Australian Opera Director Cameron Menzies Has Plans For His Northern Ireland Opera Company

Australian opera director Cameron Menzies recently took to Northern Ireland to run an opera company, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

In this new place, Menzies began to imagine taking opera off the stage, and out of theatres. He imagined staging Bluebeard's Castle in an actual castle, for example.

"There's a taste to get operas out of theatres, and that's very appealing to me," he said "That terrible 'elite' word comes with opera. But the experience of going to opera is for and of the people. It's about finding that human condition in everything. I'm having some really interesting conversations."

Menzies' recent projects include Salome for Victorian Opera as well as Parrwang Lifts the Sky before he left Melbourne.

While in lockdown, he has been working on a series called Northern Songs, where singers from different counties performed songs in stunning landscapes.

He has commissioned a new opera for 2022 specifically designed for the teen/young adult market and has planned some special events. He's also expanded the company's Opera Studio to include directors, designers, choreographers and stage managers, though he will not return to the Grand Opera House in Belfast for mainstage work until September.

They're not due back in the Grand Opera House in Belfast for a big main-stage work until September.

"The word now is 'co-production' for opera companies," he says. "There's certainly the opportunity to create work [in Australia] or [in Belfast] and bring it back and forward. It makes financial sense but it's also great to spread that artistic voice and vision."

Read more on The Sydney Morning Herald.

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