From the General Manager

The celebration this year of Co-Opera's 20th Birthday is an occasion of joy and reflection. When incorporation was achieved in 1990 few would have dared forecast the astonishing trajectory of development that is now a matter of the Company's Adelaide, South Australian, National and International performance history.

Indeed, the forecasts at the time were decidedly of a pessimistic nature. It was to be six struggling years before modest Federal touring assistance came our way and eight years before we achieved State annual funding.

But those who could only foresee struggle and heart-ache did not count on the two conditions
that have not only kept the company alive but fully explain the remarkable success story. One is
the keen desire of professional singers, especially young ones, to sing. And the other is the seeming inexhaustible thirst for live operatic experience by regional and remote communities in Australia and elsewhere. When the only alternative is a multi-day, multi-dollar trip to a capital city performance, most communities will greatly appreciate a high quality but modestly scaled performance in their home town.

At its heart, the success story springs from the persistent popularity of opera as an art form. Many alternative experiments have occurred over the last 100 years but nothing looks like replacing music-with-theatre as the distinct favourite for live performance.

L-R Daniella (Bella) Jedrzejczak (Papagena) with Eleanor Blythman (Queen of the Night) The Magic Flute tour of Europe 2009 Photo: Bella Jedrzejcjak

Co-Opera's offering for 2010 graphically displays this widespread popularity at work. In a new production by Adelaide-based director/choreographer, Nick Carroll, over 50 performances of Puccini's La Bohème will cover every Australian mainland State and Territory.
This forms the backbone of the year's activity.
The restaurant performance series, which was inspired by the Friends of Co-Opera, has been renamed A Taste of Opera. With the accent on quality singing/acting and affordability, these slim-line performances are a constant delight to seasoned operas lovers and opera novices alike.

Make up a table and share the delights of Mozart and Bizet with your friends.

And don't forget to keep 3rd July free for the 20th Birthday Party in the Thomas Edmonds
Opera studio, our home at the Adelaide Showground.

Click this 20th Year Birthday Party link for details.

See you there.

Brian Chatterton
General Manager and Musical Director