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Once Upon a Time ...

1985, 16 min

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​The A to Z of Music and Spirit: a users guide

2015, 90 min

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​Memory Pieces for Piano and Pre-recorded backing track

1985, 15 min

The term Musictheatre is a portmanteau (music + theatre), it being a literal translation from the German musictheater. It came into prominence with some avant-garde and experimental composers in the mid 20th century meaning music as theatre.  In many of these works, the boundaries between the two areas were blurred. Often the presentation of the music was theatrical, humorous, gestural, played on audience expectations, or visually focused.  Maurico Kagel's Match (1964) is an example from this period. A modern adaptation in some areas of practice has involved a subtle separation of the two words to be "music theatre". While not always the case, this subtle shift often refers to musicals and opera.

From a purist's perspective, and drawing on the etymological roots of the words 'music' and 'theatre', musictheatre refers to a concept embracing a wide range of forms and presentations rather than any specific genre (see below: Early Article No.1 which includes a discussion of the word 'theatre' and its implications). Suggesting some relationship between music (or sound) and theatre (including performance), musictheatre is concerned with the role and interaction of music with other elements within some context. This interaction is what makes it theatrical as it points to or highlights some idea, concept or situation created by that context. The other elements within some context could be spatial and visual (stage, performing space, building, installation, site specific) or created for media formats (intermediality, collage/montage, words and music, music and image, music and movement, etc). It can even involve music interacting with other music or metamusic (music about other music). One obvious example is musical parody. Consider Mozart's work, A Musical Joke (K522) in which he satirised the way composition techniques were used by some of his contemporaries. To varying degrees (from the most basic to more complex), rituals such as the Roman Catholic liturgy, concerts, ceremonial functions using music, fashion parades or narrative forms that use music, are all examples of a type or site of musictheatre.

Simple criteria for a musictheatre composition involve determining whether: i) the music in the work has an identifiable function or role which can be heard as a commentary or independent statement; 2) the work relies on the music for its existence; or 3) the experience and 'meaningfulness' of the work would be different without the music? While conventionally based operas and musicals, as mentioned above, are also examples of musictheatre with the reliance on some type of narrative, potential instances of a musictheatre may or may not involve the singing voice or narrative. The success of a work, if to be considered as a site for a musictheatre, depends on intention; awareness of all the relevant parameters; context; and an understanding of the many roles music and sound can have.

The history of opera as a form of musictheatre has always undergone renewal and innovation. It is for this reason that Calculated Risks Opera Productions was formed. The works presented below by Calculated Risks Opera Productions are some examples of musictheatre from 1990 to 2002. These works freely mix operatic forms, the musical, cabaret, experimental performance, popular song with various theatrical forms, movement, installation, narrative and non narrative techniques, ritual, or anything else that might be considered relevant.

Finally, beyond the repertoire of certain operas and musicals that are performed by various companies internationally, there can be found an endless number of new and existing works exploring, to name a few: intermediality, new collaborative processes, technological innovation, contemporary social political and cultural issues, the word in space, new music vocabularies, hybridity, contemporary culture, or the performing body in space. Musictheatre (including opera and the musical) is well and truly a "work in progress".

Examples of a musictheatre that are not visually based involving text and music can be found at the following link Studies in words and music.


 

Book chapter on Calculated Risks Opera Productions

Arias: Recent Australian Music Theatre, Rainer Linz and John Jenkins (eds), 1996

Early Articles

Calculated Risk Opera Productions

Opera

The Last Supper

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Tales of Love

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Bodysongs

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Volcano & Vision. Music by Rainer Linz/libretto by Paul Greene

Tales of Love

Version 1

1990 - 1992

Volcano & Vision  1990

Rainer Linz & Paul Greene

Bodysongs

1999

Calculated Risks Opera Productions, 1990-2002,  explored the many roles of music in performance, opera, the use of space and location, new modes of communication, interdisciplinary collaboration involving text, image and the body, and relationships to audiences and community. Its process was group devised from which a performance would be created based on the skills of the participants. The starting point was always the music which served as the platform for points of departure. The history of Calculated Risks Opera Productions is below:

1990     Tales of Love. Co-authored by Richard Vella, Annette Tesoriero, John Baylis, Nigel Kellaway.(The Performance Space, Sydney) Original music by Richard Vella. See below for the 2002 production.

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1990     ABC broadcast recording of Tales of Love, broadcast September,

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1990     Volcano and Vision, music by Rainer Linz, libretto by Paul Greene. (The Performance Space, Sydney)

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1992     Tales of Love, Perth Institute of Creative Arts

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1992     Workshop development of Labyrinth, Australia Council Music Fund, Composer Raffaele Marcelino

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1993     The Last Supper, Co-authored by Richard Vella, Mary Sitarenos, Robert Draffin. Original Music by Richard Vella, Sydney.

             VIEW HERE

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1994     The Last Supper, Theatreworks production, Melbourne

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1995     The Last Supper, Japan tour. Ube International Festival of Arts, Japan

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1996     The Last Supper, Tasmanian Contemporary Music festival

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1999     BodySongs: The fatman tour. Brisbane Festival of Arts, September Co-authored by Robert Draffin, Humphrey Bower, Richard Vella. Original Music by Richard Vella, text by Humphrey Bower, directed by Robert Draffin. Production in collaboration with Theatreworks, Melbourne VIEW HERE

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1999     BodySongs: The fatman tour, Melbourne season, September.

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2001     The Skin of the City  One week workshop in collaboration with Urban Theatre Projects, Sydney, proposal for The      Adelaide Festival

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2002     Tales of Love, new production, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta in collaboration with The Seymour Group.  VIEW HERE

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2004     Invited performance excerpts to celebrate the 21st year of The Performance Space, Sydney

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