PACT Opera

PACT Opera was formed as one of the principal arts segments of the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (PACT).

History

Established in 1963, and housed at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg which opened in 1962. Productions were staged here and at the Aula Theatre at the University of Pretoria. Initially, PACT had no permanent opera company and the Transvaal (as it was then known) had no opera school to provide trained singers. Because PACT could not offer professional careers to local singers, they lost local talent to countries abroad.

Since PACT's inception in 1963, efforts were initiated to create an awareness of opera at schools and in smaller communities. PACT visited schools and communities with smaller scale productions, sponsored by the Department of Education in Transvaal.

In 1981, the newly-built State Theatre in Pretoria became the permanent residence of PACT Opera, leading to the establishment of a permanent company with permanent administrative, production staff, orchestra, and opera chorus and company singers. Opera productions were supported by international singers, conductors and producers.

The first opera season held at the State Theatre consisted of four Italian operas, Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello and La traviata, Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. However, all principal roles were sung by singers imported from Europe.

In 1982, PACT Opera introduced the first international singer of colour, namely the American soprano, Martina Arroyo, in the leading role in Aida by Verdi with a supported opera chorus from all cultures in South Africa. This set a dramatic change in the demand to introduce opera to a wider circle of the public. The opera repertoire presented at PACT was performed in five languages and spanned the operatic literature from Mozart to contemporary works. Contemporary works included operas by Janacek and Britten, operas by South African composers such as Hofmeyr and Temmingh, as well as musical comedies and operettas.

PACT Opera was transformed into the State Theatre Opera Company in 1996.

Productions

Operas

1963: Tosca; Le nozze di Figaro; Amahl and the Night Visitors; Susanna’s Secret

1964: Lucia di Lammermoor; Faust; Il trovatore

1965: Nabucco; La bohème

1966: Nabucco; Die Fledermaus; Il trovatore; Così fan tutte; Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride)

1967: Macbeth; The Bartered Bride; Madama Butterfly; Il seraglio

1968: Macbeth; Die Fledermaus; Madama Butterfly; La traviata; Nabucco

1969: Peter Grimes; La traviata; Madama Butterfly; Don Carlos

1970: Tosca; Gianni Schicchi; Il tabarro; Don Pasquale; Der fliegende Holländer

1971: La traviata; La forza del destino; Rigoletto; Tosca

1972: Carmen; Don Pasquale; Rigoletto; Don Giovanni

1973: La traviata; Aida; Carmen; Le nozze di Figaro

1974:Rigoletto; Lucia di Lammermoor; Norma; La bohème

1975: Don Carlos; Il barbiere di Siviglia; Die Fledermaus; Le nozze di Figaro

1976:La forza del destino; La bohème; Jenůfa; Il barbiere di Siviglia

1977: Don Giovanni; Faust; The Merry Widow

1978: Die Fledermaus; Nabucco; Madama Butterfly

1979: Simon boccanegra; The Merry Widow; Jenůfa; Lucia di Lammermoor

1981: Otello, La traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, I Pagliacci

1982: Aida

For more information, see Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal

For an overview on opera in South Africa, see Opera

Sources

Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.

Antoinette Johanna Olivier. 2014. 'Exploring contributions to opera by The Black Tie Ensemble: a historical case study'. Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master‟s in Music at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University.

Hilde Roos. 2012. 'Indigenisation and history: how opera in South Africa became South African opera'. Acta Academica Supplementum. 2012(1).

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