END OF YEAR PRODUCTION SEASON 2021 nida.edu.au/june-2021
This season is supported by the Nick Enright AM Estate
WELCOME I am so excited to welcome you to NIDA’s Parade Theatre for the live presentation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Performance innovation and collaboration is at the heart of NIDA’s core practice as we commit to creating and nurturing the world’s best storytellers. This exciting co-production with our friends at the Sydney Conservatorium gives NIDA students the chance to experience working in the genre of opera. I’d like to thank the Dean of the Conservatorium, Professor Anna Reid for this enriching creative opportunity. Our technical production and stage management, costume, design, props, live production and make-up students have worked hard to bring this production to life with Conservatorium students as performers. To support this unique collaboration, the NIDA costume workshop moved across Sydney to the Conservatorium; this enabled our students to create, fit and breathe life into the characters of Britten’s magical retelling of Shakespeare’s comedy on stage as the rehearsals developed. I would also like to thank Conductor Stephen Mould and Director Kate Gaul, who have generously shared their expertise with NIDA and Conservatorium students. I look forward to seeing the many collaborations and creative projects that will grow from this co-production. We couldn’t present any of these high-calibre productions without support from the Australian Government, our first Nations Program Principal Patron The Balnaves Foundation and Principal Partner for Property Services ARA Group. I would also like to thank our Major Partners Technical Direction Company, our Corporate Partner YouTube, as well as UNSW and Tempus Two wines. NIDA is appreciative of the support of various trusts and foundations and the generous individuals supporting the Behind the Scenes Program, including our student scholarship supporters. This End of Year Season is supported by the Nick Enright AM Estate. We welcome you to NIDA and hope you enjoy this live production. — Liz Hughes, CEO NIDA
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is delighted to join with NIDA in this production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our staff and students have been engaged in the last several months in creative synergies preparing a wonderous musical playground for these performances. This is our first outing together and brings together the strengths of each school. For the SCM this is the only live performance that we have for this semester and it is incredibly fun to be doing it here in the Parade Theatre. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music acknowledges the generous support of the Alan Hyland and John Luscombe Endowment. I would like to thank the teachers, all creatives, professional staff, and the exceptionally talented students for their efforts on bringing this to the stage. – Professor Anna Reid, Head of School and Dean Sydney Conservatorium of Music
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we present this production, the lands of the Bidjigal and Gadigal people of the Eora nation where the NIDA campus stands, and of all nations across this continent where we teach. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past and present who have cared for land, water and story on these lands for generations. We also recognise the work and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, workers and creatives within the NIDA Community. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
NIDA Theatres, Parade Theatre 4, 7 December 7pm 9 December, 11 am 11 December, 2pm
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Music by Benjamin Britten Libretto adapted from William Shakespeare by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears A co-production National Institute of Dramatic Art | Sydney Conservatorium of Music Conducted by Stephen Mould Directed by Kate Gaul Set design by Camille Ostrowsky Costume design by Sabina Myers Associate Set Designer Veronique Benett Lighting Design by Sophia Wallace Sound Design by Sophie Jones
Running time 160 minutes A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be performed in three acts and include a 3-minute scene change between Acts 1 and 2 and a 20-minute interval between Acts 2 and 3. These performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op.64 by Benjamin Britten are given by permission of Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd, exclusive agents for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd of London.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – rehearsals and behind the scene work at the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music
DIRECTORS’ NOTE ‘Music Ho!’ – Shakespeare’s play is imbued with the spirit of music – heard, or implied – his text exploring the grey areas between the spoken and the sung. The play’s text is rich in inflections which recall musical wrong notes and ‘blues’ notes: cheeky moments which occur when a pointed word from a character highlights a vowel, rendered ‘out of tune’, exposing a shaft of light that reveals the inner life of a character and their complex, subconscious world. The first notable musical rendition of the play was by Felix Mendelssohn, who, in 1826, at the age of 19, wrote an Overture, Kate Gaul to which he later (1842) added incidental music. Mendelssohn created his music, based upon his experience of the play as translated August Wilhelm Schlegel. The Overture is generally considered to exemplify in music the world of the forest as imagined by Shakespeare, as nationalities and borders blur. In the remainder of the incidental music, Mendelssohn’s music comments upon Shakespeare, facilitates scene changes, gives sung text to choruses, and enshrines the text within melodrama – as the orchestra comments upon the action.
Stephen Mould
Other significant settings of Shakespeare’s plays include Otto Nicolai’s opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1849), as well as Verdi’s Macbetto (1847 rev. 1865, to a libretto from Piave and Maffei), which was set to an Italian, and later a French text.
