MOZART & SALIERI Will Come to the Butterfly Club

A bold experiment in opera and theatre, in which Rimsky-Korsakov's one-act chamber opera Mozart & Salieri will be presented side-by-side with the short Pushkin play that inspired it. The inspiration for the Tony Award winning play and Oscar winning film Amadeus, this concise, one-hour chamber drama appeals to the curious and morbid detective in all of us, reopening this historical cold case for a fresh look.

Using his own award-winning translation, director David Meadows hopes to shed some light on how and why Antonio Salieri might have murdered his friend and colleague Wolfgang Mozart - was it a necessary sacrifice for working musicians, insane jealousy, or just plain insanity?

Under the musical direction of internationally regarded Russian music specialist Alan Cook, who has a particular passion for the operas of Rimsky-Korsakov, and featuring Opera Australia soloists Martin Buckingham (tenor) as Mozart and Adrian Tamburini (bass-baritone) as Salieri, as well as actors Karlis Zaid and Edgar Wegner alternating nightly in the title roles of Pushkin's play, this promises to be one of the most unique musical and theatrical events of the year.

David's previous productions as director include A Streetcar Named Desire, The Comedy of Errors (in Mexico), The Elephant Man, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and the musical Oliver!; Alan Cook studied conducting at VCA, at the Conservatorio de Santa Cecilia in Rome, and has worked in Austria, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Ukraine. He recently conducted another Rimsky-Korsakov work, Kashchey the Immortal, at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

This production opens on Monday December 9 and plays a strictly limited season of just 5 performances. Bookings are definitely recommended.

"Will art be made to soar and flourish? No. When Mozart's dead and gone, he'll take it with him. He'll leave us no successor when he dies."

Tickets: thebutterflyclub.com