VILLAINS AND VALKYRIES Will Be Performed With Willoughby Symphony Choir Next Month

In the lead up to Halloween, WSO Artistic Director & Chief Conductor Dr Nicholas Milton and Associate Conductor Dr Sarah Penicka-Smith in conversation with the Wagner Society, have put together Villains & Valkyries on 14 & 15 October as a family-friendly introduction to Wagner and his contemporaries, Puccini and Weber. 

This concert, performed with Willoughby Symphony Choir and Pacific Opera is an ideal opportunity for newcomers to opera and Wagner to attend and audience members (especially children) are encouraged to come dressed in horned helmets or fairy wings. 

From the iconic tour-de-force Ride of the Valkyries on stormy mountaintops to the chilling ghost story of The Flying Dutchman adventure on the high seas, experience Richard Wagner and his world in this breathtaking choral extravaganza that is brimming with fairies, ghosts, gods and sirens.

Dr Penicka-Smith leads the orchestra and the Choir in a program of Wagner’s most formidable heroes and villains. Hear selections from Wagner’s awe-inspiring operas, including highlights from his monumental Ring cycle, Tannhäuser and much more in an unforgettable concert that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Plus, award-winning Chilean-born composer and pianist Daniel Rojas returns to Willoughby Symphony Orchestra with acclaimed Korean pianist Yerim Lee for the world premiere of Romanza y Danza de los Muertos for piano four-hands and orchestra. In the spirit of El Día de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) and inspired by the Wagnerian themes of this program, this swoon-worthy new work imagines the continued romance of tragically star-crossed lovers, from Romeo and Juliet to the Flying Dutchman and Senta, finally free to be expressed beyond both earthly and supernatural realms.