STC’s new AD will direct Britten’s Roman tale for Sydney Chamber Opera as part of Carriagework’s ambitious 2017 season.

Carriageworks has revealed that Sydney Theatre Company’s brand new Artistic Director Kip Williams will direct Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with Sydney Chamber Opera as part of its ambitious 2017 season.

Sydney Chamber Opera’s The Rape of Lucretia, photo © Samuel Hodge

Rising operatic star Anna Dowsley will sing the title role, in the first performance of the work in Sydney this century. Williams, whose work in theatre often features music as an integral part, has directed a number of productions for Sydney Chamber Opera in the past, most recently a radical staging of Fausto Romitelli’s An Index of Metals at Carriageworks in 2015.

Kip Williams’ production of Romitelli’s An Index of Metals in 2015

Some of the other highlights of Carriageworks’ 2017 include the inaugural edition of The National: New Australian Art, the result of a partnership between Carriageworks, the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which will explore the latest forms in Australian contemporary art.

In September Ensemble Offspring will present Who dreamed it? featuring world premieres showcasing US-based Australia soprano Jessica Aszodi. The performance will include new works by Lisa Illean and Jennifer Walshe as well as Unsuk Chin’s breakthrough work from the 1990s, Acrostic Wordplay.

More new work will follow in November when Bangarra Dance Theatre presents One’s Country – The Spine of Our Stories, a triple bill especially commissioned for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company’s second year at Carriageworks. Directed by Bagnarra’s Artistic Director Stephen Page, One’s Country – The Spine of Our Stories will bring together the choreographic talents of Djakapurra Munyarryun, Elma Kris, Nicola Sabatino and Kaine Sultan-Babij. The three new works will take audiences across Australia – from North East Arnhem Land’s red dust, to the waters of the Torres Strait Islands – to Indigenous urban life, exploring gender challenges and the human spirit.

“In 2017, we have collaborated with Australian and International artists who consistently question and experiment with form – whether music, fashion, food or art – who create immersive experiences that aren’t overly defined, and provide great moments of joy and wonder for audiences to engage with those ideas,” said Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah. “The stories we tell through our collaborations and our programmes is the story of contemporary life, contemporary urban Sydney of an imagined future driven by always remembering and acknowledging our shared histories.”


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