Chamber Made
Encyclopedia
Chamber Made Opera is an Australian production house for contemporary opera
and music-theatre. Formed in 1988 by theatre director and librettist
Douglas Horton. It is Australia’s only full-time company exclusively devoted to the commissioning and presentation of music-theatre works by living artists.
It has produced over fifteen world premieres by Australian artists, and numerous Australian premieres by artists from around the world. It regularly tours productions internationally.
In 2007 their production of The Hive was nominated for five 2006 Green Room Awards
including: Best Direction (Douglas Horton), Best Design (Paul Jackson and Niklas Pajanti), and Best Male in a Principal Role (Simon Meadows). It won the award for Best Production.
In September 2008 the company announced the formation of their "National Artistic Directorate", currently composed of: Robyn Archer
AO (SA), Gerard Brophy
(QLD), Brett Dean
(VIC), Matthew Lutton (WA), Caroline Stacey (ACT).
Horton stepped down as Artistic Director in March 2009, after 21 years. In 2010 composer David Young was appointed the role of Artistic Director.
As of 2010, Chamber Made Opera's current staff are: Artistic Director / CEO: David Young, General Manager: Joël Murray, Artistic Associate: Sarah Kriegler, Resident Conductor: Brett Kelly, Resident Director: Margaret Cameron, Artistic Associate & Education Director: Alan Gilmour
, Consultant (Strategy & Development): Sophie Travers, Finance Officer: Sally Goldner, Mentorees: Luke Paulding and Amy Turton.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and music-theatre. Formed in 1988 by theatre director and librettist
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
Douglas Horton. It is Australia’s only full-time company exclusively devoted to the commissioning and presentation of music-theatre works by living artists.
It has produced over fifteen world premieres by Australian artists, and numerous Australian premieres by artists from around the world. It regularly tours productions internationally.
In 2007 their production of The Hive was nominated for five 2006 Green Room Awards
Green Room Awards
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
including: Best Direction (Douglas Horton), Best Design (Paul Jackson and Niklas Pajanti), and Best Male in a Principal Role (Simon Meadows). It won the award for Best Production.
Staff past and present
Past staff include General Managers Stephen Armstrong and Robina Burton, and the late Jacqui Everitt, designer. In 2008 the staff were Douglas Horton (Artistic Director), Kylie Trounson (Artistic Associate), Geoffrey Williams (General Manager), Erin Adams (Administrator), Brett Kelly (Musical Associate).In September 2008 the company announced the formation of their "National Artistic Directorate", currently composed of: Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer AO CdOAL is an Australian singer, writer, stage and director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally.-Life:Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia...
AO (SA), Gerard Brophy
Gerard Brophy
Gerard Louis Brophy is a first-class cricketer, presently contracted to Yorkshire. He has also played for Ireland, Free State, Northamptonshire and Transvaal in a well travelled career....
(QLD), Brett Dean
Brett Dean
Brett Dean is a contemporary Australian composer, violist and conductor.-Career:Dean studied at the Queensland Conservatorium where he received a Medal of Excellence. From 1985 to 1999, Dean was a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2000, he decided to pursue a career as a freelance...
(VIC), Matthew Lutton (WA), Caroline Stacey (ACT).
Horton stepped down as Artistic Director in March 2009, after 21 years. In 2010 composer David Young was appointed the role of Artistic Director.
As of 2010, Chamber Made Opera's current staff are: Artistic Director / CEO: David Young, General Manager: Joël Murray, Artistic Associate: Sarah Kriegler, Resident Conductor: Brett Kelly, Resident Director: Margaret Cameron, Artistic Associate & Education Director: Alan Gilmour
Alan Gilmour (Playwright & Librettist)
Alan Gilmour is a playwright and librettist. Born in Edinburgh and raised in Hamilton, Scotland, he studied, lived and worked in London before moving to Melbourne, Australia.-Early Works in Theatre:...
, Consultant (Strategy & Development): Sophie Travers, Finance Officer: Sally Goldner, Mentorees: Luke Paulding and Amy Turton.
