Join award-winning writer and actress Kate Mulvany OAM and acclaimed director Lucy Clements as they discuss the new prologue for Pinchgut's new production of Dido and Aeneas. In the spirit of providing a backstory and context Kate has written us a new spoken-word prologue that helps us freshly understand Purcell’s original setting. Discover what it was like to create this piece ..read more

Host Keiren Brandt-Sawdy chats with Artistic Director and Erin Helyard about Theodora. Delve deep into Handel's oratorio and gain insight our performance at the Sydney Opera House in partnership with Opera Australia ..read more

Host Keiren Brandt-Sawdy chats with conductor Erin Helyard and director Louisa Muller about one of the most beloved works in the Baroque repertoire. Discover fresh insight into Pinchgut's first staging of a Handel opera, with Rinaldo. Get ready to be swept away by the magic and adventure when you witness this towering masterpiece of music and drama on stage at City Recital Hall this November ..read more

In this pre-show podcast, host Genevieve Lang sits down with Conductor Erin Helyard to chat about the upcoming September performance of Pleasures of Versailles by Charpentier. They discuss the tiny operas that were enjoyed by Louis XIV at the Palace of Versailles. Step inside the courtly chambers and learn about the entertainment that was fit for a king ..read more

Baroque Banter 11: French Imports. In this Baroque Banter Erin Helyard talks about the influence of Italian music and musicians in France in the seventeenth century. He talks about opera, dances, chaconnes, passacaglias and the multicultural mix that makes Baroque music so special. Excerpts by Erin on harpsichord ..read more

In the newest episode of our podcast series, Baroque Banter - The Love Duet, Erin Helyard discusses the love duet in baroque opera and the intense emotions it helps to convey - from blissful love to total despair. Erin delves deep into the subject matter and explains the function and evolution of one of opera’s most evocative and transcendent conventions. Tune in to enjoy Erin’s explanation of the love duet and revel in the musical excerpts showcasing two voices intertwining magnificently with one another ..read more

In this episode of Baroque Banter historical bassoon specialist, Simon Rickard joins Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director Erin Helyard to discuss historical performance practice and baroque musical instruments. Tune in now and find out what the musette culture is and what it has in common with today's hipster movement ..read more

Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director Erin Helyard in conversation with director Chas Rader-Shieber ..read more

Host Genevieve Lang is joined by Pinchgut's Artistic Director Erin Helyard and director Dean Bryant to discuss the much anticipated Australian premiere of the opera Giustino by Legrenzi. A forgotten triumph of Venetian opera, Giustino is a fast-paced, kaleidoscopic and fanciful opera packed with arias and old-fashioned wonder that will leave you stamping your feet for more. A classic rags-to-riches story of the shepherd Giustino who, through a series of adventures and magical interventions, ultimately becomes the Emperor of Rome. Treacherous journeys on the high seas, siblings embroiled in swa ..read more

Pinchgut Opera’s pre-concert podcast with Genevieve Lang and Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director, Erin Helyard. Passion, divinity, transcendence: Pinchgut Opera presents its first concert of the season, Membra Jesu Nostri by Buxtehude. A cycle of seven cantatas composed by German composer Dieterich Buxtehude in 1680. The music is loving: pure, balanced and deeply expressive, demonstrating an extraordinary attention to unity of conception. Pinchgut’s presentation of this astonishing work brings together a stellar chorus of soloists, including Alexandra Oomens and Lauren Lodge- Campbell, who both r ..read more