Vic Opera cancels season of VOSS

Following the extension of Victoria’s fifth lockdown, Victorian Opera must regrettably cancel its season of Richard Meale’s Voss scheduled for Wednesday 4 August at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda.

The current lockdowns in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia have made presenting the legendary Australian opera unfeasible. Victorian Opera shares this disappointment with the Australian National Academy of Music whose students had been preparing to form the orchestra for this performance,  as well as the many opera lovers who had both championed and welcomed Voss’ long-awaited return to the stage.

A co-production with State Opera South Australia, Victorian Opera has shifted plans to stream the Melbourne performance and will now stream the production from Adelaide’s Her Majesty Theatre on Friday 17 September at 7:30pm. On-demand Digital Access will be available for six months following the performance.

Ticket holders to Victorian Opera’s season of Voss will be contacted regarding their ticketing options, including full refunds.

Based on Patrick White’s famed novel published in 1957, composer Richard Meale and librettist David Malouf’s adaptation premiered to critical acclaim at the 1986 Adelaide Festival with several repeat seasons across the country before it faded into obscurity in the 1990s.

Inspired by German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, immortalized as Voss in Patrick White’s novel, the opera is a love story and a spiritual adventure across the vastness of our country. Voss dreams of exploring this vast and ancient continent, but these lands are unfamiliar to European settlers. As Voss and his men suffer from exhaustion and exposure, he seeks strength from his connection with Laura, the young woman he met in Sydney.