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| Jacqueline Dark and Mitchell Butel both made the list of Top 10 Videos for 2011 for their roles in The Mikado |
Last week we called on fans to tell us which of our 40 YouTube videos of 2011 were their favourites. We then took all the nominations and votes and came up with a spectacular mix of features and highlights from our 2011 season. All those who entered their votes went in the running to win one of five A3 posters from our 2011 Melbourne season. We had two winners from Facebook and two from Twitter so here they are along with their votes:
- @caityv22: the Champagne Aria and I've Got a Little List #OATop10
- Jerry Dohnal: no contest. i only need one vote. has to be "la boheme - featuring takesha meshe kizart as mimi"
- @trekkerM: @OperaAust My vote goes to No. 5 Don Giovanni. It was wondrous!
- @DaniNBrown: my vote is definitely for 'Walking on Sunshine' #OATop10 It's my happy song! Ahhh-mazing!
- Sam Hargreaves: Mitchell Butel's "Little List" for the win!
10. La bohème featuring Takesha Meshé Kizart as Mimì
La bohème was one of our most successful productions of 2011, and our Mimì for many performances was American soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart. This video has been one of our most popular, with over 4,400 views since it was first uploaded. Gorgeous!
La bohème is coming to DVD in 2012
9. The Mikado make-up transformation: Jacqueline Dark becomes Katisha
Jacqueline (Jacqui) Dark is a huge online presence can be found online both through her Facebook fan page and on Twitter, but her character can only be found through transformative process. As Jacqui says, “I’m a mild-mannered mezzo by day, but at night I turn into the whip-cracking man-eating dragon-lady Katisha”. This video shows a sped-up version of this magnificent transformation, and ends with the donning of her wig and some samples from the show.
8. Verdi’s La traviata: Melbourne 2011 featuring Elvira Fatykhova
Russian soprano Elvira Fatykhova has a habit of stunning audiences, and her interpretation of courtesan Violetta is no exception. This video montage from the show highlights her voice, the stunning sets and choreography used in the show.
7. “Cherchez la Femme” from The Merry Widow
Operetta at its most fun and frivolous: This clip gets a clap from the audience as the men of the show lament their confusion about women and the effect they have on the men... while singing and dancing, of course!
6. Walking on Sunshine: Opera Australia’s submission to Sorbent Sing for Daffodil Day
Sorbent Sing for Daffodil Day was a fantastic initiative which saw Cancer Council sponsor Sorbent donate $10 for every video of ‘Walking on Sunshine’ uploaded by the public onto their specialised site. Opera Australia decided to get in on the action, rounding up members of the Opera Australia Chorus, principal artist John Bolton Wood and one of our dancers for this rendition. Filmed in one of the rehearsal rooms at the Sydney Opera House, this piece is a lot of fun and all for a good cause.
5. Emma Matthews sings ‘The Nightingale's Song’ aria from The Love of the Nightingale
In 2011, Opera Australia was lucky enough to have Australian composer Richard Mills conducting his opera, The Love of the Nightingale. One indubitable highlight of the production was the Nightingale’s Song, and the online reaction to Emma Matthews’s stunning rendition brought this video up to #5 in our Top 10.
4. Cheryl Barker in Strauss’s Capriccio: “Nun, liebe Madeleine, was sagt dein Herz?”
In this aria, which translates as “Well, dear Madeleine, what says your heart?”, Australian soprano Cheryl Barker shows her prowess and her growing expertise at Straussian works. Here she contemplates her future and which potential future husband to select: the poet or the composer? Words or music?
3. Don Giovanni: The Champagne Aria (‘Fin ch’ han dal vino’)
Clocking in at just 1min30secs, this aria came in third place for a number of reasons, combining the fantastic reception of Don Giovanni, the comic antics of ConalCoad as Leporello, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes’s great voice. This clip featured on opera blog Barihunks and many opera fans have pointed out their adoration for the clip, especially due to the undressing antics of Don Giovanni himself. As our posters say, he really is “the bad boy of opera you’ll love to hate”.
Don Giovanni is screening in cinemas in 2012.
2. Lakmé excerpt: ‘The Bell Song’ sung by Emma Matthews
In second place is the stunning rendition of ‘The Bell Song’, which featured in our Sydney run of Leo Delibes’s Lakmé. This aria is a fantastic example of Emma Matthews’s coloratura, and it certainly got audiences ardently clapping and cheering and sometimes standing in the theatre. It is no surprise, therefore, that this video ranked second for all of our 2011 videos.
Lakmé screened in cinemas in December 2011 and is coming to DVD in 2012
1. I’ve Got a Little List from The Mikado
Mitchell Butel made waves in Melbourne when he first presented his Koko the Executioner as part of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. The requests for this clip started rolling in as audience member after audience member tweeted their enjoyment. Once The Mikado had screened on ABC TV and ABC iView, we knew it was time to bring this video to the fore and make opera fans and newcomers alike have a chuckle and enjoy Mitchell’s comic antics. Combining lyrics from previous versions of The Mikado with brand new additions, Mitchell presents a comprehensive list of “those who would not be missed”. Unfortunately, almost everybody falls into at least one of his categories and ends up on his list. I guess none of us are safe if we dare set foot in the land of Titipu!
For me, it was Emma Matthews singing the Lakme aria. Many thanks, Emma, for giving so many of us so much pleasure.
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