Overview
Four Australian female composers. Four singers. Four dramatic operatic works inspired by mythology, literature and rare Australian birds. World premiering on one night. Streaming on the Carriageworks Facebook page at 7.30pm AEST on Saturday, April 25, the four-part Breaking Glass was meant to be performed inside the physical arts precinct from March 8–April 4, but its temporarily closure forced the show's premiere online.
Presented by Sydney Chamber Opera and Carriageworks together with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Composing Women Program, Breaking Glass is broken into four one-act operas by female composers. There's Commute by Peggy Polias, which combines Homer's Iliad with a modern women's uneasy walk home at night; Josephine Macken's terrifying The Tent inspired by Margaret Atwood's writing; The Invisible Bird by Bree van Reyk, telling the true tale of a rare Australian parrot; and Georgia Scott's Her Dark Marauder, which uses Sylvia Plath's poetry to explore a women's battle for identity.
If you can't already tell, these aren't your typical operas. Expect electronic music, "abstract aural soundscapes", smoke surrounding performers, kaleidoscopic digital projections and stories firmly planted in the 21st century.
Breaking Glass world premieres on Carriageworks' Facebook page at 7.30pm.
Images: Daniel Boud