Big sky spectacular: Opera soars in the wide open spaces of the Outback
The Festival of Outback Opera is making its way through Queensland towns way out west, with superstar soprano Sumi Jo headlining the popular event.
Winton isn’t all Akubra hats, bush flies, Brahman cattle and vast blue skies. It’s a proud, ambitious, historical town hosting more than 15 annual events including music, writers, film and opal festivals. It’s a welcoming location for Opera Queensland’s bold Festival of Outback Opera.
And it’s undeniably bold, because in aiming for relatability this festival diversifies, challenges and contemporises the artform in uplifting and surprising ways. The program is a continually evolving wild mix of happenings from the informal to the formal and somewhere in between.
Vocal performance pops up in all manner of places. In local schools, at The Roadhouse on the edge of town and on board the Spirit of the Outback train, where passengers on the 21-hour journey to Winton enjoyed tenor Nick Kirkup and soprano Megan Kim’s recitals of operatic hits.
Music even found its way into the Red Dirt Tours Birdwatching Trip. Opera Queensland supporters saw spoonbills, dancing brolgas, eagles and a knee-high bustard before settling into morning tea at Bladensburg Homestead as students from the University of Queensland sang Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Three Little Maids From School.
The production Are You Lonesome Tonight, an unusual yet relevant juxtaposition of country ‘n’ western and opera, which has enjoyed rave reviews on a national tour, had a shaky moment. Dustarena, a whimsical outdoor theatre, currently Winton’s arts precinct, was the designated venue but due to imminent rain and with only 60 minutes before the performance began, crew and locals rushed all the equipment, chairs and theatrical paraphernalia to Barty’s Place at A.B. Paterson College.
An energetic warm-up routine with the audience, led by movement artist Lili Vizer, and an introductory boot-scooting stand-up by local celebrity Amanda-Lyn Pearson (in a gold jumpsuit and neon pink chaps) eased the crowd’s understandable tension prompted by the last-minute relocation.
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Are You Lonesome Tonight was an exhilarating romp through country specials and classical gems. And, why not, since according to Jonathon Hickey, who shared the stage with soprano Gabrielle Diaz, singer-songwriter Marcus Corowa and music director Trevor Jones – “loving, drinking, fighting and cussing are germane to both”.
An explanation wasn’t needed. This was a resounding success, with stunning deliveries through a raft of numbers that often began in one style and ended in another. Diaz began singing Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen and in a blink skated into These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.
All performers impressively adapted their tone or twang to suit. Diaz was hilarious singing Jolene in an exaggeratedly classically trained manner. Another highlight was Troy Cassar Daly’s Take a Walk in My Country with Hickey and Corowa. Jones whipped up mood and momentum on the keys.
‘Sumi Jo’s stage presence was riveting … her heart-on-the-sleeve incantation of Ave Maria … was pure gold’
Sumi Jo, one of the world’s greatest lyric coloratura sopranos, was the guest soloist for Dark Sky Serenade, situated on a spectacular mesa plateau in the open-air setting of Australian Age of Dinosaurs, where the only preserved dinosaur stampede in the world resides.
Jo’s stage presence was riveting. Seeking to enrol everyone, she turns to the conductor, reaches for her co-singer, casts an eye across the orchestral players and above all embraces the audience. Her heart-on-the-sleeve incantation of Ave Maria by Giulio Caccini was pure gold. Unforgettable.
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It was a distinguished line-up, which included Nina Korbe who gave the welcome to Koa country, compered the event and eloquently sang the wordless Eliza’s Aria from Elena Kats-Chernin’s Wild Swans. The female artists all wore opals loaned by local jewellers. On this occasion there were more stars on stage than could be seen in the sky.
Conductor Vanessa Scammell was authoritative and always supportive in her direction of the talented scratch orchestra of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and UQ students, which consistently enabled strong solo performance. Shikara Ringdahl channelled a powerful Stride la vampa from Verdi’s Il Travatore, with her rich Wagnerian tone and lower register of cushioning depth.
Winton is the birthplace of the unofficial Aussie anthem Waltzing Matilda. Appropriately, Bradley Daley delivered a rousing, playful version.
And there’s more. Today (Friday) there will be a recitation of Banjo Paterson’s poetry and The Long Lunch at The Matilda Centre with the gourmet courses sandwiched between bouts of song. Catering provided by Big Red Truck, commonly known as the Outback College of Hospitality Trade Training. The North Gregory Hotel is running a music trivia night.
In Longreach on Saturday there is another alfresco concert, Singing in the Night, at Camden Park Station. It will be a tough environment for the seven soloists because it can be cold and windy. Weather conditions are also a trial for the audio engineers in their role of balancing the programmed Leonard Bernstein, Handel, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn and Puccini pieces.
At Drover’s Place on Sunday Jason Barry-Smith leads Sing Sing Sing, where the audience enjoys belting out traditional bush folksongs.
For the first time in the festival’s five-year stretch, Queensland Governor Jeannette Young will open a seminal gate at the Stockman Hall of Fame to release 2000 head of cattle and a team of women drovers, who are embarking on an 87-day mustering excursion to Roma, a distance of 775km, to raise money to provide meals for the homeless and disadvantaged.
The Festival of Outback Opera continues until May 19; oq.com.au