Expect a rom-com and sex comedy hybrid when new opera lands in Sydney

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Expect a rom-com and sex comedy hybrid when new opera lands in Sydney

By Nick Galvin

Most opera fans would doubtless consider themselves way more sophisticated than their counterparts from 400 years ago, who were typically captivated by a cocktail of comedy, tragedy, sexual shenanigans and the occasional fart joke all threaded together with sublime music.

But Pinchgut Opera’s Erin Helyard believes the same elements that made a hit show in the 17th century can still be relied on to enthral contemporary audiences.

Anna Dowsley and Jonathan Abernethy in rehearsals at the City Recital Hall.

Anna Dowsley and Jonathan Abernethy in rehearsals at the City Recital Hall.Credit:Steven Siewert

“I’m always intrigued by what made things popular in the past and whether that translates today,” the company’s artistic director says.

It’s a philosophy that has brought Pinchgut many successes in its 22 years.

Pinchgut’s coming production of Orontea by Italian composer Antonio Cesti has been variously described as a rom-com, sex comedy and soap opera. It will be the Australian premiere of the work, which was a smash hit with audiences of the day, being revived no fewer than 17 times following its world premiere in 1656.

Orontea, which will star Anna Dowsley, Jonathan Abernethy and American soprano Sofia Troncoso, begins with a debate between the gods as to which is the more powerful – reason or love; head or heart. The deities then embark on an experiment, introducing the devastatingly handsome painter Alidoro to the court of the fictional queen of Egypt, Orontea, inflaming the passions of every woman there.

Constantine Costi is directing, in his first stage engagement with Pinchgut.

“We explore the beautiful buffet of sexual possibilities in the opera,” he says. “It’s about the overwhelming power of love and lust and what it does to the human animal.”

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Constantine Costi is directing <i>Orontea</i>.

Constantine Costi is directing Orontea.Credit:Janie Barrett

For Costi there is also the added dynamic that librettist Giacinto Andrea Cicognini gives much more prominence to the lower-class characters, a radical move for the time.

“We find that the servants and pages behave in a more appropriate, mature way than the people at the top,” he says. “That was shocking and scandalous and was a refreshing way of looking at humanity that wasn’t really seen before in his period.”

Much thought went into the stage design, which is anything but traditional.

“It’s set in Egypt, and we’re like: ‘What the hell does Egypt mean?’ We’re not going to put pyramids on stage, so we have this delicious, slightly trashy Egypt-cum-Las-Vegas feeling to the whole thing. We’re pushing for theatricality, colour and exaggeration. There are recognisable tropes of human beings pushed to a cartoonish level.”

Much consideration has also gone into the dance components and movement generally on stage. Together with choreographer Shannon Burns, who worked on Pinchgut’s successful film A Delicate Fire, Costi says he is on a mission to obliterate “park and bark”, the disparaging term levelled at traditional opera singers who do little else on stage other than sing.

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“We find that the singing improves when the psychology is there and the movement is there,” Costi says. “Everything is tied in. You get these different colours and theatricality that you just don’t get when it’s, you know, Pavarotti sitting on a chair.”

Burns agrees: “They are singing in a way that is so deeply expressive and deeply connected. It makes no sense to be just standing there when you’re emoting that way.”

As well as composing, Cesti also sang, a fact that is very apparent in the music of Orontea, Helyard says.

“Because he was a singer, his music is much more tuneful and lyrical,” he says. “The melodies are really sensual and curvy. It’s saturated with little tunes.”

And as to the central question of whether love or reason rules (spoiler alert: love wins the day), Helyard has his own personal thoughts.

“I go for love all the time,” he says. “I am a thinker, but in the end, as a musician, you always go with your heart.”

Orontea is at City Recital Hall from May 26 to June 1.

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