Greg Eldridge, Director | 2016 Update

Lovely to read Australian Director, Greg Eldridge’s 2016 update. His career has flourished in the UK thanks mainly to his 2 years with the Royal Opera House, Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, Covent Garden. His articles about his work as an assistant director, shared by Melbourne based arts magazine, Rehearsal Magazine,  giving us a look behind the scenes with Neil Armfield’s production of Wagner’s, The Ring Cycle with Opera Australia are brilliant, and give us  a rare insight into the hard work and discipline required to produce such a complex piece.

We wish Greg all the very best of success in 2017. We just found out that he was named 2016 Outstanding Director for an Independent Company by Opera Chaser for his production of Trouble of Tahiti for the Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival. Congratulations from us all at the Tait.

Outstanding Director – Independent
Greg Eldridge
Trouble in Tahiti, Gertrude Opera for the Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival

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END OF YEAR NEWSLETTER

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Welcome to my final update for 2016!

I’m excited both to be looking back on a hugely eventful year and looking forward to the exciting new challenges of 2017. This last 12 months has seen me see out my position as Jette Parker Associate Director at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden as well as directing shows in Italy and China and working for the first time with Opera Australia on their Ring Cycle.

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This year, I’ve worked on a total of 10 operas, 2 plays and a dance piece, and I’ve been blessed to have worked with a huge number of amazing colleagues both on- and off-stage. I’ve been pleased also to continue my work with emerging singers and directors as a mentor and speaker for the Stonecrabs Young Directors Training Programme, Cooper Hall Opera Club, Music Academy International, Gertrude Opera Studio, and through various talks and workshops for The Royal Opera.

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I’ve also been honoured this year to have been appointed to the Opera Committee of Stage Directors UK, where I have joined fellow directors Sam Brown and Elijah Moshinsky to work on behalf of opera directors in the UK. SDUK represents the interests of directors across all forms of theatre and at all stages of career, and I encourage anyone who is involved in this area of theatre practice to join now!

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I’m really grateful to have had such an amazing year, and I’m looking forward to 2017, which will see me work in 5 countries on some of my favourite pieces – details to come…

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Source: 2016 Update

On rejections | Seraglio

A non-musical pressed blog but so relevant to us too. A very well written piece about rejection and all that entails. Jenny’s debut novel THE SECRET SON received rave reviews in Australia…a little birdie tells me she quite like Wagner after seeing the Opera Australia, Ring. Might she be tempted to write an opera libretto (See we got back to music…)

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Jenny Ackland is a writer and teacher who lives in Melbourne. Her first novel THE SECRET SON was published by Allen & Unwin in September 2015, and her second novel LITTLE GODS is forthcoming in 2017. LITTLE GODS has a gothic Mallee 1980s setting and is about resilience and revenge.

I’m writing this mainly I guess for any writers who might be reading. Rejections (note the plural) are part of the game. And it is a game, not a fun game or one of manipulation, but of patience, perseverance, and professionalism. Another thing: it’s a long game.

I wrote about rejection here, for author Lee Kofman, and how me submitting a terribly-written travel article back in 1990 (and getting rightly rejected – and in retrospect it was a LOVELY ‘No’ letter, I have the feeling it came from Jonathan Green) meant that I didn’t submit anything for years. I didn’t stop writing, I’m not that precious or thin-skinned, but If I’d known then what I know now, a slow-dawning awareness that started building once I started writing seriously with a view to publication from 2008 onwards, I would have seen that not only was that piece a draft, wholly unworked and not worthy of appearance outside of my diary pages, rejection does not mean you are shit.

Now, as I am sitting with a completed second novel manuscript, the first draft of a third ready for next-stage development, and fourth in its early stages, I am so glad that not only was that pathetic travel piece denied its place in the canon lol, but also that the first few submissions I made to literary journals were nixed as well. I know now that my novels need a long, long time in the oven, with the preparation of them like one of those crazy recipes that have so many ingredients you almost decide not to cook the bloody thing, but then you think, well, give it a whirl, it’s the weekend, I’ve got the whole day, and you make the hugest mess of the kitchen, use every pot and pan, and you kind of enjoy it but kind of think ‘why am I even doing this?’ And it took me a while to realise that if I can manage my impatience by thinking ‘the thing will improve, take your time, this is nowhere near finished’ and resist rushing it to readers, an agent, the publisher, then the pressure comes off a bit.

