Captured by the Egyptian army, Ethiopian princess Aida now faces a further humiliation. The doomed protagonist of Giuseppe Verdi’s treasured opera has also been silenced by the wave of cancellations sweeping our locked-down nation.
Opera Australia (OA) today announced the complete cancellation of Sydney’s winter season, which would have kicked off with the Aida encore. Both the Sydney and Melbourne runs of musical Fiddler on the Roof (A Fidler Afn Dakh), which would have been performed in Yiddish, have also been stopped as Oscar and Tony Award-winning American director Joel Grey, and several other creatives due to work on the production, have been grounded by the international travel ban.
Jennifer Rowley was set to make her OA debut as keen-not-to-be Virgin Queen Elizabeth I in Davide Livermore’s take on Roberto Deveruex. The tale of a monarch torn between heart and state when she falls for a young courtier will not go ahead.
The canning of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin robs us of Nicole Car’s return to the Joan Sutherland stage. One of the country's most acclaimed sopranos who is currently based in Europe, Car would have joined husband Etienne Dupuis making his Australian operatic debut.
OA also hit the postpone button on the Sydney and Melbourne seasons of Rembrandt’s Wife, Brisbane and Perth runs of Broadway smash West Side Story (currently being adapted for the big screen again by Steven Spielberg), and a national tour of Carmen. The wave of no-go announcements means of 730 planned performances for 2020, some 570 have now been cancelled or postponed. That represents a huge cultural blow to the country and financial hit for the company.
CEO Rory Jeffes says it’s a harrowing time. “These cancellations are devastating to an unparalleled degree for performers and audiences alike. It's incredibly disappointing to be making these announcements, but the health and well-being of the extended Opera Australia community remains our highest priority.”
He acknowledged the widespread hurt being felt by arts companies across the country. “The impact on the whole sector is simply heartbreaking for everyone for whom the arts are a vital part of their lives,” Jeffes says. “We are working hard behind the scenes to ensure we keep the national opera company intact for both our staff and patrons for when we emerge on the other side of this crisis. Inspiring audiences is in the DNA of Opera Australia and we are determined to be ready for when we are able to do so again.”
Feeling blue about this news? Console yourself with Sutherland performing The Merry Widow in this archival gold from OA.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
