Enriching lives with rare and reimagined operatic experiences.
Established in 2003, Lyric Opera of Melbourne is a bold, creative opera company committed to developing operatic artists, building new audiences and enriching the operatic repertoire by creating a forum for the production of lesser-known works. Lyric's work is focused on producing innovative and exploratory music-based theatre, using contemporary practices that challenge, engage and inspire artists and audiences alike. ​
Season 2024
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Set on the banks of Merri Creek in suburban Melbourne in the 1980s, The Children’s Bach centres on Dexter and Athena Fox, their son, and the insulated world they’ve built together. When a friend from Dexter’s past resurfaces and introduces the couple to the city’s bohemian underground, Athena begins to wonder if life might hold more for her, and the tenuous bonds that tie the Foxes together start to fray. It is a piece about love in its many forms.
Given the metaphorical weight music is given in Helen Garner’s work, containing many references to music, both classical and popular, it is no wonder that the novella lends itself so well to becoming an opera. The music is beautiful, powerful, complex, and haunting. It faithfully recreates the novel’s inner-suburban world. The score plays on the book’s musical references while remaining utterly original. It employs everything from jazz-inspired riffs to fugal structure to accompany the progression of romantic entanglements. Performed by seven singers, and a chamber orchestra of six players, in the words of Michael Halliwell “the opera is an evocative meditation on the messiness and complexity of human relationships…” It is a profound and masterful contemporary chamber opera that is engaging and thought-provoking.
This opera was commissioned and premiered in 2008 by Chamber Made. This will be the second full production of the work.​
CAST & CREATIVES
Athena – Kate Amos
Dexter – Michael Honeyman
Phillip – Adrian Li Donni
Elizabeth – Juel Riggall
Poppy / Angie – Chloe Taylor
Vicky / Girl – Lucy Schneider
Billy – Ben and Chris Touzel
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Director – Katy Maudlin
Conductor – Patrick Burns
Designer – Jacob Battista
Lighting Designer – Amelia Lever-Davidson
Stage Manager – Brittany Coombs
Producer - Suzanne Chaundy
Helen Garner discusses the operatic adaptation of her classic novella The Children’s Bach with librettist Glenn Perry and composer Andrew Schultz.
Helen Garner’s beloved 1984 novella The Children’s Bach has been described as her masterpiece. Centring on a small suburban family and the unexpected bohemian visitors who puncture their seemingly comfortable bubble, the story and prose incorporate musical references and motifs throughout.
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At this event, Garner, librettist Glenn Perry and composer Andrew Schultz will discuss the process of adapting the acclaimed novella into a chamber opera with host Sian Prior. Musicians and performers from Lyric Opera of Melbourne – including singers Kate Amos and Lucy Schneider, conductor Patrick Burns and accompanist Isaac Mouskvias – will close out the evening with a short performance from their upcoming production of The Children’s Bach.
Words Unspoken
March 20 2024 7:30pm
venue: fortyfivedownstairs
Following on from our sold-out performance during the 2023 fortyfivedownstairs Chamber Music Festival, we are delighted to present a performance of three Australian song cycles, featuring some of our most beloved performers.
This concert presents the world premiere of Stuart Greenbaum’s Nelson Suite, Linda Kouvaras’ profoundly moving vocal suite Winter Came Early, and Kevin March’s evocative meditation on Sapphic fragments, Mythweaver.
The Age
'Utterly captivating… Biographica is high art that successfully reflects on the past while offering a glimpse of opera’s future.'
Limelight
‘...a significant achievement... Biographica is a fascinating, refreshingly different contemporary opera presented with intelligence and talent'
Stage Whispers
'...a magnificent, moving, almost magical production.'