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Opera Australia has partnered with The Bourne Foundation to offer year 11 and 12 students $20 tickets to see Puccini’s Turandot and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro during its summer season at the Sydney Opera House. School students with an interest in music, drama, fashion, art and design are invited to experience the joy of live opera, with subsidised tickets at a cost of $20 each for students and their teachers. In recognition of the continuing tough environment due to COVID-19 for Australia’s youth, including education, employment and mental health challenges, The Bourne Foundation is enabling access to Opera Australia productions for school students at a dramatically reduced price. The offer was designed especially for those who are geographically or financially challenged.
OA Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini AM, expressed his gratitude to The Bourne Foundation for making attendance possible for students who’ve never been able to see opera before.
“We are really thankful to The Bourne Foundation for creating this opportunity for older students to see our productions, who wouldn’t normally have easy access, and I really hope we inspire some of them to pursue careers in the arts and grow Australia’s creative industry.”
The Bourne Foundation was established in 2011 by the late Henry Arthur Bourne to provide financial assistance for the disadvantaged. He had a love for opera and frequently attended performances in Australia and during overseas business trips.
“Arthur Bourne was a long-time supporter of youth in his field of business and I am sure he would be delighted and proud to know that his foundation now provides assistance to youth interested in opera.” Sid Catlin, Managing Director of The Bourne Foundation.
As the moon rises, a death cry wails through imperial Peking. Torture and death mean nothing. Freedom means everything. Can the princess win her heart’s desire?
When Pavarotti sang out the top B in Puccini’s ‘Nessun dorma’ across a huge crowd at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the world collectively held its breath. A generation of football fans were learning what opera was all about — music that can transport you to another world, another place, a place where emotion wells up inside you at the sound of a single note.
“Vincerò”, the tenor cries — “I will win! I will WIN!”
Few had seen Turandot — Puccini’s opera about a brutal princess and an impossibly brave suitor, who will make any sacrifice to win her love. How many of the millions of people who watched that broadcast suddenly had an inkling of what the power of that music can be?
Turandot is a fantasy opera of poetry and myth, set in an exotic world where fear and love go hand in hand and death is always just around the corner. ‘Nessun dorma’ is just one of its magnificent moments.
Conducted by renowned conductors Renato Palumbo and Leonardo Sini.
A chaotic whirlwind of mistaken identities makes the wedding day of Figaro and Susanna a lesson in hilarity.
With a witty, fast-moving libretto and hum-along melodies, it’s easy to see why Mozart’s classic comedy continues to charm audiences the world over.
Musically, this is the ultimate ensemble opera, with brilliant trios, quartets and even a fantastic sextet laced through the score. Dramatically, it’s the opera with everything: lovers and liaisons, tricks and disguises, lust and laughter.
The Countess loves Count Almaviva, but he’s got designs on her servant Susanna. It’s Susanna’s wedding day, and Figaro has no plans of giving up his bride. In one crazy day of disguises, duplicity, desire and utter madness, the fiancés must foil the philandering noble’s seductive advances.
Young soprano Stacey Alleaume reprises her role as Susanna. Russian soprano Ekaterina Morozova is the Countess with Tommaso Barea as Figaro. Mario Cassi is the Count.
Sir David McVicar’s naturalistic staging opens a “comic cauldron of sex and social politics” (Limelight), where the comedy has a dark, sharp edge.
True to 17th-century design and detail, historical fashion specialist Jenny Tiramani clothes the aristocracy in ravishing silks and the servants in cornflower blue. David Finn’s radiant lighting streams through vaulted windows illuminating enormous rooms in sunlight and moonbeams as day turns to night.
Teachers can organise attendance by a group of students, in the form of a school excursion, or by individual students accompanied by a parent or guardian. Students from all subject areas are welcome.
$20 tickets are available to the following performances:
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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