Verdi’s final two operatic testaments Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893) are also based upon Shakespeare’s texts, and the genius of Arrigo Boito’s libretto adaptions are considered pinnacles in the history of operatic libretti. Nevertheless, all these operas were created from translations or reworkings of Shakespeare’s original texts. While Boito’s translations, for example, eloquently reimagine the original texts for the operatic stage, it is the broader plots, often borrowed by Shakespeare from elsewhere, rather than the minutiae of his own text that bind the operas together. Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears both held a life-long fascination for Shakespeare and likely knew large parts of the text of the Midsummer Night’s Dream from memory since their school days. The opera follows in the tradition of Literatureoper, where a composer adapts a significant literary work, such as Debussy’s adaption of Maeterlinck’s Pelleas et Melisande, Bartok of Balázs’ A kékszakállú herceg vára (Bluebeard’s Castle) and Berg’s adaption of Büchner’s Woyzeck (Wozzeck).
Britten and Pears reduced the length of Shakespeare’s original text by around two two-thirds and added one single line of their own. This results in a unique work, an opera composed to a text by England’s greatest literary genius, created by the first great composer for the opera stage since the age of Purcell (roughly contemporaneous with Shakespeare). Purcell, and the Golden Age of English Music are lovingly referenced and evoked throughout the score. Britten was well-aware of his musical heritage, and by the time he came to compose the ‘Dream’ he was also aware of his post-war demotion to a regressive composer, one who had been left behind by the post-war developments exemplified by the Darmstadt school, and also by the aleatoric experiments of John Cage and his coterie in New York. Britten, not noted in his personal life for a sense of humour, contrives, in this work to make a series of ‘digs’ at Cage and his school, by writing aleatoric passages, and further, in his settings of the inept machinations of the ‘Mechanicals’, manages to reference Schoenbergian Sprechstimme and other devices that characterise ‘progressive’ music in the twentieth century. The incompetence of the ‘Mechanicals’ allows Britten to deconstruct the music of his avant-garde colleagues with unparalleled humour. A musician of unusually catholic and searching tastes, Britten’s encyclopaedic knowledge of music history is revealed in irreverent pastiches of Balfe, Sullivan, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. The noisy guffaws of Shakespeare’s audiences at the Globe Theatre is an equally appropriate a response to Britten’s opera. This work requires a new balance in the director/conductor relationship. Any stage director can only be in awe of Shakespeare’s iconic text, and their role is, at least in part to defend the integrity of that text in the opera theatre, a place where text often disappears, as the soprano rises towards the stratospheres. Likewise, any conductor can only be in awe of Britten’s world-scale musical conception of the drama. A closeness of working with the complex dramaturgy that ensues provides an incredibly rewarding experience in exploring the cross-pollination of these musical and literary worlds, colliding and conjoining into the inevitably ‘messy’ world of opera. How appropriate that this work should have been chosen for the first collaboration between NIDA and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. A brave and incredibly positive exit-COVID statement. Drama (NIDA) + Music (SCM) = lots of fun (= the Gesamtkunstwerk = maybe next year). It’s been messy, slightly scary, and terribly uncertain, and we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Kate Gaul, Director Stephen Mould, Conductor Sydney Conservatorium of Music THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Presented by the performers of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Mmus Opera Performance, Mmus Performance and Bmus Performance; and NIDA BFA Design for Performance, BFA Costume, BFA Properties and Objects, BFA Technical Theatre and Stage Management, Diploma of Live Production and Technical Services, and Diploma of Screen and Media (Make-up Services) students.
Company
Music Director/Conductor (SCM) Director Assistant Conductor (SCM) Assistant Conductor (SCM Masters student) Set Designer Associate Set Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer (NIDA) Sound Designer (NIDA) Assistant Director (SCM) Choreographer (SCM) Movement Consultant
PRINCIPAL CAST (SCM students)
Dr Stephen Mould* Kate Gaul** Simon Lobelson* Omid Moheb Zadeh Camille Ostrowsky** Veronique Benett** Sabina Myers** Sophia Wallace Sophie Jones Hannah Burton Sofya Kovaleva Troy Honeysett**
ORCHESTRA (SCM students)
