There is more drama offstage than on at Opera Australia as a serious rift is developing between the company's star vocalizer and its British musical director.
The mezzo-soprano Fiona Janes has accused the company of sliding into "an abysm of mediocrity" as musical, vocal and artistic standards fall.
Adding an additional note of tension is the fact that there is a Briton at the centre of the row.
In a leaked email, she blamed Richard Hickox, the musical theatre director who linked Opera Australia in 2005, for the company's decline. In the email, she alleged that under his directorship, the company has hired "moment and third-rate singers" from overseas, set younger singers in roles that ar too big for them and neglected older artists over 40, especially women.
Janes likewise accused Mr Hickox, wHO created the City of London Sinfonia, of existence away also much and of exhibit disrespect to established local singers.
"As our national company we should all be proud of Opera Australia, however, as it stands now, non many people are," she wrote in the electronic mail, which was obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald. "Let's not destroy it for generations to fall, allowing it to fall into an abyss of mediocrity."
Janes's views do not appear to be shared by the board, which is due to meet side by side week. The company's chieftain executive, Adrian Collette, aforementioned: "Certain allegations have been made and the control board expressed finish confidence in the music director and the management of the company."
The appointment of Mr Hickox, who is due to return to Sydney adjacent week, was not without its argument. When the internationally acclaimed Australian conductor Simone Young was non reappointed when her constrict expired in 2002, her fans were infuriated. Opera Australia's prospect was that her artistic vision was unaffordable.
Mr Hickox, wHO is regarded as one of Britain's most gifted and versatile conductors, was not able to take up his appointment until 2005, only then he attempted to placate those who claimed the company's artistic wholeness was existence compromised by Young's leaving. In a radio interview he aforesaid: "With my ... work internationally, I don't think that you could possibly say I don't have my standards." Asked how he would beguile economics with artistic unity, he explained: "We get to symmetricalness doing really exciting new work with a standard repertoire, but whatever we do, we have to do it absolutely excellently."
Janes has decided to look for the outcome of next week's board confluence before making any further comment just the publication of her email could not have come at a worse time. Opera Australia's up-to-the-minute production of Handel's opera Orlando opens at the Sydney Opera House on Monday. The next day the company will hail its 2009 season at a reception for artists and the media. The party promises to have all the melodrama of classic opera, only this time the leading players will not be on stage.
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