Big-lunged jazz singer Emma Pask was in grand company the last time she graced the Opera House stage. Performing alongside Christine Anu, Sarah McLeod, Tania Doko, Melinda Schneider and Prinnie Stevens, Pask shook the roof sails channelling Adele's 'Someone Like You' in all-female tribute concert Hear Me Roar.
When she returns to the harbour icon this Saturday, it will be under very different circumstances. Pask will be the first performer to take to the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage (or any Opera House space) since ghost lights symbolically marked its lockdown closing.
While we've been regaled with a wealth of archival riches since the Opera House launched its From Our House to Yours digital season, Pask's performance will be the first livestream. There will be no audience in attendance, and she will be appropriately 1.5 metre socially distanced from her three-piece band. All instruments, equipment and mics will be diligently sanitised before and after the performance, and there will be a skeleton tech crew, too.
Celebrated for her soulful delivery, soaring range and magnetic stage presence, Pask is a fantastic choice to bring the building back to (ever so careful) life.
Streaming live on Saturday May 9 at 8pm, the performance will be available to binge any time after that. And check out Sarah Blasko killing it in the forecourt in days of yore.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