Advice on how to attract a publisher

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Source: On rejections | Seraglio

Behind The Ring: Part Three – Siegfried — Re:hearsal Magazine

Moving into the theatre with Opera Australia

Siegfried, Opera Australia 2016 – Photo by Jeff Busby

The stage rehearsals are here. After 6 weeks in the rehearsal studio, 12 months of planning, preparation and meetings, and 3 years since the first performance of this Cycle, we’re in the State Theatre in Melbourne, ready to throw everything we’ve done in the rehearsal rooms onto the stage.The stage rehearsals bring their own special kind of magic that isn’t possible in the confines of the rehearsal room. Suddenly, after weeks of being figuratively (if not literally) staring up the noses of the singers, the directing team is perched at the production desk about half-way back in the stalls and we’re able to see the full height, width, and depth of the set and its surrounds.

Siegfried, Opera Australia 2016 – Photo by Jeff Busby

The stage sessions are (almost) always my favourite part of the production; there are many worse places to be in the world than nestled in the red velvet comfort of the State Theatre. For me, there’s nothing quite as exciting as sitting bleary-eyed late at night in an otherwise empty theatre, and staring at the set as the all-important, yet subtle, nuances of lighting are achieved.

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Source: Behind The Ring: Part Three – Siegfried — Re:hearsal Magazine

Where it all began – Interview: Liane Keegan – Classic Melbourne

Our Inaugural Concert at Australia House, 1992.
Our Inaugural Concert at Australia House, 1992

Lovely interview with our first awardee, Liane Keegan. Liane was the reason that Isla Baring created the Tait Memorial Trust in 1992.

Liane Keegan with Isla Baring
Liane Keegan with Isla Baring

Liane wanted to further her studies in the UK but needed financial assistance to allow her to continue. Isla offered to produce a concert at Australia House, invited her friends,  and due to their generosity raised a great deal of money and the Trust was born…well it wasn’t quite that simple but that is how we started. 

Now 24 years later the Trust has helped over 300 young Australians and has raised more than £600,000 to assist young Australian performing artists to complete their studies in the United Kingdom. And it all began with a young contralto from Victoria.

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Derek Nimmo with Isla Baring at the first Tait Event 1992

Now we are thrilled to see Liane is at the very top of her chosen profession and is singing Erda in the Neil Armfield production of Wagner’s epic Ring at Melbourne’s State Theatre, with Opera Australia.

Below is her interview with fellow Australian, Deborah Humble that was published in Classic Melbourne


Deborah Humble talks with dramatic contralto Liane Keegan about her musical life in Melbourne and recreating the role of Erda in the 2016 Melbourne Ring.

What motivated your return to Australia in 2012 and what is your perception of the cultural and artistic life here by comparison?

I no longer enjoyed working in opera in Germany. I had been living overseas for 20 years by this stage and felt it was time to come home.

The fest system stifles individual development if you are an ensemble member as I was at the Deutsche Opera. Without being able to supplement my monthly stipend with guest contracts it was also no longer financially viable to remain in Germany.

Since my return to Melbourne my life has been extremely happy and fulfilled. I have had some wonderful opportunities with my singing and my teaching studio was very quickly established and I now have many talented young singers working with me on a weekly basis. I also established XLArts.org, a not for profit group, with conductor Patrick Burns and we work to provide performance opportunities for developing singers of all ages and stages, to help them further develop their craft and skill set as burgeoning opera singers.

The opera and arts scene here in Australia is very different to Europe. In Australia we don’t have the commitment to the arts that the Europeans do either financially or culturally. In Europe very young children are taken to the opera not as a special treat but as a part of their daily life. Here the companies are working hard on this next generation of opera lover and there is some very fine work being done by these companies in Australia. However, I do not feel that more funding to the Arts is the answer but better education. The lack of music education in schools here now means that exposure for the young to art and culture is just not there in their foundation years and that is vitally important to the future of our artistic culture.

Melbourne is fabulously cultural and creative and certainly has the most going on in the field of opera of all our capital cities. I was amazed and rather overwhelmed by the choice of entertainment available and could not get over how much the arts scene had “exploded” in Melbourne since my departure in 1992. It is fabulous to see that there are companies and groups catering to the needs of performers at all levels and to suit all musical tastes. I was thrilled that we still have a Victorian opera company as I was overseas during the demise of its predecessor and that made me very sad indeed.

