Five weeks with Oz Opera

There’s nothing quite like a cast of professional opera singers and a small chamber orchestra performing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a member of the touring company. All outstanding musicians but even more spectacular when they are all improvising in their own key.  A truly memorable moment and one of many during my time as an intern at Oz Opera.

In January this year I was fortunate enough to participate in the Arts Administration Program with the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO). Through this, I was given the opportunity to apply for a number of fellowships that AYO offers giving participants of the program a chance to gain work experience in another Arts Organisation. This is an invaluable opportunity and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of the 2013 Oz Opera fellowship.

Oz Opera have four main staff members, all of who work incredibly hard to put on an annual tour of a fully-staged opera production and two Schools Company’s Tours in both New South Wales and Victoria. 

As an intern during one of Oz Opera’s busiest times of the year, I was given a wide variety of tasks to do, the majority of which were specifically for the preparation and launch of the 2013 Regional Tour of Don Giovanni.  One of the first tasks I was given however was a research project looking into the evolving formula of opera. 

A very broad topic yet right up my alley having recently completed my Bachelor of Music degree majoring in classical voice. Opera is an interest of mine and I enjoyed reading over the history of opera and putting together some of my thoughts about the accessibility of opera versus musical theatre and how opera has changed and developed over the centuries.

Other tasks I completed included: sending out 50,000 flyers to the 22 venues around Australia that the tour much more.

My time at Oz Opera can truly be described as jam packed and I feel as though the last 5 weeks has just flown by. It is always challenging entering into any new work place, getting to know the members of staff, completing various tasks as well as learning how the company runs but the Oz Opera staff were warm and extremely welcoming. It has been a wonderful experience and I feel as though I got a good taste of what it is like working for the biggest opera company in Australia. Highlights include watching the extremely talented cast, crew, orchestra and creative team work in their element, seeing the launch of the School’s Company production of The Barber of Seville and I cannot forget to mention the amazing baking talents of some of the lovely people in the office, very delicious!

One of the many things I will take away from this experience will be an even greater appreciation for passionate people working in the arts and the amazing work they do to put on such amazing productions.  To Sandra, Kate, Penny and Tamsin thank you for your guidance and kind words. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you all and I hope the regional tour is an enormous success. Thank you also to the Australian Youth Orchestra for providing me with this opportunity!