Productions
Only first productions are listed- 1988 The Heiress, music: Donald Hollier, text after Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
' novel Washington SquareWashington Square (novel)Washington Square is a short novel by Henry James. Originally published in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, it is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father... - 1989 Recital, music: David ChesworthDavid ChesworthDavid Chesworth is an award-winning Australian-based composer and installation artist. Known for his experimental, and at times minimalist music, he has worked in rock groups, classical ensembles, theatre, opera...
, Puccini, Mozart et al., text: Douglas Horton and Helen Noonan - 1990 The Fall of the House of UsherThe Fall of the House of Usher"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque...
, music: Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, text: Arthur YorinksArthur YorinksArthur Yorinks has written and directed for opera, theater, dance, film, and radio and is the author of over thirty-five acclaimed and award-winning books, including "Hey, Al," a children's book which earned the Caldecott Medal in 1987....
after Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective... - 1991 Greek, music: Mark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
, text: Steven BerkoffSteven BerkoffSteven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt... - 1991 Sweet Death, music: Andree Greenwell, text: Abe Pogos after Claude Tardat
- 1992 The Cars That Ate ParisThe Cars that Ate ParisThe Cars That Ate Paris is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film. Directed by Peter Weir, it was his first feature film. Shot mostly in the rural town of Sofala, New South Wales, the film is set in the fictional town of Paris in which most of the inhabitants appear to be directly, or indirectly,...
, musical improvisationMusical improvisationMusical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
, text by Douglas Horton after Peter WeirPeter WeirPeter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office... - 1992 Lacuna, music: David Chesworth, text: Douglas Horton
- 1993 Improvement: Don Leaves Linda, music & text: Robert AshleyRobert AshleyRobert Ashley , is a contemporary American composer, best known for his operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. Along with Gordon Mumma, Ashley was also a major pioneer of audio synthesis.Ashley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan...
- 1993 MedeaMedeaMedea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
, music: Gordon Kerry, text: Justin Macdonnell after SenecaSeneca the YoungerLucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero... - 1994 The Two Executioners, music: David Chesworth, text: Douglas Horton after Fernando ArrabalFernando ArrabalFernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
's Les Deux Bourreaux - 1995 Tresno, music & text: Jacqui Rutten
- 1995 The Burrow, music: Michael Smetanin, text: Alison CroggonAlison CroggonAlison Croggon is a contemporary Australian poet, playwright, fantasy novelist, and librettist.-Life:Born in the Transvaal, South Africa, Alison Croggon's family moved to England before settling in Australia, first in Ballarat then Melbourne. She has worked as a journalist for the Sydney Morning...
- 1997 Wide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 postcolonial parallel novel by Dominica-born author Jean Rhys. Since her previous work, Good Morning, Midnight, was published in 1939, Rhys had lived in obscurity. Wide Sargasso Sea put Rhys into the limelight once more, and became her most successful novel.The novel...
, music: Brian Howard, text Brian Howard after Jean RhysJean RhysJean Rhys , born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea , written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.-Early life:Rhys was born in Roseau, Dominica... - 1997 Fresh Ghosts, music: Julian Yu, text: Glenn PerryGlenn PerryGlenn Perry is an Australian writer and opera librettist.He is notable for his librettos for Julian Yu's operas Fresh Ghosts and The Possessed . Perry received a grant in 2002 from the Australia Council for the writing of The Obsessed. He wrote the libretto for the operatic version of Helen...
after Lu XunLu XunLu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese... - 1998 Dr Forbes Will See You Now, music: Stephen Ingham, text: Douglas Horton
- 1998 Matricide – The Musical, music: Elena Kats-CherninElena Kats-CherninElena Kats-Chernin is an Australian composer.Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent , and migrated to Australia in 1975.-Europe:...
, text: Kathleen Mary Fallon - 1999 Eight Songs For A Mad King, music: Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
, text: Randolph StowRandolph StowJulian Randolph Stow was an Australian writer.-Life:Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow attended Guildford Grammar School and the University of Western Australia. He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the... - 2000 Gauguin (a synthetic life), music: Michael Smetanin, text: Alison Croggon
- 2000 Teorema, music: Giorgio BattistelliGiorgio BattistelliGiorgio Battistelli is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. A native of Albano Laziale , he studied at the conservatory in L'Aquila and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel, Battistelli has written nearly 20 operas on subjects ranging from Diderot and d'Alembert's...