The orchestras in Melbourne are also world class and I have been most fortunate to work with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as well as the many and varied community and council sponsored orchestras. We now have the Melbourne Recital Centre and the vast amount of performances offered there are of an extremely high standard. As an audience member all my needs are catered for and I am more often than not, spoilt for choice! My needs as a performer are also met here in Melbourne and I am busier than I ever was in Europe….

Read More

Source: Interview: Liane Keegan – Classic Melbourne

Article details:Interview: Liane Keegan
Published: 14th November, 2016 Author: Deborah Humble

Deborah Humble joins the Music Board of the Tait Memorial Trust

Acclaimed for her performances of the works of Richard Wagner, Australian mezzo-soprano, Deborah Humble is one of Australia’s most successful international singers. She has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Easter Festival, Seattle Symphony, with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Hamburg Philharmonic and the London Mozart Players and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. We are delighted to confirm that Deborah has agreed to join the Music Board, of esteemed Australian performers and artists, of the Tait Memorial Trust.

After gaining a Bachelor of Music from the University of Adelaide and a Masters Degree from the University of Melbourne, Deborah was a member of the Victoria State Opera Young Artist Programme. Having been a Principal Artist for both Opera Australia and The State Opera of Hamburg she has embarked upon a freelance career which takes her all over the world. Deborah is a highly sought after adjudicator and advanced teacher in Australia and recently gave a master class for the Melba Trust in Melbourne, as part of her role as a Mentor with the Trust, and was also invited to adjudicate for the Sydney Eisteddfod

The Music Board and the Artistic Planning Committee bring their vast international experience to assist us in selecting our Annual awards. Over the past three years our awards have more than doubled, and have  increased to £40,000 per annum, with several awards of £5,000 per awardee, the selection process is vital to ensure the most deserving and talented young artists are supported in their studies.

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Deborah Humble, Mezzo-Soprano

Deborah joins our Music Board which is chaired by TMT Chairman, Isla Baring OAM

Caroline Almonte, Concert Pianist
Julian Gavin, Operatic Tenor
Dr Leslie Howard, Concert Pianist
Deborah Humble, Operatic Mezzo-Soprano
Liane Keegan, Operatic Dramatic-Contralto
Cameron Menzies, Stage & Opera Director
Anthony Roden, Operatic Tenor & Teacher

Tait Artistic Planning
Jessica Cottis, Conductor
Jayson Gillham, Concert Pianist
Katrina Sheppeard, Operatic Soprano
Chad Vindin, Accompanist

To apply for a Tait Award please check our website here for further information.

Behind The Ring: Part Two – Die Walküre — Re:hearsal Magazine

Part two of young Australian opera director’s, Greg Eldridge’s, article about assisting Neil Armfield on Wagner’s, Ring Cycle for Opera Australia.

Stepping behind the curtain of Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle. 

 Auf der Erde Rücken wuchtet der Riesen Geschlecht
On the Earth’s surface dwells the race of Giants
– Wotan, Act 1 – Siegfried

The first time working for any company is a bit intimidating – make sure you get signed in, get a pass, meet a thousand people and try to remember exactly who does what. I’ve arrived in Sydney for the first month (!) of rehearsals, which will take place in The Opera Centre studios in Surry Hills. In London, I’m used to everything taking place in the flash of an eye (a week for a revival of Tosca, 10 days to get together a Traviata, perhaps 3 weeks for a new production of Così) so I’m looking forward to a process that will span 6 weeks in rehearsal studios, then a further 6 weeks on stage before opening night.

To read the full article please click here to go to Rehearsal Magazine

Source: Behind The Ring: Part Two – Die Walküre — Re:hearsal Magazine

Behind The Ring: Part One – Das Rheingold — Rehearsal Magazine

Terrific piece by @Geldridg_ written for @rehearsalmag about the @OperaAustralia #RingCycle

Source: Behind The Ring: Part One – Das Rheingold —Re:hearsal Magazine ©

Heading backstage at Opera Australia’s epic Ring Cycle.

