This project was to design the set and costumes for the opera ‘La Rondine’, an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami. The production was directed by Stuart Maunder (Artistic Director of Victorian Opera), conducted by Tobias Ringborg, with lighting by Gavan Swift. The production opened in the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in August 2024. As with any staging of an opera conceived in another time, the challenge is to find a way to allow the work to speak to a contemporary audience. Puccini set La Rondine in Paris in the middle of the 19th century before the beginning of the ‘Belle Epoque’, while he composed the opera in the early years of the 20th century - with its premiere in 1917 – at the end of the ‘Belle Epoque’. We were making a production for an audience in 2024. We made the decision to loosely set the opera in mid-century (20th) in Paris – a time of glamour similar to that of the mid nineteenth century – but more accessible to a contemporary audience.
NTRO Output Category
- Original Creative Work : Design / architectural Work
Place
Melbourne, AustraliaVenue
The PalaisNTRO Publisher
Victorian OperaMedium
Set and Costume DesignResearch Statement
Research Background;
This project was to design the set and costumes for the opera ‘La Rondine’, an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami. The production was directed by Stuart Maunder (Artistic Director of Victorian Opera), conducted by Tobias Ringborg, with lighting by Gavan Swift. The production opened in the Palais Theatre in St Kilda in August 2024.
Research Contribution;
As with any staging of an opera conceived in another time, the challenge is to find a way to allow the work to speak to a contemporary audience. Puccini set La Rondine in Paris in the middle of the 19th century before the beginning of the ‘Belle Epoque’, while he composed the opera in the early years of the 20th century - with its premiere in 1917 – at the end of the ‘Belle Epoque’. We were making a production for an audience in 2024. We made the decision to loosely set the opera in mid-century (20th) in Paris – a time of glamour similar to that of the mid nineteenth century – but more accessible to a contemporary audience.
Research Significance;
As the central production in Victorian Opera’s mainstage season for 2024, the production was mounted in the 3000 seat theatre The Palais in St Kilda and featured a cast of both international and local opera singers. The production was reviewed widely in print and digital media.
“La Rondine is the first mainstage production at Victorian Opera with new artistic director Stuart Maunder at the reins. His direction is fun and effective, and he shrewdly deals with the dissatisfying ending. Richard Roberts’ sets and costumes are also superb.”
The Age, August 2024
“Richard Roberts’ chic linear sets and costumes blending classic and modern are always eye-catching… In the end, when Roberts creates a stage picture of lasting poignancy as Magda stares out the window of her Paris apartment behind a sheer stage curtain while Ruggero is in heartache on his knees in front of it, your heart goes out to him.”
Arts Review, August 2024Size or Duration of Work
3 act opera, 3hr performance
