Four new Australian operas created at Sydney Conservatorium of Music

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) join forces again for the premiere of Mother, a new co-production of four short operas that explore aspects of mothers, motherhood, and womanhood, created by postgraduate composition students and directed by renowned artist Lindy Hume.

Wronged woman conspires to kill. Desperate mother transforms into vengeful villainess. Betrayal leads to tragedy. From Herodias to Medea, Queen of the Night to Cio-Cio-San and plenty more, extreme tropes characterising the role of the woman, particularly mothers, as victims or murderous, spiteful, and cruel have long been reproduced in the operatic form.

Mother approaches the concept of motherhood differently, drawing on pop idioms and cultural traditions to embark on a new method of contemporary storytelling.

As part of the Words, Text, Voices, Music program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Master of Music (Composition) students Oliver John Cameron, Aija Draguns, Jessica O’Donoghue, and Hao Zhen developed the quartet of operas for their dissertation portfolios, alongside NIDA students undertaking a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing.

Menarche is Jessica O’Donoghue’s first foray into writing opera, born out of the composer’s frustration by the “out-of-date, irrelevant and quite damaging narratives” dominating the art form’s tradition. To feel fulfilled as an artist, she wants to create a new story shaped by her own experiences that contemporary audiences can relate to. “Opera isn’t a sum of ancient works,” she told Limelight Magazine. “It can evolve as a living, breathing art form.” 

O’Donoghue’s work is a celebration of menstruation, and the wisdom shared between women, mothers and daughters walking the path of womanhood together. “There is a lot of shame attached to what [women’s] bodies are going through,” she said. “I wanted a work that would be a fresh new narrative and give the next generation of women a positive spin on the female journey… Let’s lift each other up and love ourselves and love women for who they are and what they do in this world, which is give birth and create life within their own bodies.”

The self-described “classical contemporary” style of Aija Draguns is influenced by her Latvian heritage and the folklore and cartoons originating from her cultural roots. Her composition In Cosmic Utero is a “colourful and engaging, but also unsettling” fantasy inspired by two mythological deities – Māra (mother earth) and Saule (guardian of the sky time) – juxtaposing ideas of birth, loneliness, loss, and grief.

She finds the opportunity to collaborate on a new opera expansive, as it allows more space to challenge the prevailing themes of the classics while adapting to the performers’ needs: “As much as I love traditional opera, it is so important for opera students to work with a composer who is in the room with them. If something is difficult or out of their range, we change it on the spot. That is a luxury not available with established operas,” she said.

“It is a creative collaboration where it is not just the composer who creates the music, but the performer as well.”

Another opera debutante, Oliver John Cameron’s work M.TH.R is co-produced with NIDA librettists Xavier Hazard and Megan Rundle. Set in the realm of a reality TV show, contestants compete to win the favour of the titular pop superstar and her fan base. 

The opera refers to ideas of identity within the family structure, particularly after loss, and the concept of a chosen versus biological family: “A true parent doesn’t need to have a biological connection; it’s a very interesting concept to explore,” Cameron said.

He described the work as “a darkly comic piece leaning into camp,” influenced by the likes of pop icons Madonna, Lady Gaga, Ru Paul and Björk. “I love how unapologetic pop music is,” he said. “I’m not devoted to any one style but let all the influences come together in what I create. Opera is a good space for that.”

Born in China, Hao Zhen’s previous works in chamber music and song cycles have featured ancient Chinese poems. She has been writing music from four years old, yet this is also her first venture into composing opera. Her work The Lullaby is a fairy tale that explores the complexities of the role of the mother, as nurturer but also as a “source of anguish” complicated by the “repression of guilt and unacknowledged desires.” 

Zhen invites the audience into the often isolating and turbulent experience of motherhood via the symbolism of snakes. “The snake represents the mother’s dark wishes,” Zhen said. “She has a chaotic struggle expressing her emotions. What makes the opera is that music helps to close that detachment between the mother’s vulnerability and the words she cannot express. It’s a wonderful way of combining non-verbal expression with singing, which is so powerful.”

The four operas will be performed by voice and instrumentalist students from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, while the creative team includes students from design and production at NIDA. 

Mother plays at the Parade Theatre, NIDA, Sydney, from 28 October to 2 November. Find tickets on the NIDA website.

The relationship between NIDA and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music began in 2021, with the collaborative partnership so far producing Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a reimagining of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, and now Mother.

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music acknowledges the generous support of the Alan Hyland and John Luscombe Endowment.