About Associate Professor Michael Halliwell
My research area involves the study of the adaptation of literature into opera.
Associate Professor Michael Halliwell has pursued a dual career as opera singer and scholar in operatic studies.
Born in South Africa, Michael Halliwell studied Literature and Music in Johannesburg. Awarded scholarships to study at the London Opera Centre with Otakar Kraus, and Tito Gobbi in Florence. As principal baritone with The Netherlands Opera and the Hamburg State Opera, he performed over 50 major roles in many European cities. He was Head of Vocal Studies and Opera, Pro-Dean and Head of School, and Associate Dean (Research) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Michael not only teaches vocal studies but is a respected academic whose work on the operatic adaptation of literature has been widely published. He nevertheless continues a successful career as a performer and recording artist, with a double CD of Kipling and Boer War settings released by ABC Classics in 2005. In August 2007 he premiered Lawrence Kramer’s song cycle: “Five Songs and an Epilogue from The Wings of the Dove”, in Edinburgh. His book, Opera and the Novel: The Case of Henry James, was published by Rodopi (New York/Amsterdam) in 2005.
Recently supervised research projects include:
- Subjective Audibility in Professional Operatic Soprano Voices
Selected publications
- “From novel into film into opera: multiple transformations of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.” In Word and Music Studies 8: Essays on music and the spoken word. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. Ed. David Francis Urrows. 2007. pp. 43-69
- Opera and the novel: the case of Henry James. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. 2005.
- “Opera about opera: self-referentiality in opera with particular reference to Dominck Argento's The Aspern papers” Word and Music Studies 7: Essays on music and the spoken word. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. Eds. Suzanne M Lodato and DF Urrows. 2005. pp. 51-81.
- When the Empire calls: Songs of the Boer War. M Halliwell (baritone), D Miller (piano). ABC Classics (ABC 476 8063), August, 2005
- ‘“The voice of the ‘Master’: Henry James and opera”. "Henry James's afterlife: Opera, film, role-playing games". Ed. M Buchholtz. Warsaw: The American Studies Center, Warsaw University. (2005) pp. 11–34
- ‘“A comfortable society’: The 1950s and opera in Australia”. Word and Music Studies: Essays in honor of Steven Paul Scher and on cultural identity and the musical stage. Eds. SM Lodato, Suzanne Aspden, Walter Bernhart. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi Press. 2002. pp. 277-298.
- ‘“Singing the nation’: word/music tension in the opera, Voss”. Word and Music Studies: Essays on the song cycle and on defining the field. Eds. W Bernhart and W Wolf. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi Press. 2001. pp. 25-48.
- ‘“The Master's voice’: Henry James and opera”. Henry James on Stage and Screen. Ed. JR Bradley. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave. 2001. pp. 23-34.
- “Narrative elements in opera”. Word and Music Studies: Defining the field. Eds. W Berhart, SP Scher, W Wolf. Rodopi Press. 1999. pp. 135-154.
- “Goodbye, Dolly Gray”. ABC broadcast to commemorate the centenary of the Boer war. Concert at Government House in October, 1998 was later turned into a program written, performed and presented by M Halliwell on ABC Classic FM, Monday 11 October 1999.