, scenario after Pier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure... - 2002 Slow Love, music: Stevie Wishart, text: Richard Murphett
- 2002 Motherland, music: Dominique ProbstDominique ProbstDominique Probst is a French composer.The son of a noted playwright, Gisele Casadesus, and actor and director with the Comédie-Française, Lucien Probst, Dominique Probst won the First Prize for Percussion with the National Music Conservatory, Paris, in 1978...
, text: Le Quy Duong - 2003 The Possessed, music: Julian Yu, text: Glenn Perry
- 2003 Phobia, music: Gerard BrophyGerard BrophyGerard Louis Brophy is a first-class cricketer, presently contracted to Yorkshire. He has also played for Ireland, Free State, Northamptonshire and Transvaal in a well travelled career....
, text: Douglas Horton, in homage to Alfred HitchcockAlfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood... - 2003 WalkaboutWalkabout (film)Walkabout is a 1971 film set in Australia, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg and David Gulpilil. Edward Bond wrote the screenplay, which is loosely based on the novel Walkabout by James Vance Marshall...
, music & text: Richard FranklandRichard FranklandFor the nonconformist minister, see Richard Frankland Richard Joseph Frankland is an Australian playwright, scriptwriter and musician. He is an Aboriginal Australian of Gunditjmara origin from Victoria. He has worked significantly for the Aboriginal Australian cause.-Biography:Richard J. Frankland...
after Nicolas RoegNicolas RoegNicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg... - 2004 The Charcoal Club (aka Burning Embers), music & text: Richard Frankland
- 2006 Corruption, music: Sasha Stella, text: Ania WalwiczAnia WalwiczAnia Walwicz is a contemporary Australian poet and prose writer, and visual artist.Ania Walwicz spent her childhood in Poland, coming to Australia in 1963 where she attended the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. Her writing tends toward an impressionistic, stream of consciousness...
after Elisa Evers - 2006 The Hive, music: Nicholas VinesNicholas VinesNicholas Vines , is an Australian composer currently based in the United States. He studied at the University of Sydney with Anne Boyd, Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards. He completed a PhD at Harvard University studying with Harrison Birtwistle, Bernard Rands, Magnus Lindberg, Julian Anderson, Lee...
, text: Sam SejavkaSam SejavkaSamuel Marcus Sejavka Samuel Marcus Sejavka Samuel Marcus Sejavka (born 2 April 1960 in Melbourne, Australia, is a writer, actor and musician.Sejavka grew up in Mt Waverley and attended Holy Family Primary School, a Catholic school in Mt Waverley.... - 2007 Crossing Live, music: Bryony Marks, text: Matt Saville
- 2008 The Children's Bach, music: Andrew SchultzAndrew SchultzAndrew Schultz is an Australian classical composer. Since 2002 he has lived in New South Wales on the coast south of Sydney. He studied at the Universities of Queensland and Pennsylvania and at King's College London and he has received awards, prizes and fellowships including a Fulbright Award ,...
, text: Glenn Perry based on Helen GarnerHelen GarnerHelen Garner is an award-winning Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.-Life:Garner was born in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six children. She attended Manifold Heights State School, Ocean Grove State School and then The Hermitage in Geelong...
's novella
Awards
- 1992 Myer Group Arts Award - Lacuna
- 1994 The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
Performing Arts Awards – Most Outstanding Fringe Performance — The Two Executioners - 2002 Green Room AwardsGreen Room AwardsThe Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
– Best New Score: Slow Love - 2002 Green Room Awards – Best Lighting Design: Motherland
- 2006 Green Room Awards - Best Production: The Hive
- 2007 Helpmann Awards - Best Direction of an Opera: Douglas Horton for The Hive
- 2007 Green Room Awards - Best New Australian Work: Crossing Live, Best Performance-New Form: Luke Elliott in Crossing Live
Discography
- 2001 Wicked Voice includes excerpts from Lacuna and The Two Executioners (Chesworth/Horton), ABC ClassicsABC ClassicsABC Classics is the classical music record label within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is internationally recognised as Australia's premier classical music label, with a catalogue of more than 500 titles...
- 2007 Medea (Kerry/Macdonnell), ABC Classics