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HOL Presents
See the list of all the upcoming and already had events for this year
The 2025/26 Palace Opera & Ballet program continues at the Empire Cinema in Bowral.
The Southern Highlands is fortunate that we see Palace Opera & Ballet at the Empire Cinema in Bowral.
A top-flight cast features in a new staging of Mozart and Da Ponte’s comic masterpiece of love, trust and the fickleness of human behaviour from acclaimed director Robert Carsen. As part of a bet with Don Alfonso, Ferrando and Guglielmo must try to seduce each other’s fiancées, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. When both yield, and the ruse is revealed, all four must reckon with the fallout. Tackling Mozart’s exquisite and nuanced music is British conductor Alexander Soddy, much in demand at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan, and the Staatsoper of Vienna and Berlin.
Saturday 28 February & Sunday 1 March 2026 at 1pm, Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 11am
In 2026, the Australian Haydn Orchestra brings to Bowral Memorial Hall an array of programs featuring music by Haydn (of course), Mozart, Beethoven and a selection of rare and spirited works by lesser-known Bohemian composers
Mozart’s Spring – 4 pm Saturday 7 March 2026
Beethoven’s Fourth – 4 pm Saturday 2 May 2026
Divine Bohemians – 4 pm Saturday 1 August 2026
Haydn’s Oxford – 4 pm Saturday 31 October 2026
“I saw all heaven before me”
So said George Frideric Handel when composing his most famous work in just 24 days in autumn 1741.
‘Messiah’ is a monumental English-language oratorio which describes the prophecy, birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Famously featuring the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, this Baroque masterpiece has become a staple of Christmas and Easter, celebrated for its dramatic power, choral grandeur, and timeless message of redemption.
Divine inspiration? Come, hear, feel, and decide for yourself.
https://events.humanitix.com/handel-s-messiah-gknk953l/tickets
It is with great excitement that Bowral Autumn Music Festival has announced its 2026 program of 13 chamber music events over four days and nights, in Bowral in Autumn.
The much-anticipated 2026 staging of Adelaide’s Arena di Verona production of Aida is to be postponed for a year due to freight issues. Twenty-eight containers of the elaborate sets, all designed by Franco Zefferelli, are now stranded on docks. A significant disappointment for the 60,000 strong audiences expected to attend. A new date has yet to be announced for 2027.
The 2025 international opera awards, announced a Lifetime Achievement Award for Greek Mezzo Soprano Agnes Baltsa. Ms Baltsa has had a 5-decade career in opera and is regarded as a definitive Carmen.
Early in the new year Opera Australia will be mounting two operatic favourites with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Turandot. Former artistic director Moffatt Oxenbould’s staging of Madama Butterfly will be performed with Guanqun Yu and Vittoria Yeo sharing the role of Cio-Cio-San. Turandot will feature two of Australia’s most dramatic sopranos, Anna Louise Cole, returning from a triumphant Ring Cycle and Rebecca Nash fresh from The Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Is opera in decline? Opera’s traditionalism and opulence make it an easy target for calls of elitism and irrelevance, but the picture is more complex. Attendance at some major opera houses has declined this century, particularly among the younger demographic. Ageing audiences and rising production costs contribute to the perception of an endangered art form. However, in many parts of the world such as Eastern Europe and parts of Asia it is thriving. Cities such as Moscow, Beijing and Vienna regularly enjoy sell out performances.
Streaming of live performances to cinemas and online have provided access to millions who might never have set foot in an opera house. The New York Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series alone reaches audiences across 70 countries. No other art form brings together music, narrative, drama, design and vocal excellence like opera, let us hope the magic continues.
This item continues an ongoing series of articles All About Opera from Highlands Opera Lovers Past President Joanne McGrath.
Soprano Taryn Fiebig’s final album was released on 20 March 2022, on the first anniversary of her death, aged 49.
The album is titled SHE: Survival Hope Empowerment.
The Charles Aznavour song She opens the album, and a string arrangement of the song closes it, featuring some of Fiebig’s opera friends including Cheryl Barker and Peter Coleman-Wright, as well as her husband Jud Arthur. We can purchase the SHE CD at https://she4ocrf.com.au
Bowral is the legendary home of Sir Donald Bradman, Australia’s greatest cricketer.
The Don’s granddaughter, Greta Bradman, is an operatic soprano, who debuted for Opera Australia in La Bohème at Sydney Opera House in 2017. Greta is a psychologist as well as a soprano, and hosts Mindful Music on Monday evenings on ABC Classic Radio, enabling us to unwind and find solace in the power of music https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/mindful-music
Greta also is Co Chair of the Bradman Foundation, which operates The Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame in Bowral https://internationalcrickethall.com/ as an international tourist attraction.
The image shows Greta performing at Shane Warne’s memorial service in March 2022. Greta shared her grandfather’s affection for Warne.
In the King’s Birthday Honours List in June 2025, Greta Bradman was awarded Member of The Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts in a range of roles, and to psychology.
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