OperaChaser — Paul Selar Home of the OperaChaser Critics Awards (The OCCAs) • Reviewer for @arts_review Contributor to @LimelightArtsAu | @operamagazine
Melbourne, Australia
Joined May 2013
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The inaugural OperaChaser Critics Awards got a rap in @LimelightArtsAu. Thanks so much! limelight-arts.com.au/news/i…
Northcote Town Hall is the setting for tonight’s opening of @BK_Opera’s first foray into Wagner, with director Kate Millett’s take on Tristan and Isolde, a cast with proven Wagner experience and just two pianos. No doubt, a very different kind of Tristan awaits!
This is wonderful news! @MelbourneOpera announcing a full year’s season at once is a significant step forward for the company and a real win for audiences planning ahead, with Parsifal, The Elixir of Love, Rigoletto and Tosca to look forward to. artsreview.com.au/melbourne-…
Opening Thursday evening, Melbourne’s affair with the works of Wagner continues as the sprawling, transcendental love story of Tristan and Isolde gets the @BK_Opera experience — Wagner on an intimate scale, and no doubt with a fresh perspective! artsreview.com.au/bk-opera-p…
Co-opera’s Der Freischütz looked promising: Ulricke Barbara von Radichevich’s set & costume designs conveyed thoughtful darkness and intrigue. And, reduced to solo piano, Weber’s score was played with great dramatic intensity by the clear star of the night, Stephen van der Hoek.
Performances were patchy, however. The seven-voice chorus, frustratingly seated beside the piano facing the stage, was unreliable in dramatic colouring and intonation.
As the first opera recording I ever bought, Der Freischütz holds a special place in my operatic heart. Now, here’s another chance to see it live at @cityofmelbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre 2, in a small-budget production presented by SA-based @Operaonthemove. Welcome to the city!
Back @cityofmelbourne’s Athenaeum 2 to revisit @MelbourneOpera’s Così fan tutte. A year on, it’ll be interesting to see how a fresh ensemble of emerging artists brings Mozart’s comedy, its emotional complexities and gender politics to life.
With the reopening of @artscentremelb’s State Theatre (as the Ian Potter), something this eventful calls for something big. I reckon @OperaAustralia’s Wagner Gala Concert fits the bill nicely.
Meet Hartley Trusler, the Perth-born baritone who just took out the first prize ($35,000) at the 102nd @theheraldsun Aria final. Congratulations! 🥂
Hartley’s composure and ability to command attention were immediate, his vocal delivery suave and shapely, and his singing marked by sincerity across two contrasting, well-chosen arias.
Coming up: six emerging opera singers competing for the 2026 @theheraldsun Aria prize, in partnership with @MelbourneOpera, at @MelbRecital — Harley Trusler, Leon Vitogiannis, Livia Brash, Joshua Erdelyi-Gotz, Kate Pengelly and Chloe James. Looking forward to hearing your best!
A complex dynamic and moments of genuine depth — perhaps not as much as the themes it explores demand — exist in @VictorianOpera’s premiere of Jane Hammond & Therèsa Borg’s adaptation of Helen Garner’s 2008 novel, The Spare Room. My thoughts @arts_review: artsreview.com.au/the-spare-…
It has been so long since I’ve been to @artscentremelb’s fine Playhouse Theatre. It’s the premiere of @VictorianOpera’s The Spare Room. I haven’t read Helen Garner’s novel, which the work is based on, but this is opera — and I’m putting my trust in its power to move.
Today’s streetscape view — various shapes and sizes, styles and textures, on @StonningtonCity’s Toorak Road, South Yarra.
Pairing unrelenting eeriness with an Early-Victorian era modest aesthetic, @VictorianOpera’s The Turn of the Screw aligns truthfully with Britten’s original vision — and its musical and vocal qualities are an operatic triumph. My thoughts @arts_review:
artsreview.com.au/the-turn-o…
Pairing unrelenting eeriness with the modest aesthetic of the Early-Victorian era, @VictorianOpera’s production of The Turn of the Screw aligns truthfully and powerfully with Britten’s original vision. On top of that, its musical and vocal qualities are an operatic triumph.
Just one performance remaining at St Kilda’s magnificent @PalaisTheatre — Thursday 1st October. Don’t miss it!