CAST
Lucia - Marlena Devoe
Edgardo - David Woodward
Enrico - Phillip Rhodes
Raimondo - James Ioelu
Arturo - Filipe Manu
Normano - Kalauni Pouvalu
Alisa - Maia Vegar
SUNG IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director - Raymond Hawthorne
Designer - Tracy Grant Lord
Producer - Frances Wilson
Conductor - Peter Scholes
Auckland Chamber Orchestra

The chorus has been contributed by the University of Auckland School of Music and has been prepared by vocal coach, Robert Wiremu.

Auckland Opera Studio has teamed up with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra to bring some of New Zealand’s most outstanding operatic talent to the stage in their 2014 production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mercury Theatre for two nights only, Friday 10th October and Sunday 12th October 2014.

"Auckland Opera Studio has an impressive reputation of developing young singers as well as bringing top professionals into highly charged and effective productions." Raymond Hawthorne

Lucia returns to the Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre is set for the return of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor 26 years since the original performance left audiences breathless.

The Mercury Theatre was a famous Repertory Theatre in Auckland and home to great operas and dramas alike throughout the 1980s. Under Jonathan Hardy, the Mercury took over the ‘mantle of Opera’ for Auckland after the National Opera had dissolved. When Raymond Hawthorne (director) was elected Artistic and Executive Director for the iconic theatre he too wholeheartedly embraced Auckland’s opera needs. Hawthorne had a stable of actors, musicians, dancers, set and costume designers; and the Mercury Theatre was open 6 days a week for most of the year, presenting musicals, dramas and operas to the adoring public. Tracy Grant Lord (designer) was one of the young designers who cut their teeth on all three performance genres; and Frances Wilson (producer) was the coach, repetiteur and chorus master for the operas.
In 1988 Hawthorne and Grant Lord produced Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mercury Theatre to wide acclaim, with Wilson as coach, repetiteur and chorus master. Together they collaborated to bring a dynamic and dramatic take on one of the world’s most loved operas of all time.

Lucia's heart belongs to her young forbidden lover Edgardo di Ravenswood who hails from a rival clan. However, Lucia’s brother Enrico plans to avoid financial ruin by marrying her off to Arturo, regardless of Lucia’s refusal to wed him. In this heartfelt opera tragedy, rife with true love, betrayal, madness and murder, Lucia plunges into the depths of despair. It is the most eloquent and potent voice of Bel Canto Opera that carries the audience down with her, imbued with well known and loved aria, culminating in the ‘mad scene’, Il Dolce Suono, sung by Marlena Devoe. Join Lucia on her descent into madness at the Mercury Theatre for two nights only Friday 10th October and Sunday 12th October 2014, presented by the Auckland Opera Studio in partnership with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra.

Frances Wilson’s school of development for New Zealand’s top young opera singers - The Auckland Opera Studio – has been forging the way for New Zealand’s future operatic stars for over ten years. Wilson has dedicated her life to fostering that certain sound so present in the Bel Canto style of singing taught by the likes of Dame Sister Mary Leo, Virginia Zeani and Frances herself; and made famous by such indelible voices as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Malvina Major and the late Dame Heather Begg.

The Auckland Opera Studio provides a nurturing and supportive environment for talented New Zealand singers to grow their vocal aptitudes through private tuition, master classes, showcases and performance opportunities. Key to increasing career opportunities for professional opera singers is the continual development of audience recognition and engagement with Opera.