THE NEW ZEALAND OPERA SOCIETY

Our first impressions, on looking over the media releases, season details and cast lists, as they stand, were of the familiarity of the repertoire again this year and surprise at the small number of New Zealand singers in principal roles.

I could understand the reasons for the choice of works. First the need to continue a cautious programme for financial reasons; and it could be argued that it’s a few years since each opera was last staged. Though a Flute was last seen in Wellington in 1999, it has not been staged since 1993 in Auckland. The Faust is marginally more justified, having not been seen in Wellington since 1989 and in Auckland since 1995 (Canterbury did Faust in 2000). Don Pasquale has to be welcomed unreservedly, as a comic masterpiece totally neglected by all companies, except Dunedin in 1991, since the 1960 production by the old New Zealand Opera Company. Not forgetting Bluebeard’s Castle, to be seen in concert in Auckland.
Without doing a detailed check, I don’t think I can recall a year when there were so few local singers in main roles. I had to wonder how the company could justify itself in terms of a responsibility to offer the fine singers that we train and export, inducements to return.

While there may be too few seasoned singers, the three casts employ a reasonable number of younger singers, including several from the company’s Emerging Artists programme: Phillip Rhodes, Kate Spence, Kristen Darragh and Malcolm Ede.

While this misgiving remains, as I looked at biographical and performance details of relative unknowns, I became ever-more impressed and actually excited by the performance records of the overseas singers.

For, as well as having some duty to nurture our own singers, a professional New Zealand company also has a duty to expose us to interesting young talent from overseas. The company has balanced a lack of New Zealand voices with some pretty exciting young voices from Australia, Britain, Romania and France.

It also needs to be noted that for the second year, the two main operas will be in imported productions. While that should have a positive impact on marketing, assuming that reports of the productions excite audience interest, there must be some concern at their impact on New Zealand directors and designers.

The employment of New Zealand directors and designers has sometimes not been artistically or financially successful, as few professionals in those disciplines have learned their trade in the truly rigorous environments that can really be found only in the leading opera theatres in Europe.