Pinchgut Opera

Blog Comp: win a L’Ormindo CD

Sydney’s 2MBS-FM (102.5FM) will broadcast the special radio program called  “Cavalli’s L’Ormindo: HIP, Then and Now” next Monday 23rd November at 9am (EST). The program aired on 3MBS in Melbourne a few weeks back and now it’s Sydneysiders' turn to hear the terrific insights about the comparisons between two L’Ormindo recordings. Pinchgut’s co-artistic director, Erin Helyard spent several months putting it together (see here for a little more info).

Select has given Pinchgut a copy of the Les Paladins, Correas recording (2006) – I thought I’d give it to a blog reader who emails me the instrument that Erin will be playing and conducting from in Pinchgut’s L’Ormindo opening 2 December? Email me (anna@pinchgutopera.com.au) by Monday 23rd November 10am.

Anna

A recent review by Stephen Schafer:-

L’Ormindo: Sandrine Piau/Les Paladins/Jerome Correas
(Pan Classics PC10196)
With the opening of the first public theatre in Venice in 1637, opera (initiated with the first melodramas privately staged for cultured princes and  aristocrats in Florence and Mantua during the preceding decades) became the most prestigious form within an entertainment industry that would flourish through the following centuries. Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, performed in 1644, is a marvellous example of this exciting new genre in which high- and low-born characters shared the stage in spectacular productions that mixed drama and comedy, pathos and satire, contrasting class values and convoluted plots involving mistaken identities, amorous adventures and surprising revelations of identity, in much the same way as the Broadway musical would later do.
 
With a star cast comprising Sandrine Piau (Harmony), Martin Oro (Ormindo), Howard Crook (Amida) Dominique Visse (Nerillo), Magali Léger (Sicle), Jean-François Lombard (Erice), Stéphanie Révidat (Erisbe), Karine Deshayes (Mirinda), Jacques Bona (Hariadeno) and Benoît Arnould (Osmano) and the superb ensemble Les Paladins led by Jérôme Correas (harpsichord), this recording perfectly captures the ebullient melodramatic spirit of mid-17th-century Italian opera. Abounding in lively recitative interspersed with songs and arias, numerous short instrumental sinfonias and ritornelli, the opera bubbles along with never a dull moment as the two pairs of amanti (Ormindo and Erisbe, Amida and Sicle) prove, as always, that though the path of true love never did run smooth it does, eventually, lead to conjugal happiness, while Nerillo all the while derides their situation and shenanigans. Far from being an antiquated curiosity, L’Ormindo springs to life on CD with all the fun of a classy musical soap opera. One anticipates redoubled enjoyment at the rare opportunity to see it staged! Highly recommended.

Eavesdropping

Director Talya Masel worked very fast on Friday blocking about 50 pages of the score, which is great as we have a lot to get through each day. L’Ormindo has an enormous number of words to be sung and staged. Music Director Erin Helyard on harpsichord and Deb Fox on theorbo, have formed a very close musical partnership which is giving great confidence to the singers.

It is proving very useful to have the set already erected in the rehearsal room, although it means bumping it in twice – once at the Opera Australia studios and then later into the City Recital Hall. The singers are working on the set from day one and that means every move is able to be finally placed and needs no further resetting for the stage.

Pinchgut’s Liz Nielsen was at today’s rehearsals and watched Talya direct David Walker (Ormindo), Trevor Pichanick (Amida) and Fiona Campbell (Erisbe) set the scene for the two rivals eavesdropping on each other with Erisbe. The multi-levelled set allows for great hiding places for eavesdropping and the scene is very funny and powerful, setting the tone for the following actions. As Liz says, “I am so in awe of what opera singers do - this is beautiful but difficult stuff to sing but they also act and deal with different levels of the stage and all without letting the audience see the huge amount of work involved.”

Anna

Photo: Music Director Erin Helyard on harpsichord and Deb Fox on theorbo - what a team!

 

L’Ormindo: A feast for the eyes and the ears – all is revealed (to some)

        
Director Talya Masel and designer Adam Gardnir presented to the company what L’Ormindo will look like. From what was said – I think you are in for quite a visual and musical feast! Talya explained a few of the many subtleties within the direction that will heighten the depth of the experience for both the audience and the performers. She refers to the opera as “the play” – as she says that this is how this is constructed. Erin agreed - saying what we think of as operas of this period were all called dramma per musica (a play with music). Adam then described the costumes - and how they will add the world of colour and timeless space that is being created.

After a run down from the stage manager, Sophie Mackay and production manager Andrew about the safety issues with the set (“don’t fall on your head”), the singers then had a chance to walk all over it.

Then it was straight into Act one, Scene one: Ormindo (David Walker)… “Fu per me ben felice, l’inusso di quell’astro, sanguinoso e guerriero...

Photos: top: Talya & Adam in serious mode; David Walker with the red top - I think enjoying how his Ormindo will look; Bottom: Pinchgut's Liz, Erin and John Pitman taking it all in.

