| Author | Message | ||
     Joanne G Citizen Username: Joanne Post Number: 640 Registered: 10-2004 |
From the wilds of rural New South Wales, Australia as reported by the ABC (Aussie broadcasters): 'Carmen' brings crowds to tiny Riverina town The tiny Riverina township of Morundah swelled to more than 1,000 people at the weekend as opera lovers from as far away as Sydney and Adelaide arrived for a unique performance of Bizet's Carmen. Morundah, population 15, was added to OzOpera's program at the urging of publican Dave Fahey, who organised for a new pig shelter to be built to house the performance. Soprano Dimity Shepherd says the publican and locals were not the only ones to feel the sense of occasion. "For all of us it's a bit of a special show because we know this guy's put so much into it," she said. "We really want it to be a great night for the whole town and the whole area, especially when they've had such a horrible drought and everything. "It sort of tugs at the heart strings and we'll all be going that extra mile tonight." Ms Shepherd says the bush program is special, as many country people do not get a chance to get to the opera. "You get a mixed audience, there are always a few people who have been starved of opera and are unable to get to it and you get the people who have never seen it before, don't know what to expect," she said. "The freshness they bring and the honesty they bring as an audience is so refreshing for us and it's very special." New South Wales Governor Marie Bashir, who on Friday afternoon graced the tiny pub to enjoy a glass of wine, was excited to be in Morundah for the opera. "It's absolutely wonderful to be back in the land of my birth and I have to say I kept thinking this afternoon of Banjo Paterson's line, 'And he saw the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,'" she said. "But to have this happening here in this small beautiful town is just so Australian, isn't it? "Nowhere else in the world would something like this happen." | ||
| Buttercup Citizen Username: Buttercup Post Number: 130 Registered: 12-2005  |
Fantastic! Wish I were there to see it. This is why I love Australia. I remember I stopped over in a town called Parachilna in South Australia, population: 2. Only 2 people resided in that town and I'm not joking. But that didn't stop them from pouring over $1,000,000 into their town's pub to host the cast and crew for the 1999 Jane Campion film Holy Smoke. So much spirit in the middle of nowhere! | ||
| Joanne G Citizen Username: Joanne Post Number: 644 Registered: 10-2004 |
Talking of spirit: Steve Irwin dead The naturalist and television star Steve Irwin has died in a diving accident in far north Queensland. He was 44. Police say he was stung through the heart by a stingray while diving off Port Douglas. He was filming a documentary when the accident occurred around midday AEST near the Low Isles. A helicopter arrived with paramedics on board to try to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Irwin, who was was born in Victoria in 1962, inherited his love of reptiles from his father. His father Bob was a keen reptile enthusiast and moved the family to Queensland in 1970 to open a small reptile park on the Sunshine Coast. Irwin took over the family business in 1991 and grew it into Australia Zoo. In 1992 he ventured into television, making the first series of the Crocodile Hunter. When the program aired in the United States, he shot to international fame. Irwin is survived by his wife Terri and two children. | ||
| Buttercup Citizen Username: Buttercup Post Number: 131 Registered: 12-2005 |
Oh my God! I'm so upset. I actually saw him at his zoo back in 2003. Oh, no. This is so sad. | ||
| Joanne G Citizen Username: Joanne Post Number: 646 Registered: 10-2004 |
just heard on the news a little more about the barb of the stingray, and how sharp it is let alone the venom - sounds a terrible way to go. at least it was fast. OTOH, Carmen continues a great tradition of opera in the bush - the Sydney Opera goes out bush via train etc at least once a year and performs in ricketty halls and pubs etc doing some amazing gigs. And we have Opera in the Alps (at Falls Creeks which is currently a snowfield) on in during summer, one glorious weekend each year. For that one, a megachoir is made up of three local choirs to fill out the chorus needed for a huge operatic performance and the whole thing is performed in the open air, kind of like Shakespeare in the Park. A bit of magic, so I'm told. |
