Baroque Banter

Pinchgut Opera’s pre-concert podcast, hosted by Genevieve Lang, with guest, Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director, Erin Helyard. For over three centuries, Venice was home to a special institution unique in music history: the ospedali. These were inaugurated as state-run shelters for poor or homeless children and the ospedali provided the very first formally organised music education for female musicians outside the convent. Between 1585 and 1855 the ospedali employed the very best professional musicians in Europe to educate the women who boarded there, and in the early eighteenth century the Pietà boasted the most famous musician of them all: Antonio Vivaldi. Join Genevieve and Erin as they explore the little-known history of the women and girls of the Ospedale della Pietà, who were amongst the leading singers and instrumentalists of their time, with the composer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau quoted as saying, "I have not an idea of anything so voluptuous and affecting as this music...." ----- A transcendent concert experience awaits you this September with the divine element of the female voice at its heart as Pinchgut Opera presents Women of the Pietà.

Pinchgut Opera's pre-opera podcast, hosted by Genevieve Lang, with very special guests Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director Erin Helyard, and Director Constantine Costi. Witty, beautiful and psychologically fascinating, Orontea is set in a heightened contemporary world somewhere between Egypt and Las Vegas. The story centres around a love octagon, where decadence, pleasure and power fuel our colourful cast of grandiose and joyful characters as they pursue their personal passions above all else. When it premiered at Innsbruck in February 1656, Orontea became one of the most successful operas of the entire century, deftly combining Cesti’s melodic inventiveness with Cicognini’s clever and comic libretto. With Pinchgut’s imaginative staging and musical assurance, Orontea is guaranteed to amuse and delight our audiences of today, just as it did then.

Pinchgut Opera's pre-concert podcast hosted by Genevieve Lang with very special guest, Pinchgut Opera's Artistic Director, Erin Helyard. The Spiritual Forest by Monteverdi is a concert featuring some of the most sublime sacred music ever written, taken from Claudio Monteverdi's magnum opus of 1641, Selva morale e spirituale. Genevieve and Erin explore the history and musicology of the work, delving deep into early music that Monteverdi not only composed, but also helped pioneer.

In this podcast, Artistic Director Erin Helyard delves into the vibrant world of baroque ornamentation. Singers both then and now are expected to ornament their music in an exciting way that shows off their technique and expression. We look at treatises, unearth some recently discovered ornamentation in Handel’s hand, and lift a lid on the ornamental art of the great baroque singers.

Platée's pre-opera podcast hosted by Genevieve Lang with very special guests Pinchgut Opera's Artistic Director Erin Helyard, and cast members Kanen Breen and Cathy-Di Zhang. Celebrated Australian director Neil Armfield makes his Pinchgut debut in a deliciously twisted comedy by one of the greatest French baroque composers. Rameau clearly enjoyed himself composing this one-of-a-kind comédie lyrique, for the marriage of the Dauphin Louis XV to the Princess Maria Teresa of Spain – reputedly a woman of very little beauty – telling the story of the irresistibly outlandish marsh nymph Platée being tricked into believing that Jupiter is in love and wants to marry her. Platée | City Recital Hall | 1 - 8 December.

We are thrilled to present a new episode of Baroque Banter, The Economics of Opera. In this fascinating episode, Erin examines how opera was run and funded in the age of Monteverdi, Cavalli and Cesti; who got paid the most and the least, who were the movers and shakers, and who were the impresarios who risked it all for a shot at fame. Take a deep dive into the intriguing history of the business of opera, and see how it compares to how we do things today.

Pre-opera podcast hosted by Genevieve Lang with very special guests, Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director Erin Helyard and Director Mitchell Butel. The Loves of Apollo & Dafne by Cavalli Directed by Mitchell Butel and featuring Alexandra Oomens, Max Riebl and Stacy Alleaume (fresh from her stand out performances with Opera Australia in La Traviata.) Pinchgut’s first opera performance in 18 months features an all-Australian cast, at the peak of their young careers, bringing Cavalli’s exceptionally beautiful work to life in all its ravishing glory. Come and experience this heart warming meditation on love, and be moved by an ancient tale made fresh when told by these wonderfully colourful characters who prove; love is never a walk in the park!

Genevieve Lang sits down with Pinchgut Opera's Artistic Director Erin Helyard to provide some great insights and information about Pinchgut Opera's performance of Monteverdi's Vespers. Perfect listening to prepare for your concert of this Baroque masterpiece.

In this episode, Erin Helyard discusses the music scene — those moments in opera where music itself is the topic, and the characters allude to singing or playing or they actually sing a song! Because everything else is sung, how do these “songs” function? Erin explains that there are three kinds of music scene: the song-within-the-opera, the gratuitous music scene, and “meta-opera” (where opera is itself referenced). Erin delves into examples of the music scene from operas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and uncovers how librettists, composers, and performers responded to this most interesting of challenges.

In the newest episode of our podcast series, Baroque Banter - The Love Duet, Erin Helyard discusses the love duet in baroque opera and the intense emotions it helps to convey - from blissful love to total despair. Erin delves deep into the subject matter and explains the function and evolution of one of opera’s most evocative and transcendent conventions. Tune in to enjoy Erin’s explanation of the love duet and revel in the musical excerpts showcasing two voices intertwining magnificently with one another.