Southern Opera takes to the skies

July, 2008
Media Release

Southern Opera takes to the skies

Southern Opera’s forthcoming production of Verdi’s operatic masterpiece, Il trovatore, is about to give ‘soaring voices’ a whole new meaning. Following a five-performance season in Christchurch in September/October, the entire cast, orchestra, crew, extras and even instruments will literally take to the skies in a whirlwind trip to Dunedin for a one-off performance as part of the Otago Festival of the Arts on Saturday October 11th.

“When people think of flying in relation to opera performance, pieces of scenery moving on and off stage via the fly tower most likely spring to mind”, said Christopher Doig, Southern Opera’s Executive Chairman - “But this flight is something else, entirely”. “Air New Zealand will play a critical part in ensuring Southern Opera’s mandate is fulfilled - to provide world-class opera performance to audiences in the South Island.”

The schedule is a real challenge for the company’s Production Manager, Rob Peters. He has the daunting task of ensuring the full-scale set is packed onto trucks and freighted through the night to Dunedin’s Regent Theatre, installed safely and ready for sound check, and all within 40 hours. “A lot of careful planning is going into this production,” said Rob, “We have a team of extremely experienced people to ensure everything runs smoothly and according to plan”.

The company of over 100 consists of orchestra members, principal artists, chorus, crew, non-singing extras and even a few body builders. They will board the chartered Boeing 737 on Saturday 11th October, embark on the short flight from Christchurch to Dunedin and head straight to the Regent Theatre. Immediately after the performance (and less than 12 hours later) they depart once again on their return flight back to Christchurch.

After the season finale of one of the most dramatic operatic works ever written, there is little doubt that the corks will be popping on the flight home, and the Air New Zealand cabin crew will be looking after some of the world’s operatic greats including Russian Elena Bocharova, American Carlo Scibelli and Korean Seung-Wook Seong not to mention New Zealand’s own Patricia Wright. This is one night when you can be sure there will be a few more stars in the sky.

Il trovatore will be performed in Italian with English surtitles.

Tickets are available from Ticketek.
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, September 30, October 2, 4, 7, 9
Regent Theatre, Dunedin, Otago Festival of the Arts October 11

ENDS

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