Oberon Michael Burden Violin 1/ Puck Isabella (Bella) Concert Master Piggott Violin 1 Tytania Claudia MacKay Violin 1 Helena Elizabeth Cooper Violin 1 Hermia Olivia Payne Violin 2 Lysander Elias Wilson Violin 2 Demetrius Jeremy Boulton Viola Hippolyta Olivia Swain Viola (SCM staff) Theseus Yuan Gao Cello Flute Alexander Young Cello Snout Alexander Caldwell Double Bass Starveling Robert Adam Double Bass Snug Aidan O’Donnell Flute Quince Andrew Knight Flute/Piccolo Bottom Joseph Jae Kwon Kim Oboe Cobweb Janine Harris Clarinet Peasblossom Elise Morton Clarinet Mustardseed Lana Kains Bassoon Moth Claire French Horn Burrell-McDonald French Horn Ariel Sofya Kovaleva Trumpet Trombone Percussion Percussion Harp Harp Harpsichord/Celeste
Monty Guo Grace Thorpe Rain Liu Beatrice Colombis Lucy Clarke-Randazzo Olivia Kowalik Steven Koroknay Stuart Johnson Alisdair Guiney Angela Shin Lillian Bennett Jack Charles Yiting Wang Adrienne Hanslow Marcus Milton Karen Chen Olivia Hans-Rosenbaum Joshua Reynolds Bryn Arnold Rory Mcclelland David Imlay Jordan Mattinson Nicholas David Lowe Jack Peggie Kate Moloney Evelyn Zhang Neon Fan *Staff **Guest artist
PRODUCTION TEAM Producer/Artistic Planning Manager (SCM) Stage Production Coordinator (SCM) Principal Repetiteur (SCM) Repetiteur (SCM) Costume Supervisor (NIDA) Costume Makers (NIDA) Costume Coordinator/Dresser Props Co-Supervisors/Makers (NIDA) Costume and Props Specialist Production Manager (NIDA) Stage Manager (NIDA) Assistant Stage Manager (NIDA) Construction Manager (NIDA) Fly Supervisor Head Electrician (NIDA) Design Assistant (NIDA) Design Assistant/Follow Spot Operator (NIDA) Props Assistant/Follow Spot Operator (NIDA) Make-up Artists (NIDA) Follow Spot Operators (NIDA) Head Mechanist (NIDA) Mechanists (NIDA) Technical Assistants (NIDA) EXTERNAL MENTORS (NIDA) Stage Management Eugenia Farrell Lighting Design Damien Cooper Head Electrician Cameron Menzies Sound Design David Grigg Diploma of Live Productions Anthony Keen and Technical Services Crew Make-up Artists Cathy Malik Sandra Wograndl
Scott Ryan* Thomas Wade* Alan Hicks* Ingrid Sakurovs* Bethany Hewitt Elsbeth Cameron Ori Hiser Sarah Murdoch** Isabell DeLaurentis Zoe Manning Luke D’Alessandro** Joel Mallett Pip Morey Amy Norton Joel Montgomery Nicholas Day* Jenn Ryan** Chloe Adele Langdon James Stibilj Cosette Mangas Ari Gilbert Anthony Bonfanti Amy Dillon Melanie Gjura Teagan Hay Ahdinda Ley Eliza Young Jordan Magnus-McCarthy Amina Osman Chris Milburn-Clark Maxime Armand Cameron Bartie Madeleine Picard Cameron Russel India Lively Bernadett Lorincz Oliver Becroft VOCAL AND OPERA STAFF (SCM) Donna Balson Siro Battaglin Eunjung Byun Dr Rowena Cowley Andrew Goodwin Dr David Greco Dr Michael Halliwell Dr Anke Hoeppner-Ryan
Felicity Jurd Simon Lobelson Lorena Otes Barry Ryan OAM Maree Ryan AM Ingrid Sakurovs Robin Wells Dr Narelle Yeo *Staff **Guest artist
Special thanks to Russell Cheek for his generosity. The Sydney Conservatorium of Music would like to thank David Berthold and Di Misirdjieff for their incredible work in realising this partnership.
Sydney Conservatorium of Music – Graduating students 2021
A lexander C aldwell
Jack Charle s
Elizab eth C o op er
Claudia M ackay
A idan O’ D onnell
Elia s W ils on
O liv ia HansRos enbaum
Jos eph Jae Kwon K im
Nichola s Lowe
Rain L iu
S am antha Manning
S iobhan Nealon
A ngelina Meany
H ayden Relf
Is ab ella S altearn
Zo e M anning
Rhyanna M ar tinus s en
Z achar y Por telli
NIDA – Graduating students 2021 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Costume)
Elsb eth C ameron
B ethany Hew it t
O ri His er
L ucy Jauris to
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance)
S oham A pte
B lake He dley
Hannah Tayler
H annah Yardley
A my Jack s on
Pho eni x Mckay
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Properties and Objects)
Hunter D epalo
Danielle G uyot
Rachel Hallet t
Is ab ell de L aurentis
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Scenic Construction and Technologies)
Mat thew Hinton
Z achar y W hite
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Theatre and Stage Management)
Elif A kgul
Is a ac B arron
K aitly n Cro cker
S ophie Jone s
Leia Lois a
Alex Makaronopoulos
Jo el M allet t
K r ys telle Q uar term ain
Jame s Rawlings
S aint Clair
Nathan Sandy
Z achar y S aric
Mellit a Ver tigan
Trillian V ieira
Sy billa Wajon
S ophia Wallace
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
G abriel A lvarado
H annah Julii A nder s on
Fly nn B arnard
Julie B et tens
O liv ia B ourne
S haw C ameron
R yan Ennis s
A my Joyce
Libby Kay
A lfre d Kouris
A shan Kum ar
A ri Ma za Long
Charlot te L uc a s
Philip Ly nch
Wern M ak
B raydon May
Riley McNam ara
A lyona Pop ova
Harrison Q ua s t
C onnor Reilly
Mem a Munro
Chris t y Tran
Eb ony Tucker
Adolphus Wayle e
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music acknowledges the generous support of the Alan Hyland and John Luscombe Endowment. NIDA is grateful for the support of our corporate partners, trusts and foundations, supporters and donors. Principal Partner for Property Services
Principal Patron First Nations Program
Major Partners
Corporate Partner
Supporters
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