Kirkham Dr Zita Ballok Peter & Anne Laver Laurie Bebbington & Elizabeth O’Keeffe Mercer Family Foundation Philip Benjamin & Sandy Benjamin OAM Richard Mills AM Nancy Bomford Joy Selby Smith Box Family Nigel Simpson & Madeleine Coulombe in Memory Stuart Brown of Joseph H. Coulombe Susan Brownrigg Prof Barbara van Ernst AM The Hon David Byrne Dr John & Mrs Elizabeth Wright-Smith Elise Callender Platinum Patrons ($5,000+) Jennifer Cook Beth Brown Beatrice & Richard Donkin Michael Rigg & Gerard Condon AM Dr M Elizabeth Douglas Mary-Jane Gething The Late Dr Helen M Ferguson Peter & Jenny Hordern Bill Fleming Peter Lovell & Michael Jan Brian Goddard Kaye E Marion Murray Gordon & Lisa Norton Grant Powell & Sally McCutchan Nance Grant AM MBE & Ian Harris Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine Luke Hales John L Harrison & David J Wright Gold Patrons ($2,500+) Hartmut & Ruth Hofmann Joanna Baevski Damion Holling Mr Anthony Buzzard & Dr Pamela Craig Anne Houlihan Pam Caldwell Simon L Jackson & Brian Warburton Alan Chuck & Wendy Hughes Chuck David Joseph Jim Cousins AO & Libby Cousins Angela Kayser Jennifer Darbyshire & David Walker The Hon Rod Kemp & Mrs Daniele Kemp Earl of Wilton Pat & Alun Kenwood Freda Freiberg Angela & Richard Kirsner Bob Garlick AC & Lynne Landy Peter Garnick Dr Anne Lierse John & Gaye Gaylard Selina Lightfoot Peter J. Griffin AM & Terry Swann Ian & Judi Marshman Linda Herd Graham McCallum & Mary Kehoe Ian Kennedy AM & Dr Sandra Hacker AO Gillian Montgomery Dr Garry Joslin & Prof. Dimity Reed AM Isobel Morgan OAM

P. 18 Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus Greg Noonan Evelyn Kolar Elspeth & Brian Noxon Dr Shirley Lanning Jillian Pappas & George Pappas AO Dr Kathy Laster Helen Paton Joan Lefroy AM & George Lefroy AM Jane Patrick & Robert Evans Paul & Glenys Lejins Campbell & Christine Penfold Siobhan Lenihan Prof Michael Quinn AM & Prof Susan Carr Dr Justus Lewis John Rickard Dr Carlson Loke Kay Rodda Dr Kristina & Bruce Macrae Aubrey Schrader Monita Mascitti-Meuter & Paul Mascitti Phillip & Sue Schudmak Christopher McCabe John & Thea Scott Jocelyn & Andrew McLeish Bernadette Slater & Charles Edmonds Douglas & Rosemary Meagher John E Smith Beverley Middleton Michael Smith & Sonia Fuenteseca Susan Mountford Sparky Foundation Anne T Myers Patricia Stebbens Jill Page OAM & Roy Page James Syme Lyn Payne Andrea Tappe Greg J Reinhardt AM Caroline & Richard Travers OAM Harold & Elspeth Riggall Chris & Helen Trueman Michael Riordan & Geoff Bush Neil Twist Libby Smith & John Middleton Prof. Belinda Tynan Douglas Savige & Diane Mosley Russell Waters & Marissa Barter-Waters Bruce Sims & Peter Ronge Ian Watts OAM Dr Rosalynd Smith Rev Noel Whale Lady Southey AC Diana & Robert Wilson Julia Stoppa & Daniel Bogemann Secret Admirers (5) Christine Stott Teresa Tjia Bronze Patrons ($500+) Catherine Walter AM Seonaid Alexander In memory of Helen Robertson Prof Dennis Altman AM The late Ken & Merle Morris Jenny Anderson Secret Admirers (9) Lesley Bawden Ines & Dr Donald Behrend Bequestors Kirsty A Bennett Jenny Anderson Cheryl R Benson Graeme Bawden & Len de Kievit David Bernshaw & Caroline Isakow Lesley Bawden Stephen & Maura Best Frank & Danielle Chamberlin Ms Shirley Breese Dr Garry Joslin & Prof. Dimity Reed AM Dr Sylvia Cardale Jane Kunstler Mal Carter Richard Laslett & Colin Gunther Vivienne Corcoran Gregory J Reinhardt AM Ian Dallas & Judith Hall Tony Wildman & Robert Gibbs Susan Donath Secret Admirers (6) Margaret Flatman Dennis Freeman If you are interested in becoming a Alan Gunther Victorian Opera Patron, or having a confidential John Haasz discussion about leaving a gift to Victorian Opera Dr Janet Hiller in your Will, please contact Louise O’Loughlin, Eduard Ingles & Kate Fryer Development Manager on (03) 9001 6405 or Dr Irene Irvine & Prof. Iain Wallace email [email protected] Joan Janka Jack & Marie Kirszenblat Current at time of printing.

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 19 Coriole Vineyards is proud to be the official wine supply partner of Victorian Opera.

Hugh and Molly Lloyd released their first wine under the Coriole label in 1969. Today Coriole Vineyards is still owned and managed by the Lloyd family.

Coriole is situated in the undulating hills of the McLaren Vale wine region - just within sight of the sea, and less than an hour from Adelaide.

www.coriole.com Our Partners We acknowledge and thank our partners who make our work possible

Government Partners

Victorian Opera is assisted by the Australian Victorian Opera is supported Government through the Australia Council, by the Victorian Government its arts funding and advisory body. through Creative Victoria.

Foundation Partner University Partner Awards

Trusts and Foundations Major Partners

Official Partner Media Partners

Supply Partners Corporate Member

Performance Partners

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 21 Rehearsal Room Upcoming Events

The Pearl Fishers 22 April , Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Balmy sea breezes carry the perfume of French romanticism. Ten years before Carmen, Bizet composed this classic tale of brotherhood and love in Ceylon. Pack your picnic and dive into a soul-stirring night in the tropics.

Parrwang Lifts the Sky 12 June Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse

Did you know that Parrwang the Magpie created the first dawn? This new Australian opera by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham AO tells the creation story of sunrise, based on a traditional story from Wadawurrung Country.

Lorelei 29 June to 2 July , St Kilda

The three fashionista sirens who seduced Melbourne in 2018 return to sing sailors to their doom once again. Questioning patriarchal norms and the stories we’re used to telling, it’s the show that redefined modern opera. Don’t miss the boat, these modern sirens sang to packed houses last time. Simply irresistible.

For more information and ticket bookings, please visit: victorianopera.com.au

Victorian Opera 2021 Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus P. 23 victorianopera.com.au

Share Your Thoughts Let us know what you thought of Cassandra / Echo and Narcissus. Visit https://culturecounts.cc/s/VO/Echo to complete a short survey.