Melbourne’s Emotionworks Cut Opera was founded by Green Room Award-winning director Julie Edwardson to bring opera to a broader, younger audience. Not only does Emotionworks present opera in a relaxed cabaret environment, it also takes popular pieces from the repertoire and fuses them with different musical genres and vocal styles, spanning jazz, blues, rock and Latin. The works are also condensed to around 90 minutes, promising an immersive, emotionally intense experience for those audience members new and familiar with the art form.

Katy Turbitt, Michael Lampard and Kerry Frankland. Photo © Phil Thomson

When was Emotionworks Cut Opera established, and what does it aim to do?

It was established in 2011, eight years ago, as an opera fusion concept. Prior to this I had been experimenting with cutting down traditional operas to a 90-minute format, but in 2011 we presented our first opera fusion production, which was Carmen integrated with Latin, Salsa, Jazz and Blues.

We integrate opera and other music genres into the opera narrative without compromising the musical integrity and authenticity of these idioms. We have performed in most of Melbourne’s major rock venues like the Prince of Wales and Corner Hotel –...