WHAT WE DO:

Lyric Opera of Melbourne is a critically acclaimed opera company, fast developing a reputation for presenting exciting, high quality live operatic theatre events. Our brief is simple: we create compelling theatre telling operatic stories. We engage with young and mid-career artists, providing vital training and exposure. Lyric's work - far from the traditional opera with its large theatres, horned Valkyries and demanding divas - presents bold, imaginative and unusual opera, with a strong focus on theatre making and artist development.

The Lyric experience is unique, both for artists and audience members. It is not about scale, but about finding truth in the story. We believe that, at the core, coming to the opera should be thrilling. Hearing a voice singing live is an intimate and profound experience; an experience that should be both accessible and engaging.

In recent years, Lyric has presented works by composers including Bernstein, Poulenc, Breton, and Vives. In choosing our programs, we focus on works that are lesser known, but which are relevant to our artistic landscape, and which therefore make an important contribution to the diversity of opera culture in Melbourne. Reviewers have recognised the consistent high quality of Lyric's productions, with Lyric's latest show receiving accolades such as "a tour de force" (The Age) and "one of the operatic highlights of the year" (Stage Whispers).

WHERE YOU FIT IN:

Our project over the 2013/2014 season is to present an extremely ambitious, vibrant program of opera with works by Gluck, Massenet and Copland. In creating this season, we are embarking on our biggest project to date; a project that will be a challenge for a small company. Importantly, in presenting this program, we are trying to keep ticket prices as low as possible, so as to make the opera experience accessible to the broader Victorian community.

Therefore, we are seeking your support to help us produce this season. Your support will go towards production costs such as the realisation of sets and costumes, artist fees, and venue hire. Contributions of $100 or more will receive at least one free ticket to one of our upcoming productions.


(2012 production: Bernstein, "Trouble in Tahiti". Photography: Matto Lucas.)


A BIT ABOUT THE OPERAS:

IPHIGENIE
Iphigenie, the opera currently in production, examines the nature of fear and violence, and the role of the individual in an isolated and dangerous environment. Its composer, Gluck, thought that opera was too long, too stuffy, complicated and irrelevant. He belonged to a time when opera was about vocal acrobatics, ostentatious musical decoration and superstar singers, and had very little to do with drama. (This was a time when a man who sang like a woman but was playing a man could sing a song about a tree, pause for thought, then sing the same song all over again.) Gluck decided that it was time to change all of this, choosing instead to write opera which was driven by drama and story rather than by decoration and spectacle.

In a world where opera is (often rightly) perceived as irrelevant and inaccessible, Lyric is turning to Gluck's revolutionary masterpiece to show that opera can again be accessible, relevant and inspiring. Our production of "Iphigenie en Tauride" will draw the audience into a powerful family drama, to a place of profound human despair and tortured love in a world of bloodthirsty savagery.

WERTHER
Werther, by French composer Jules Massenet, is an intimate portrait of Goethe's artist (a true bohemian). A masterpiece of romanticism, the work examines innocent love and tragic loss through some truly stunning music. The intimacy of the piece is well suited to Lyric's style of dramatic story-telling, which will provide the audience with the opportunity to empathise with the evocative world and journey of Goethe's archetypal romantic hero.

THE TENDER LAND
The Tender Land, by American composer Aaron Copland, was originally written as an opera for television, and so provides an exciting juxtaposition between opera and the mediums found in mainstream media. It is a story of growing up, falling in love, and growing older, and will be transplanted from the American mid-west to country Victoria. Two casts of younger local singers will alternate through this beautiful and poignant score, supported by the composer's own arrangement for chamber orchestra.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

For more information on what we do, please check out our website: www.lyricopera.com.au. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at Iphigenie in the first week of September!

The biggest challenge with this project is to overcome audience preconceptions about the opera genre, which tends to be perceived as inaccessible and remote. Therefore, in order to attract its potential audience and increase box office proceeds, Lyric invests significant time prior to each production in engaging with its audience and challenging those preconceptions. This is done through use of an active social media strategy, publicity on local radio stations, and use of promotional imagery that resonates with contemporary audiences.

Please feel free to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!