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Antarctica

Performer

A brooding place, not designed for humans

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A CONTEMPORARY OPERA BY MARY FINSTERER PRESENTED BY SYDNEY CHAMBER OPERA

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD, NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL REVEAL THEMSELVES IN AN UNFOLDING NARRATIVE 

Jessica O’Donoghue as The Theologian

Exploring historical, mythical and scientific stories about one of the world’s most isolated lands. The mysterious landscape draws different dreams, expectations, and motivations, from loving curiosity to arrogant possessiveness. But what the explorers find is greater than themselves.

‘Everything in our world is pointing toward a socio–political context,’ Finsterer says. ‘Whilst this is important, together with my librettist Tom Wright, we wanted to position Antarctica as a fable for the twenty-first century: a made-up story that has, at its heart, a 'mythic quest' that examines human motives.’


Score: Mary Finsterer

Director: Imara Savage

Libretto: Tom Wright

Photo Credits: Wendell Teodoro

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  • Illustration of a city skyline at night with stars and moon in the sky.

    “Ambitious and exquisite: Antarctica is contemporary opera at its best. Finsterer uses voices for their intrinsic character, their timbre, as much as their ability to convey words and emotions. The Theologian, Jessica O’Donoghue, duets with the Daughter in dreams of wonder.”

    – Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald

  • LIMELIGHT Music, Arts & Culture logo in red text on black background.

    “The marvellous singers offer even more riches. An early trio gorgeously intertwines Fraser’s velvety timbre and Petruccelli’s firm, resolute tenor with O’Donoghue’s sumptuous mezzo. All are superb.”

    – Limelight

  • STAGE NOISE DIANA SIMMONDS logo in red and black text

    “These ravishing voices – solo and in trios and quartets – are spectacularly beautiful and deliver the complex music and often opaque text with exemplary clarity.”

    — Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise

Antarctica by Mary Finsterer and Tom Wright

A group of four people, three men and one woman, are inside a rectangular, illuminated display box. The woman and two men are crouching, while another man is standing behind them. The background is misty or foggy, and there is a digital clock above d
A family of six people, including children, standing in an elevator with a bright, white interior. The elevator has a digital display above it showing the date 20/02/03 and the year 1969.
Three men and one woman in vintage clothing standing behind a glass case, illuminated by bright white light, with their hands pressed against the glass, as if trapped inside.
Five people dressed in historical clothing standing inside a glass display case filled with fog or mist, with a black background.
A person standing inside a bright, foggy, glass enclosure, wearing a dark coat, skirt, and shoes, with hands slightly raised and an expression of surprise or fear.