A curse, a crime and one seriously electric Melbourne Opera love triangle are about to hit the Athenaeum stage.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore returns to Melbourne this August, with two of opera’s biggest names leading the charge and the whole Melbourne Opera season opener dedicated to a genuine local legend.
Melbourne Opera is bringing Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore to the Athenaeum Theatre this August, honouring centenary icon Dame Joan Sutherland.
Directed by Matthew Barclay, whose credits include work for Sydney Festival, Opera Australia and West Australian Opera, Il Trovatore follows a cursed troubadour, his vengeance-fuelled mother and a doomed love triangle across four acts of fire and fury. Barclay has described the production as deliberately extreme and feverish rather than realistic, treating the opera’s buried secrets and inherited trauma as fuel for its characters rather than obstacles to smooth over.
Il Trovatore – Melbourne Opera
- 23 August, 2:30pm (opening performance)
- 26 August
- 28 August
- 30 August
- Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, Melbourne
- Tickets here
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The production is dedicated to the memory of Dame Joan Sutherland, AC DBE, marking a hundred years since her birth.
Sutherland was a founding patron of Melbourne Opera and a close friend of the company’s patron-in-chief, Lady Primrose Potter, and famously performed the role of Leonora across the 1950s through to the 1980s.
Stepping into that same role is Helena Dix, who has performed Norma at New York’s Met and Aida at the Sydney Opera House, recently returning to live in Melbourne after years based in London.
She’s joined by Rosario La Spina, known for his work with Opera Australia, as the ill-fated Manrico. La Spina picked up a Green Room Award for his turn as Samson in Melbourne Opera’s Samson et Dalila last year.
The rest of the cast features three-time Green Room Award nominee Sarah Sweeting as the vengeful Azucena, and Christopher Hillier as Conte di Luna, fresh off a multi award-nominated performance as Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Steven Gallop, who has performed with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Welsh National Opera, joins as Ferrando, while former Richard Divall Program artist Amanda Windred sings Ines.
Conductor Raymond Lawrence takes the podium for a score packed with some of Verdi’s most famous arias, including Di quella pira, Stride la vampa and Tacea la notte placida, alongside the instantly recognisable Anvil Chorus, performed by the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
Melbourne Opera receives no government funding and stages multiple full-scale productions on Melbourne’s main stages every year, offering young singers and musicians the chance to perform alongside experienced professionals early in their careers.
For more information, head here.
