Heather Begg

Performed by Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House in 1987.

Mozart's Marriage of Figaro is a comedy whose dark undertones explore the blurred boundaries between dying feudalism and emerging Enlightenment. Herman Prey's Figaro is admirably sung in a firm baritone and aptly characterized. So too, is his antagonist, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Count perpetually frustrated by the scheming wiles of Figaro and Susanna, here the perky Mirella Freni, who sings and acts like a dream. The Countess is creamy-voiced Kiri Te Kanawa, and the Cherubino, Maria Ewing, looks just like the horny, teenaged page she's supposed to be. The all-star leads are complemented by worthy supporting singers, the Vienna Philharmonic at the top of its form, and the experienced Mozartian, Karl Böhm conducting a stylishly fleet performance.

A 1995 Opera Australia performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic operetta, recorded at the Sydney Opera House. Bunthorne, a poet worshiped by every lady he meets, loves only one woman: Patience. But Patience does not share the other women's fascination with Bunthorne. She loves Archibald, her childhood friend who is now also a poet.

Australian Opera Chorus and Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra production of Donizetti's opera