Breaking Glass - Sydney Chamber Opera_Carriageworks_credit_Daniel Boud_110.jpg

Online premiere via Sydney Chamber Opera website April 24th 7:30pm (+ stream anytime after the premiere)

or via Carriageworks facebook

Premiere season of complete work (30mins) at Carriageworks, March-April, 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Invisible Bird examines links between the parallel issues of invisibility and inequality, colonisation and extinction through the mysterious and controversial story of the Night Parrot - a rare Australian bird which was lost, presumed extinct, for almost 100 years.

The libretto is based largely on the scientific Latin names of endangered, near-threatened, vulnerable and extinct Australian birds and morphs in a musical palindrome from egalitarian polyphony, binary confinement, monotonal chant and back again.

Music and text by Bree van Reyk

Part I - An Overture of Birds

Part II - Confinement Aria

Part III - Extinction Aria

Part IV - The Monotone

Part V - The Night Parrot Explanation Group Aria

Conductor > Jack Symonds

Director > Clemence Williams

Set & Costume Design > Charles Davis

Lighting Design > Alexander Berlage

AV Design > David Bergman

Sound Design > Ben Carey

Cast > Jessica O'Donoghue, Jane Sheldon & Mitchell Riley

Ensemble > James Wannan (violin/viola), Ben Ward (double bass), Lamorna Nightingale (flute), Jason Noble (clarinet), Alison Pratt (percussion)

Assistant Conductor > Huw Belling

Production Manager > Jason Thelwell

Stage Management > Ellen Castles, Ayah Tayeh