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Conductor: Paul Terracini
Soloists:
Stacey Alleaume, Soprano
Natalie Aroyan, Soprano
Elena Gabouri, Mezzo Soprano
Diego Torre, Tenor
Andrew Williams, Baritone
Diego Torre, Tenor As Riccardo
Natalie Aroyan, Soprano As Amelia
Andrew Williams, Baritone As Renato
Stacey Alleaume, Soprano As Oscar
Elena Gabouri, Contralto As Ulrica
Richard Anderson, Bass As Sam
Gennadi Dubinsky, Bass As Tom
KPO will return to Handa Opera at Millthorpe for the second season of the highly successful opera festival. Set in the historic and idyllic Central West village of Millthorpe, Handa Opera at Millthorpe was extremely popular with audiences in its first iteration in 2025. In 2026, KPO will perform at the opening Opera Gala on Friday 3 April, and in Verdi’s 'Un Ballo in Maschera' (A Masked Ball) on Sunday 5 April. The opera gala will feature some of Australia’s finest singers in repertoire drawn from the golden age of opera, including music by Puccini, Verdi, and others.
'Un Ballo in Maschera' is Giuseppe Verdi at his best, creating a gripping drama that provides a brilliant vehicle for the stellar cast. Premiered in 1859 and originally set at the Royal Swedish Court, the opera ran foul of the official censors in Naples and Rome due to its principal character, Gustav III, being assassinated at a masked ball. As a result, it was re-written twice before its world premiere in Rome. The libretto first transported the action to Szczecin in Poland, depicting the murder of the Duke of Pomerania, but three assassination attempts on the life of Napoleon III before the first performance prompted the censors to demand another re-write. Attacks on royalty of any kind had to be removed. 18th century Boston, Massachusetts, was chosen as the final destination of the plot. Since the second half of the 20th century, the setting of the opera has been returned to Sweden in most productions.
For details, see the Handa Opera at Millthorpe website.
Paul Terracini
Dr Paul Terracini was born in Sydney and has enjoyed a career in Australia and internationally as an instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He has held permanent positions as Principal Trumpet in the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra; Lecturer in Trumpet, Brass Ensemble and Big Band at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music; and Solo Trumpet in the Danish Chamber Players, Denmark.
As an instrumentalist, he performed as soloist in Australia, Europe, USA, and Asia. Within Australia, his solo performances included concertos with the Melbourne, Queensland, West Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
Paul Terracini has appeared as an opera conductor at the German Rossini Festival in Bad Wilbad, for the Danish Bel Canto Society in Copenhagen, and the Storstroms Symphony Orchestra, also in Denmark. Since assuming the role of artistic director of the Penrith Symphony Orchestra in 2010, he has, apart from programming and conducting the symphonic repertoire, pioneered the performance of chamber opera in western Sydney. For many years he has been invited as a guest conductor/composer to music schools and universities in Europe, USA, China, and Australia. He appears regularly as conductor for the Conservatorium High School, in Sydney. As a choral conductor, he has recorded for ABC Classics with Ars Nova Copenhagen, and the Sydney based choir, Cantillation.
As a composer and arranger, his music has been heard throughout the world in a variety of genres, performed by, amongst others, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass, the Danish Chamber Players, the Australian Brass Quintet, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Brass, and at festivals and conferences on every continent. His music for the two part ABC television series, Hymns of the Forefathers, in which he developed many of the traditional English hymns into symphonic poems, received international acclaim and was released on CD and DVD by ABC Classics. His title music for the television series, Classical Destinations, which was produced for three seasons, was featured on the ‘Number 1 Classical Album of the Year,’ released by Decca.
His CD, Paul Terracini: Music for Brass, was released on the Tall Poppies label in May 2015. On this recording, he conducted his own music with Sydney Brass, featuring members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Paul Terracini also holds a PhD from the University of Sydney, having earlier completed a Bachelor of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours). His book, John Stoward Moyes and the Social Gospel, was published in 2015.