Renowned New Zealand tenor Simon O Neill said, while he was not opposed to that remit, the topic was wrong. This is using precious taxpayer money, which could be used better elsewhere in our art form. The new director has promised reimagination of the opera and he is not delivering that at all, O Neill said.
He called poking fun at the group middle-class snobbery and said while he was not opposed to new and improved ways to grow the audience, the direction of the Opera company had gone downhill since the appointment of general director Thomas de Mallet Burgess in 2018. He comes in with these disruptive ideas, which are not out to help opera.
Media pursue an unruly tourist outside the court in Hamilton.
Photo: screenshot
It is aiming to portray the group s infamous campaign, as it reportedly stole, littered, and verbally abused its way through the North Island in 2019.
NZO general director Thomas de Mallet Burgess said inspiration struck when the ordeal unfolded, shortly after he had moved to New Zealand. It struck me as extraordinary, the amount of interest that they garnered as they moved around the country.
He said the show would primarily be a comedy, although more weighty aspects of the event would be examined. Aside from the essential comedic value of the unruly tourists being hunted by the media and people of New Zealand. there was also possibly a more serious theme about people coming from abroad and rampaging across the country.
On
Saturday 8 May the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO)
will present Beethoven’s only opera
Fidelio under
the baton of Music Director Giordano Bellincampi and
featuring an all-star kiwi cast, led by international opera
sensations Kirstin Sharpin and Simon
O’Neill.
Audiences can look forward to
being swept away by Beethoven’s lyrical genius paired
against a story of political and ethical resolve. A
so-called “rescue opera” inspired by a true story of the
French Revolution,
Fidelio tells the story of Leonore
whose husband, Florestan has been secretly imprisoned by his
political rival – the corrupt and dastardly Don Pizarro.
Leonore disguises herself as a young man called Fidelio and,