Online premiere via Sydney Chamber Opera website April 24th 7:30pm (+ stream anytime after the premiere)
or via Carriageworks facebook
Premiere season of complete work (30mins) at Carriageworks, March-April, 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19.
The Invisible Bird examines links between the parallel issues of invisibility and inequality, colonisation and extinction through the mysterious and controversial story of the Night Parrot - a rare Australian bird which was lost, presumed extinct, for almost 100 years.
The libretto is based largely on the scientific Latin names of endangered, near-threatened, vulnerable and extinct Australian birds and morphs in a musical palindrome from egalitarian polyphony, binary confinement, monotonal chant and back again.
Music and text by Bree van Reyk
Part I - An Overture of Birds
Part II - Confinement Aria
Part III - Extinction Aria
Part IV - The Monotone
Part V - The Night Parrot Explanation Group Aria
Conductor > Jack Symonds
Director > Clemence Williams
Set & Costume Design > Charles Davis
Lighting Design > Alexander Berlage
AV Design > David Bergman
Sound Design > Ben Carey
Cast > Jessica O'Donoghue, Jane Sheldon & Mitchell Riley
Ensemble > James Wannan (violin/viola), Ben Ward (double bass), Lamorna Nightingale (flute), Jason Noble (clarinet), Alison Pratt (percussion)
Assistant Conductor > Huw Belling
Production Manager > Jason Thelwell
Stage Management > Ellen Castles, Ayah Tayeh