BY ALISON PARIS
It’s not every day you get to sing Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, and more in the same opera – let alone alongside a familiar tale of intergalactic war, long lost siblings, and a mystical order.
Soprano Annika Hinrichs takes full advantage of this opportunity as she tackles the role of Princess Slayer in Brisbane City Opera’s first production of 2019, Opera Galactica.
We spoke to her about her journey as an emerging opera singer, and her thoughts on what promises to be a great show.
What inspired you to pursue a career in opera?
It may sound cheesy, but when I first chose to study opera, I was inspired just by my love of the artform. Opera captured my imagination and, the more I learnt about it, the more I fell in love with it.
I was very lucky to be introduced to it by absolutely wonderful professionals from a young age; the first opera singer I remember hearing live was actually my current voice teacher Margaret Schindler – I think I was about 8 years old. I was dumbstruck that a human body could make such a sublime and full sound; it seemed to come from the very core of the body.
That’s why I love opera so much, I think: it is capable of connecting with audiences in a very powerful way, because the sound we make comes from our whole being, not just our vocal folds. It’s also why we have a reputation for the overdramatic; something I think we take full ownership of in this particular production!
This isn’t your first production with Brisbane City Opera. What’s it like being so involved with such a contemporary, up-and-coming opera company?
I have loved every production I have been a part of with this company. I joined them for the first time last year, as a ring-in chorus member for Apollo and Daphne. I’m quite grateful to whichever unlucky singer dropped out, because that production remains one of my favourites so far! I was very proud to be part of the cast, and proud to work with BCO as well. I’ve watched them grow from their first few concerts to finally being able to stage full works, and it’s a great joy for me to now sing as a principal artist with them.
Apart from all the wonderful innovations the company has made to bring opera to the Brisbane community outside of the concert hall, I think what makes them special is that it’s chock-full of people who love what they do and want to make something that is true to that love.
The productions I have been a part of so far were as different in tone as night and day, and Opera Galactica is something else altogether! But what they had in common, and what I hope you’ll see in Galactica too, is that BCO provides [opportunity to] young artists who are well trained and raring to go out and use that training, with the chance to collaborate and learn from each other, and the end result is a piece that’s worth being excited about.
What was it like working alongside the opera’s composer Richard Ferguson?
I have actually worked with Richard twice before, and he mentioned this project to me long before I ever thought I would be singing it! What I have always appreciated about working with Richard is his attention to detail; he knows the repertoire so well, and if you go through the score for Galactica you can see that in the way he has treated each excerpt.
Despite the fact that Verdi, Wagner, and Mozart never intended for their most famous melodies to be set to the story of an intergalactic space epic, I think the original tone and intent of each aria we’ve borrowed has been honoured. And, of course, having Richard work with us from the beginning has been so helpful! It made it so much easier to understand the piece and tackle it from the inside out – I’m so used to having to research and dig deep into the libretto and musical language one layer at a time to hit at what the composer wanted to convey.
I will say, though, it can be absolutely terrifying having the composer in the room while you work on putting your own stamp on their creation!
Tell us a bit about your role as Princess Slayer.
Where to begin? She is a firecracker of a character, and I hope you see that in how I play her. The story opens with her spaceship being captured by the evil Dark Invader, but I don’t think she ever becomes a Damsel in Distress – at least, not the helpless kind! What I love about her is that she knows to ask for help and pick her battles, but she isn’t afraid of doing the fighting herself.
There’s great moment in Act 2 where I sing what we’ve taken to calling ‘The Rage Aria’. She lets loose and gets payback on her captors even though she’s outnumbered, because she’s completely done waiting for anybody else to save her. Much like another galactic princess you may be familiar with…
Musically, she’s a delicious challenge for me to sing. In Act 1 alone, her journey sees me tackle Violetta (Verdi’s La Traviata), the famous Valkyrie battle cry (Wagner’s Die Walküre), some absolutely stunning Bluebeard’s Castle (Bartok), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), and even Sieglinde (Wagner’s Siegfried). Actually, there’s a brilliant joke in that particular excerpt, if you know the original context of the duet we have borrowed: let’s just say it has to do with siblings!
This is all music that normally I wouldn’t get to sing, but it’s uniquely possible because of the size of our theatre and orchestra, which is very exciting for me.
Opera Galactica promises to be a hilarious and lively show, combining opera and pop culture in a witty and unique way. Do you think this combination will introduce new audiences to opera in Brisbane?
I think it certainly will! I hope that Opera Galactica will be a vehicle for sharing an artform that I love with people who don’t understand it. Opera has this reputation for being haughty and old-fashioned, and certainly not entertaining or truthful. We so often tell stories that seem on the surface to be ridiculous or overdramatic.
This opera could be called both of those things, but it can’t be dismissed as a story that’s behind its time. And, beneath all the hilarity, the characters deal with real emotions: heartbreak, fear, self-doubt, anticipation, joy. All opera is about exploring the human condition. Characters feel things that every audience member can relate to or learn from when those feelings are played with truth, no matter how over-the-top the plot may be. So it is my hope that our audiences connect with this piece and realise that opera might be an old art, but it’s one that we need. And if that’s too lofty an aspiration, I just hope they come away having been thoroughly entertained, and perhaps that will challenge the utter mistruth that opera is dead!
See the Australian premiere of Opera Galactica with the Brisbane City Opera until March 22.
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