‘Scalia/Ginsburg’ to receive Australian premiere in February 2021
From Orchestra Victoria, one of Australia’s two specialist opera and ballet orchestras and official performance partner of the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, and Victorian Opera:
The legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg honoured by the Australian premiere of Derrick Wang’s opera Scalia/Ginsburg
The legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be honoured by the Australian premiere of Derrick Wang’s operatic comedy Scalia/Ginsburg performed by Orchestra Victoria on Sunday 7 February 2021 for one night only.
Victorians will be encouraged to roll up with a picnic blanket and make their way to the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Southern Cross Lawn for an unforgettable evening of thought-provoking discussion and the special one-act comic opera presented by Orchestra Victoria, the Wheeler Centre and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
The Australian Shakespeare Company has donated its stage for the performance and panel discussion on justice and jurisprudence, organised by the Wheeler Centre. The panel will bring together some of our brightest legal minds – including Louise Milligan, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, the Honourable Marcia Neave, and host Julian Burnside – for a discussion covering history, blazed trails and giants of jurisprudence, followed by a short intermission and the performance of Scalia/Ginsburg by Orchestra Victoria, with bright young stars of the operatic world, conducted by Maestro Nicolette Fraillon AM.
Hailed as “the kind of opera that should be everywhere” (OperaWire), Scalia/Ginsburg is a one-act comic opera about the close and unlikely friendship between US Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. The two towering legal figures, who publicly disagreed on many legal and ideological questions, enjoyed a decades-long friendship and a shared passion for opera. Created by composer-librettist Derrick Wang and first introduced at the US Supreme Court in 2013, this “perfect...jewel” (Opera Today) ushered in the era of RBG-themed art. Justice Ginsburg herself wrote a foreword to the opera calling it “a dream come true”, and she attended both its world premiere at Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival in 2015 and its revised premiere at the 2017 Glimmerglass Festival.
This unique collaboration is driven by the desire to bring back live music and informed public discussion to local audiences in the heart of Melbourne in an entertaining and unconventional way.
Roll up with a picnic to the Australian Shakespeare Company’s lawn, as the Bard hands over his stage to the Notorious RBG.
“I am delighted that Orchestra Victoria is presenting the Australian premiere of Scalia/Ginsburg‚” says composer-librettist Derrick Wang. “I look forward to the ground-breaking collaboration that will make this performance possible, and I am grateful that the theme of this opera, ‘We are different, we are one’, can be shared with audiences across the world.”
Orchestra Victoria Artistic Director Nicolette Fraillon AM said: “Justice Ginsburg had one of the greatest intellects and legal minds of the 20th/21st century. Heroine to so many and for so many different reasons, she and her many legacies deserve exploration and celebration. With her passing, many of us at Orchestra Victoria felt the need to pay tribute and, as a specialist opera and ballet orchestra, what better way than with opera, Justice Ginsburg’s musical passion, and better yet, with one written for and about her. Composer Derrick Wang has created a masterpiece, both poignant and comic, which will both delight, provoke and inspire the audiences. We are so excited about presenting this work to the Australian public and be partnering with the Wheeler Centre, the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Australian Shakespeare Company and are extremely grateful to Derrick for allowing us to perform this wonderful work.”
The Wheeler Centre's CEO, Caro Llewellyn said: “We are thrilled to partner with Orchestra Victoria and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria on the Australian premiere of Derrick Wang’s comic opera celebrating the legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. What an honour it is to bring together Australia's brightest legal minds for a conversation about the law and jurisprudence to add to this extraordinary celebration of two towering US Justices.”
“Enjoying nature and culture has never been more important than it is right now, and as Melbourne’s much-loved green space, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is pleased to be able to offer an open air site for this exciting event,” says Tim Entwisle, Director & Chief Executive, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. “We are grateful to our onsite partner, Australian Shakespeare Company, who has given up one night of their season at the Gardens to help support our valued partners in the Arts with their return to the stage.”
Supported by Glenn Elston OAM and the Australian Shakespeare Company.
DETAILS:
Sunday 7 February 2021
6.00pm panel discussion followed by Scalia/Ginsburg
Southern Cross Lawn, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Tickets go on-sale December 15 at 12.00pm, $54.00 – $65.00 plus a one-off transaction fee of $4.95 via https://bit.ly/SGtixOV
For media enquiries, including casting details, interviews and images, please contact:
Sophie Rennard, Publicist
E: sophier@australianballet.com.au