In the month leading up to opening night of Opera Australia’s epic Neil Armfield production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, assistant director Greg Eldridge is taking Rehearsal Magazine readers behind the scenes. 12 months before rehearsals. It’s the email with the subject line that every jobbing director loves to see: “Enquiry for future season”.

GREG IN REHEARSAL AT THE ROYAL OPERA. PHOTO: SIGNE RODERIK, ROH

I’d met with Lyndon Terracini (Artistic Director of Opera Australia) while he was on one of his frequent trips to London and we’d talked in the bar of his hotel about the possibility of me returning to work in Australia after my time as Jette Parker Associate Director at the Royal Opera. It had been 5 years since I’d uprooted and moved to London, and I was keen to find a means to come back home for a time.So, from that meeting in February 2015, here it was in October and I’d finally received an email from Joanne Goodman (then Senior Artist Manager) to ask me to hold dates.

I was in the middle of stage rehearsals for my production of The Lighthouse at the Royal Opera, so there was a lot going on, but there’s a secret joy that never diminishes whenever an offer of work comes in (Public Service Announcement – spread happiness today by making me an offer of work!).The offer is to assist Neil Armfield (original director) on the revival of his 2013 production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (better known as The Ring Cycle). My main responsibilities are to be the third and fourth operas in the cycle – Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (each in excess of 5 hours) – as well as working on parts of Die Walküre. I had worked on a Ring Cycle a few years previously, assisting Alan Privett in the Longborough Ring conducted by Anthony Negus, and had found it one of the most intense and amazing experiences in my career. The Ring is the biggest undertaking in opera, and it requires a lot of rehearsal time to get through all the studio, stage-piano and stage-orchestra rehearsals and so the company was asking for me to be in Australia from the end of August 2016 until the end of November – all up 14 weeks.  The opportunity to return home for a decent amount of time and to work with the company I’d grown up watching are very strong pull factors, but it is a long time to give up being in amongst the theatres in London.

DVD STILL

As always with big projects, there is a bit of an existential crisis – would I be forgotten if I left my adopted home in the UK for 3 months? I’m just about to direct my fourth production at the ROH, is it the right career move to return home as an assistant or would I be better served to stay in Europe directing in my own right? Then again, how many opportunities would I have to return home, especially to work on one of the greatest projects in the operatic world? I asked my colleagues at the Royal Opera what they thought would be best. I asked my friends and family in the UK and Australia what they thought. I weighed up the financial consequences, the emotional arguments, the logistical implications.

I said yes.

9 months before rehearsals

My Christmas present from Opera Australia arrived in a nondescript brown box. It was delivered to the Staff Directors office at Covent Garden, where my desk is already overflowing with documents relating to Jonathan Kent’s Tosca which is being rehearsed over the Christmas break. Inside are all the things that make a director’s heart leap (apart from stationery – sticky tabs and highlighters make everything great).

DIE WALKÜRE ACT II

As is my usual practice I’ve asked for blank scores for each opera, copies of the archive recordings that are made of every production and the stage management and staff director notes from the 2013 productions. Although the exact duties expected of directors in revivals varies from show to show, the broad principals are the same – it’s our job when we’re leading the room to recreate the spirit of the production as it was when first presented, using the original staging as a starting point. This requires an intimate knowledge not just of the opera itself but also the intricacies and details of the original show. Directors’ scores are a little different from a singer’s vocal score. In addition to the vocal lines and text, our single-sided scores need to carry at a glance the detail of the movement, thought-progressions and technical information required to present a complete picture of the role. It’s not enough for us to merely say ‘and then you exit stage-left’; we have to know that the singer ‘exits stage-left, but has to be careful because of the scenery change being prepared in the wings, then has three minutes to swap over wig and costume and will then re-enter on the other side of the stage in a different emotional state as during their time off-stage their character has learned important new information’.

The rule of thumb for directors’ scores is that the information should be clear, legible, and able to be picked up by the next person who revives the show without needing any further explanation. To that end, I take great care with my scores. Characters’ vocal lines are highlighted to enable sections to be easily identified, literal translations are written above the text in the event that the next person isn’t fluent in the original language (and, let’s face it, Wagner’s poetry is written in language archaic enough to confuse even native speakers!). There is also technical information (lighting cues, revolve speeds and indications of when bits of scenery are flying in and out), as well as quotes from the original director to help in the interpretation of parts of the text. Finally, there are coloured tabs to indicate entries, exits, new scenes and important technical effects (watch out for the fire!).

