West Australian Opera 2011 Season: Tosca

The 2011 Season of Tosca kicked off last Saturday night.  This controversial production has the local, relatively conservative opera-going public in a stir, who are generally accustomed to more traditional interpretations of the core works of the central repertoire.  For example, Elektra will only receive it's local premiere next year, Gotterdammerung and Aida in their entirety only a few years ago, and Salome has never been performed here, though one of my inside sources tells me it is 'on the horizon'.

Personally I am looking forward to this new staging, hoping it might shake things up a bit.  As much as this is one of my most cherished operatic scores, and admit to loving a traditional production of Tosca, it is one of those works that occasionally needs someone like director Christopher Alden to sweep away the cobwebs of tradition and permit audiences to see it with different vision.

My hope is that the reputation built up around this production in Sydney last year, from the walk-out of soprano Cheryl Barker (more on this at a later date), to the mixed reception of cheers and boo's at it's premiere has not influenced people's desire to see this wonderful opera and therefore affect ticket sales.  

The review from the West Australian can be read here.  I am attending tomorrow nights performance and as a result will post a review of proceedings later in the week.