Voss: the Opera

Voss: The Opera

Sidney Nolan, Unnamed ridge, Central Australia, 1949

Voss: An Opera in Two Acts. The most significant adaptation of a White work during his lifetime. See the main page on Voss for information about the novel. As of 2023, the opera has received 25 professional performances in Australia. I have seen no information on international performances, but would love to know about any!

The idea

  • In 1972, Moya Henderson wrote to PW wanting to compose a Voss opera. She subsequently went to Germany to study, and nothing came of it, although the two kept in touch by post – and she would later set another of his texts.
  • In the late 1970s, the Australian Opera came to PW, unsolicited, with the support of director Jim Sharman, to produce an opera of Voss. David Malouf was suggested as the librettist. PW was sympathetic, and Richard Meale was chosen as the composer;.
  • The opera was commissioned by AO with $15,000 support from Friends of the Opera (NSW) and the oversight of esteemed musical director Richard Bonynge.
  • At the 1982 Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Marilyn Richardson and Gregory Yurisich performed a fragment of the unfinished work. PW was uncertain about doing this, and also had his doubts about some of the music’s cheerfulness. Yet he was excited to see the excerpt, and bolstered by the positive critical feedback (see: SMH 8/3/1982).
  • Production time: 3 hours, including intervals.

Performances

Première season (1986 – 1987)

Russell Eddie as Judd, original production of Voss, Opera Australia

Production: The Australian Opera.

Music: Richard Meale, libretto: David Malouf, director: Jim Sharman, set: Brian Thomson, costumes: Luciana Arrighi, conductor: Stuart Challender

Geoffrey Chard (Voss), Marilyn Richardson (Laura), Robert Gard (Le Mesurier), John Pringle (Palfreyman), Gregory Tomlinson (Harry Robards), Heather Begg (Mrs Bonner), Anne-Maree McDonald (Belle Bonner), Robert Eddie (Judd), Clifford Grant (Mr Bonner) with Lesley Stender (Rose Portion), Paul Ferris (Lt Tom Radclyffe), Irene Waugh [Adel] and Rosemary Gunn [Syd] (Mrs Judd), Leonie Cambage [Syd only] (Mercy), Christopher Dawes [Syd only] (Mr Topp) and David Lemke (A Reporter)

White’s cousin, noted fashion designer Luciana Arrighi, did the costume design.

  • Adelaide Festival of the Arts, 1986

4 performances, 1 – 8 March.

Reviewed: J Carmody, National Times, 7-13 March 1986

  • Sydney Opera House, 1986

8 performances, 5 – 28 June. With some revisions, including an orchestral interlude added between the final scene and the epilogue, and the addition of surtitles (due to the availability in Sydney of this still recent technological innovation).

Reviewed: Roger Covell, SMH, 7/6/1986:

“It is shown to be, beyond all doubt, an opera of lyrical idealism, intensely personal in its dramatic method, moving in its human relationships, transfiguring reality with music (and words) of unmistakable nobility.

Maria Prerauer, Australian, 9/6/1986

J Carmody, National Times, 13-19 June 1986

  • State Theatre, Melbourne, 1987

6 performances, 14 March – 2 April.

The production was filmed at the March 26 performance, released with edits as a 120-minute performance on VHS, and re-released several times between 1988 and 1991.

Previewed: The Age 14/3/1987

Reviewed: Tom Sutcliffe, SMH, 25/4/1987:

“At the Melbourne performances of Voss, the audience’s eyes were glued to the text on the idiot board – and frankly the production by Jim Sharman was not worth too close attention.”

Recording

The première production was recorded by ABC, with Phillips, from November 1986 to January 1987, and released on CD in 1987. It won the ARIA award for Best Classical Album in 1988.  The recording utilised the Australian Opera Chorus and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Original cast of Voss, credit to National Library of Australia

Second season [revival] (1990)

Sydney Opera House, 1990

Production: The Australian Opera

Director: Jim Sharman (production rehearsed by Brian FitzGerald), Costumes: Luciana Arrighi, conductor: Dobbs Franks

Same production as première. 6 performances, 8 -26 October

Geoffrey Chard (Voss), Eilene Hannan (Laura), Fiona Maconaghie (Belle), John Wegner (Judd), Jennifer Bermingham (Mrs Judd), Christopher Doig (Le Mesurier), Neil Kirkby (Palfreyman), Michael Martin (Harry), Conal Coad (Mr Bonner), Kerry Elizabeth Brown (Mrs Bonner), and David Collins-White. Conducted by Dobbs Franks.

Reviewed: Maria Prerauer, Australian, 10/10/1990

Fred Blanks, SMH, 10/10/1990

Brian Hoad, Bulletin, 23/10/1990

James Waites, Sydney Review 26 (November 1990)

Marilyn Richardson as Laura and Geoffrey Chard as Voss in Voss, 1987

Revival production, 2022

Victorian Opera in conjunction with the State Opera South Australia.

Concert production.

This concert production was scheduled for two performances in 2021, both of which had to be cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic. (Palais Theatre, Melbourne: 4 August, and Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide: 17 September.)

The production was rescheduled for a single performance at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide, on May 7, 2022, and recorded on video.

Directed by Stuart Maunder, conductor: Richard Mills, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and State Opera Chorus. Costumes: Roger Kirk AM / Lighting: Ben Flett and Martin Howard

Samuel Dundas (Voss), Emma Pearson (Laura), Pelham Andrews (Judd / Mr Bonner), Nicholas Jones (Harry), Michael Petruccelli (Le Mesurier), Joshua Rowe (Palfreyman), Jessica Dean (Belle), Mark Oates (Tom), Cherie Boogaart (Mrs Bonner / Mrs Judd), Jiacheng Ding (Topp), with Jeremy Tatchell (Reporter), Rachel McCall (Rose/Mercy), Trevor Jamieson (Dugald), Elijah Valadian (Jacky)

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