Opera Queensland is hosting the 2021 Studio Series, a program of intimate recitals and performances in the newly refurbished Opera Queensland Studio at South Bank.
Opera Queensland’s Artistic Director & CEO Patrick Nolan has curated a program featuring some of Australia’s most talented singers and musicians, performing repertoire ranging from arias from renowned operas, lesser-known works from well-known artists, and contemporary compositions.
“The Studio Series celebrates the many wonders of the human voice, creating a space for the audience to deepen its understanding of the remarkable art of singing. “Audiences will discover new and beautiful music and gain insights into the artists as they introduce each song to reveal its personal significance,” Mr Nolan said.
Yorta Yorta soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham AO will perform her own work as well as songs by composers such as Strauss, Puccini, Glanville-Hicks and Kats-Chernin alongside pianist Toni Lalich OAM in Songs My Mother Sang to Me on 19 and 20 March. In Deborah’s words, “The stories of this continent and its people have been maintained through song by the women as custodians of culture. This recital celebrates the female poets, singers and composers who have shaped my identity through the music that has inspired me.”
Gregory Massingham and Stephen Emmerson present the complete song-cycle, Winterreise, one of Schubert’s final works, on 7 and 8 May against a backdrop of majestic winter landscapes by German painter Caspar David Friedrich.
Raineri returns with soprano Eva Kong in Death Becomes Her, a program of evocative songs spanning arias from Roméo et Juliette and Madama Butterfly to Debussy’s Quatre Chansons de Jeunesse and Korean repertoire on 4 and 5 June.
Opera Queensland’s second collaboration with the 2021 Brisbane Music Festival partners soprano Sarah Crane and baritone Shaun Brown in A Poet’s Love featuring Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Schumann’s Dichterliebe on 6 and 7 August, with Alex Raineri on piano.
Following sold out performances with Opera Queensland in 2019, soprano Alexandra Flood returns to explore the influence of Middle and Far Eastern melody on Western classical music traditions in Eastern Promises on 17 and 18 September. Alex Raineri will accompany Alexandra in this final performance of the 2021 Studio Series.
Performances are held on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons and run for approximately 60 minutes without interval. Single tickets are $85. Season subscription discounts available until 15 March. Book at oq.com.au.
