WA Opera boss primed to go
WA Opera artistic director Joseph Colaneri is parting ways with the company next month after 2½ years in the job as a controversy over depictions of smoking on stage threatens to reignite.
The fly-in, fly-out New York maestro leaves after the current WA Opera production of Verdi's Il Trovatore ends on November 8 and before the 2015 season is unveiled the following week.
Il Trovatore (The Troubadour), which opens at His Majesty's Theatre this Thursday night, is set in 1930s Spain and features fascist troops and rebel fighters puffing on fake cigarettes.
It also depicts a woman burnt at the stake and a child thrown into the flames in its tale of lust, betrayal, patricide and suicide. There even is some male nudity as chorus members playing military recruits change into their uniforms on stage.
Colaneri was not available for comment yesterday but it is understood he was frustrated that he could not fully implement his artistic vision fully.
WA Opera chairman Terry Bowen said Colaneri's departure completed his three-year term and had been mutually agreed and planned for many months in line with the long-term direction of the company.
It was completely unrelated to the recent furore about smoking scenes in Bizet's Carmen that conflicted with Healthway's $400,000 sponsorship for 2015-16, Mr Bowen said.
Mr Bowen said Colaneri had been a privilege to work with and done a terrific job.
"There is nothing untoward in this," Mr Bowen said. "It is certainly not linked to Carmen in any way and there is no falling out with Joseph. We have been talking about this for a number of months.
"He has definitely taken the opera company forward both in the repertoire we have been doing and in the young artist's program.
"He has been a really good artistic director for us. We have been really pleased with the way he has moved the company on but the reality is the WA market is really only big enough to do really popular operas if you want attendances."
Mr Bowen said Colaneri had opened doors for young WA opera singers to take international residencies at the prestigious college associated with the Mannes Opera in New York, where he also is artistic director.
Colaneri's associate conductor and chorus master, Joseph Nolan, the renowned organist and head of music at St George's Cathedral, also leaves WA Opera next month after the conclusion of a one-year contract.
A new head of music and artistic director will be announced early next year.
The full 2015 season, the last to be attributed to Colaneri, will be launched on November 14.
Colaneri's predecessors Richard Mills and Lindy Hume spent 15 years and 10 years respectively as artistic director.
WA Opera is being scrutinised in a national opera review led by Helen Nugent, who chaired the 1999 Major Performing Arts Inquiry.
The Nugent panel is examining the artistic vibrancy, audience engagement and financial positions of the four main Australian opera companies.
WA Opera general manager Carolyn Chard said Healthway had been advised that Il Trovatore contained depictions of smoking.
The company had first presented Australian director Elke Neidhardt's production of Il Trovatore in 2002 and the current season was dedicated to her memory after she died late last year.
"Healthway appreciates that the company is dedicating this particular season to the late Elke Neidhardt and it is considered important for this production to be true to the integrity of her past productions," Ms Chard said.
Healthway was also conscious that the focus of the current 2014 partnership was the non-main stage opera education program in schools.
Ms Chard said Carmen presented eight times by the State opera company, once every five or six years, and was likely to be presented for the 50th anniversary year in 2017 or shortly after that.
