Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
The New Zealand School of Music is indulging in Midsummer madness as it prepares to present the New Zealand première of Benjamin Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If there was ever a Shakespearian play that lent itself to be translated into opera, it is this fanciful and magical tale and Benjamin Britten’s transformation is shimmering, mysterious, and downright mad.
The opera has become one of Britten’s most popular. Written quickly in 1959 it is widely performed around the world, but this will be the first time it has ever been staged in New Zealand.
In this inspired production by Sara Brodie, conducted by Michael Vinten, Puck has abducted the orchestra from their slumbers to play for us in an illusory playground where the faeries run the show. The flawed Lovers are losing more than just their sense of direction and reason; Bottom is ‘translated’ into an ass, made love to by a faerie Queen and misses his cue. In Shakespeare’s parallel worlds between past and present, faerie and human, theatre and reality, things are running amuck!
Sara Brodie is one on New Zealand’s most inspired directors and her work covers a broad array of genres including theatre, opera and choreography. Michael Vinten is an experienced opera conductor and is currently the Wellington Chorus Master and Associate Conductor for NBR New Zealand Opera.
The performances will feature the finest of New Zealand’s emerging young singers, tutored by NZSM lecturers Margaret Medlyn, Richard Greager and Jenny Wollerman. Together with the NZSM Opera Orchestra and an outstanding creative team, this will be a night of magic, enchantment and hilarity and a not-to-be missed opportunity to experience one of the finest operas of the 20th century.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
an opera in three Acts by Benjamin Britten
Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington
Wednesday August 3, 7:30pm
Friday August 5, 7:30pm
Saturday August 6, 7:30pm
Tuesday August 9, 7:30pm
Bookings through www.eventfinder.co.nz
For more information contact:
Christine Pearce 027 221 3664 / cpearce@paradise.net.nz
Stephen Gibbs 027 5577 854 / stephen.gibbs@nzsm.ac.nz
www.nzsm.ac.nz/events/NZSM-Opera.aspx
Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington
Kelburn, Wellington
stephen.gibbs@nzsm.ac.nz or call 04 463 5369
Member Profile
New Zealand School of MusicThe New Zealand School of Music, launched in 2006, offers an outstanding range of possibilities for the study of music – for students just beginning their exploration of music as a field of study, for students at various levels of advanced study, and for professionals who are seeking opportunities to strengthen and expand their qualifications. NZSM represents the best of both worlds, supporting long traditions of musical expression in classical, jazz and music studies as well as possibilities for new avenues of enquiry in composition, sonic arts and music therapy.
NZSM is a joint enterprise of Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington combined their prestigious Conservatorium of Music and School of Music into a single new school, bringing together more than 60 years’ experience in the fields of performance, composition, historical research and ethnomusicology.
In addition, the New Zealand School of Music’s ongoing connections with these two distinguished universities offer students opportunities for study unique in New Zealand. Our principal campuses are situated in the heart of Wellington, allowing students to participate in the vibrant life of the cultural capital of New Zealand. Students who prefer to live in Auckland have the opportunity to study jazz at our Albany campus; for students who are interested in more flexible options, we offer a range of papers extramurally.
Our distinguished staff are professionally active both in New Zealand and internationally, providing students with the opportunity for training to an international standard of excellence.
