After cancelling its inaugural production because of poor ticket sales, the Christchurch-based opera company is planning to make it second time lucky in Dunedin.
The second of Verdi's classic trilogy, sandwiched between La Traviata and Rigoletto, Il Trovatore is a dark tale of love, vengeance and death, underpinned with a soaring and haunting musical score.
With a cast and crew of more than 100 people, and led by an international principal line-up, it promises to be opera on a grand scale.
"Your audiences are in for a wonderful treat. The great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso once said, 'If you want to put on Il Trovatore, you have to get the four best singers in the world', " Southern Opera chief executive, Christopher Doig, says.
"Opera needs to be done exceptionally well to gain a devoted following. It's all about big sets and orchestras and costumes. You owe it to the product not to compromise. Opera needs to appeal to the musician and the theatre practitioner. Wagner said it was an amalgam of all the great arts. Opera pulls all those things together."
Southern Opera grew from the ashes of Canterbury Opera last year.
"Traditionally, arts funding has been clustered around Auckland and Wellington, and the South Island has been under-represented. I couldn't stand living in the South Island without fighting for opera. I'm convinced that taxpayers have the right to see quality arts productions wherever they live," Doig says.
Southern Opera's inaugural scheduled touring production, Time Pieces, had its March performance cancelled in Dunedin due to slow ticket sales. The Queenstown performance went ahead to rave reviews.
"Our commitment to Otago is contingent upon demonstrable support. We have to sell seats to continue. Arts have to get beyond the parochial stuff. This is the South Island's opera company," Doig says.
"Some of New Zealand's best opera voices are coming out of this region. People like Jud Arthur, Martin Snell, Jonathan Lemalu, Suzanne Prain, Anna Leese . . . you could go on and on.
"Otago has always been a reservoir of great singers. All these singers have done their education here. You are a major training ground for opera singers. You've also got some great singing teachers here: Isabelle Cunningham, Honor McKellar, Vincent Major, Bertha Rawlinson, Donald Munro and, of course, the university influence."
Doig knows a bit about opera training.
The tenor was a teacher at Auckland Grammar School when he won the 1972 Mobil Song Quest, before joining the Vienna State Opera in 1976.
"It was like having your very first cricket innings at Lord's. It was a very difficult time. I didn't know anything at all and I was determined that wouldn't happen to other New Zealand singers," he says.
"I fervently believe that the strength of an opera company resides in the capabilities of the chorus and the orchestra. We need to invest in this while providing the best possible training and performance opportunities for our young singers."
Doig was awarded an OBE for his services to the arts in 1992.
He retired from singing in 1995 to become chief executive of New Zealand Cricket.
Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) was first performed on January 19, 1853, at the Teatro Apollo, in Rome.
"It's a classic opera circus of infanticide, genocide, sex and love. But it's quite a modern story, as well," Doig says. "You're going to love it."
The principals are Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Bocharova, American tenor Carlo Scibelli, New Zealand soprano Patricia Wright and Korean baritone Seung-Wook Seong.
The opera will be conducted by Tom Woods and performed in Italian, with English surtitles.
Southern Opera presents Il Trovatore at 7.30 tonight in the Regent Theatre.
