We see him at home in Queensland sometimes but for much of the past decade Brisbane tenor Virgilio Marino has been strutting the national stage for Opera Australia. And he’s about to do that again in Brett Dean’s internationally acclaimed opera Hamlet, which plays the Sydney Opera House from July 20 to August 9.

Directed by Australian theatre royalty Neil Armfield and based on Shakespeare’s classic play, Hamlet premiered in 2017 at the Glyndebourne Festival in the UK and has since been staged at the Adelaide Festival, New York’s Metropolitan Opera and most recently at the Munich Opera Festival.

With Dean’s evocative music and thrilling libretto by Canadian Matthew Jocelyn offering audiences additional insights into the inner world of thought and emotion of the crazed son trying to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet is an invigoratingly modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s revenge thriller.

Marino and fellow Queensland tenor Iain Henderson are both flying the maroon flag in the production and will feature in the famous “play with the play”. This is when a group of travelling actors accept Hamlet’s request to perform The Murder of Gonzago, a play with a plot of which is very similar to what happened to Hamlet’s father.

“I’m one of the players,” Marino explains. “I’m the drummer in the piece. I’ve got to keep time, which is a nightmare. Our roles in the play within the play are quite theatrical. It’s pretty out there, very difficult musically but quite brilliant, although performing it is crazy and extremely challenging. It was written by a Queenslander.”

Dean is a Brisbane boy who is now an internationally acclaimed composer, which adds Queensland cred to the production. Marino is also covering the role of Polonius, chief counsel to the murderous Claudius.

“That’s challenging, too,” Marino says, although he really can’t complain. Living in Sydney for much of the year with wife Juanita, a former singer, and performing at the Sydney Opera House is all part of “living the dream”. When he’s not there he’s at home in Paddington in Brisbane where he performs with Opera Queensland.

Henderson is one of the players and is also covering British tenor Allan Clayton, who is Hamlet.

“Allan was not here for the first two weeks of rehearsals so I was rehearsing as Hamlet,” Henderson says. “It was quite the experience.”

Henderson grew up in the Redlands and, like Marino, still performs with Opera Queensland. In fact, both sang at Opera Queensland’s recent inaugural Brisbane Bel Canto festival. Henderson is not expecting to be called on to sing the role of Hamlet, touch wood, but he’s prepared anyway.

Known as the “tortured tenor” due to his extraordinary performances, British tenor Clayton will reprise the demanding title role opposite homegrown soprano Lorina Gore, singing her spellbinding Helpmann-winning performance as Ophelia, and tour-de-force American baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius.

Australian mezzo soprano Catherine Carby makes a welcome return to OA to make her role debut as Gertrude, alongside an outstanding local cast and the Opera Australia Chorus, while Scottish accordionist James Crabb will join to perform the role written specifically for him.

Contemporary opera specialist Anglo-German conductor Tim Anderson will make his Australian debut to guide the Opera Australia Orchestra through Dean’s immensely complex and astoundingly raw, visceral score comprising electronic music and cinema-like surround-sound effects.

Dean is now something of an international superstar in the world of classical music and opera, a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, where he studied viola. From 1985 to 1999 he was a violist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra – initially under Herbert von Karajan – before deciding to pursue a freelance career. He was artistic director of the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne until 2010 and, rather amazingly, his brother Paul, currently Head of Winds at Queensland Conservatorium, took over in the same position after Dean left.

Dean’s Hamlet is regarded by many as his crowning glory as a composer.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Sydney and you get to see it you may just be tempted to shout “Queenslander!” Don’t.

opera.org.au

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