It takes a lot of time to prepare scores fully – the last time I did a Ring Cycle it took over 100 hours to have everything written in and ready for rehearsals; I’ll be spending time working on my scores around other projects over the next 9 months to make sure everything is in place.

1 month before rehearsals

I’m just about to board a plane for Australia! It’s been a whirlwind couple of months leading up to this moment – I’ve just returned from Italy directing a new production of L’incoronazione di Poppea, having travelled there hours after the last performance of a new Il trovatore at the Royal Opera, which had occupied the last few weeks. I had enough time to come back to London and pack before (finally!) leaving the grey British skies for the promise of an Australian summer.

In between these other productions, I haven’t neglected my Ring Cycle preparation; I’ve been coaching with music staff at Covent Garden on each of the operas I’m working on in order to get under the musical skin of the piece. I’ve also been going through line-by-line, word-by-word with Dominik Dengler the chief German Language Coach in London and a veteran of several Ring Cycles. The result has been lots of notes, many discovered nuances and a greater understanding of the narrative of the cycle.

I’ve also been paying close attention to the DVD recordings of the first production from 3 years ago. Every major opera house makes these kinds of recordings, usually from a single fixed-point camera located at the back of the auditorium, which are used to document the staging of each show. Although these recordings are quite good at giving a wide view of the whole stage, they are not high in definition and so when there are lots of people on stage it can sometimes be a case of following the ‘white blur’ as they move about the stage in amongst the other blurs. It’s also a really useful way to see which of the original staging ideas survived the transition from the rehearsal studio to the stage. Often assistant directors are run off their feet during the stage rehearsal process and so these recordings can help bridge the gap between what has been written down in the book and what ends up taking place in performance.

Never one to miss the chance to do a show, once I arrive in Melbourne, I’ll spend 2 weeks directing a new production of Trouble in Tahiti before heading to Sydney to go into lock-down ahead of the start of Ring rehearsals. The last 12 months have been a lot of time spent by myself with the technical diagrams, video recordings and hundreds and hundreds of pages of music. The next step will be to meet the team I’ll be spending the next three months with and to begin the process of actually getting the action from the page onto the floor.

Source: Behind The Ring: Part One – Das Rheingold —Re:hearsal Magazine ©

Brad Cooper sings Albert! Live review: Albert Herring (Opera Australia) – Classical Music – Limelight Magazine

Live review: Albert Herring (Opera Australia) – Classical Music – Limelight Magazine.

Brad Cooper, Tenor
Brad Cooper, Tenor

Attached is a link to the full review in Limelight Magazine for the new, Albert Herring at Opera Australia. The originally cast Albert, Tenor, Kanen Breen unfortunately had to cancel due to an infection and Brad, with little rehearsal, jumped in and not only saved the day but gave a stunning performance. I hope Kanen recovers quickly. Sad to for Kanen’s  wife, the lovely mezzo who was to sing Lady Billows,  Jacqueline Dark, who was a Tait Trust Awardee in 2001, who was also struck low by the same virus

“The cast are, without exception, on excellent vocal form, and several can be singled out, but the laurels on opening night were most definitely won by Brad Cooper in the title role. Albert is a tricky part, an avowed ‘simple soul’, it’s important to understand what that means in a more sensitive age. Given his adeptness at maths and sharpness of mind, nowadays we would probably have him down as a mild case of Aspergers. Cooper is totally convincing – both as a young man and as one coming to terms with the complex and frustrating sexual side of his character in an entirely closed society. The relationship with his mother and his burgeoning feelings for his best friend’s girl are delightfully explored. He captures better than anyone I’ve seen previously in the role the sense of Albert as outsider – his first monologue relating him firmly to characters like Grimes and Paul Bunyan’s Johnny Inkslinger. He also proves vocally ideal, exhibiting a perfect ‘light’ Britten tenor and bearing comparison with the likes of Bostridge, Padmore and Gilchrist. He is equally capable of a hushed pianissimo and a ringing forte and every word is clean and audible. His drunk scene was exemplary, pacier than is sometimes the case, and genuinely touching. A most auspicious debut.” By Clive Paget on Aug 17, 2013