Sets, Camera and Music!

               

Today saw the arrival of Perth-born (though now living in Melbourne) director Talya Masel. Talya dropped her bags at the apartment and then headed straight to the rehearsal studio. Soprano Taryn Fiebig greeted her home-town friend with some gorgeous flowers and helped Talya do her hair for the photo (see the pics)! It was quite clear that Talya loves directing and is comfortable being on that “side of the fence” – and not on stage nor in front of camera. We need to take the final photos of the cast and crew for the (fabulous, in-depth, must-have, purchase-now) program today, as it needs to be at the printers soon - everything is working to a tight schedule.

 

Erin Helyard is doing his magic. Here he is at the harpsichord with Taryn, Kanen, Trevor (standing), Fiona, David (standing) and Deb on the theorbo.  Although it’s only the second day at rehearsals, Erin has been hard at it for that last 5 days working with individual singers and on many other aspects needed as Music Director!

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On the production side of things, production manager Andrew (and designer Adam Gardnir) are delighted to get the nearly completed set into the rehearsal space. With the delivering of the trap doors early this morning, they spent the afternoon securing all the joins and stairs etc. so it’s very secure for the singers to be able to rehearse on the set from tomorrow.

Andrew looking rather chuffed!

 

L'Ormindo rehearsals have started

Rehearsals started today with the Erin Helyard - music director & harpsichord and Deb Fox - lute and individual singers. Deb was saying that although she has learnt all the music - a continuo player has to hear the singer to really know what is going to happen. They are there to support the singers. She also pointed out that as this kind of music involves a lot of improvisation, 17th Century jazz really, it has to be a cooperative effort. Just the right work for Pinchgut!

Yesterday Liz spoke at an opera study group run by Lauris Elms for U3A at Newington. Lauris first came to Pinchgut Opera when she saw Juditha in 2007 as we knew she had sung the role of Holofernes. Liz spoke about Cavalli, why we want to do this gorgeous music, and about the new faces among our soloists, including Trevor Pichanick. She also spoke about our design team Talya and Adam and what they have planned. At the end, a charming, excited woman came up to Liz unable to believe the set of circumstances she found herself in. She is from Harare in Zimbabwe and knows Trevor's family. She also has friends in Israel who know Talya's parents, and in fact they had emailed her that day. She will be getting back to them to tell them about Pinchgut and L'Ormindo. It is this kind of connection between our audience that is very special, making it rewarding and connected for the performers too. I will be letting Trevor and Talya know just in case they are not reading the blog!

Anna

The heat is on!

With only hours until the start to the rehearsals, 4 weeks to sell out before opening night of L'Ormindo, and at 37 degrees as I write this – the heat is on!

I picked up lutenist Deb Fox this morning from the airport, and soprano Jane Sheldon was on the same plane flying in from Boston. So it will be Jane and Deb who will be the most jet lagged for tomorrow rehearsals. However, on arrival at Ken & Liz’s (where Deb will be staying for a few weeks), Ken managed to hit the spot with breakfast including in-season "Katherine" mangos (for the current Mango Crop Harvest Report go here - thanks to Ken).

Deb only had her guitar this time (leaving her theorbo at home this year). She calls it a “violin” to airline staff in order to allow it to travel with her in the overhead as the guitar isn't very big, and she knows it fits.

Deb has been busy in Rochester, New York with her own group Pegasus, performing her last concert of music for the lute and viol consort only last week. Music inclued works by Holborne, Byrd & Dowland. She said it was a wonderfully rich collaborative experience for all the performers and now ready for Pinchgut!  Deb added that she has been listening to Cavalli on the flight and is now back in the 17th century.

Anna

Photo: Deb Fox, an hour after arriving. I’m not that mean taking these photos – at least I don’t interview our musicians at this time!

Ormindo arrives and Travelling with Instruments

Pinchgut’s Liz Nielsen picked up David Walker from the airport early on Sunday morning to take him to his apartment on a clear sunny Sydney morning. David lives in Florida so a sunny morning is no big deal for him but he did have a big grin on his face (despite just getting off the plane) to be back in Sydney.

David was such a lovely team player last time he was here in 2007 for Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans and we are very happy to have him and his golden voice back with us. He has a few days to get over jet lag before rehearsals (Wednesday start). Deb Fox is next to arrive from Rochester, New York and Jane Sheldon from Boston. Erin Helyard arrived from snowy Montreal last Wednesday. Fiona Campbell was here from Perth to perform at last nights Sydney Philharmonia's beautiful “War & Peace” concert performing the Haydn’s Mass in Time of War – it was a stunning performance with the talented Brett Weymark conducting. She is back with her family in Perth for a few days before returning to Sydney soon.

On the ground here, Andrew Johnston has nearly completed the set that will be installed in the rehearsal room so the singers are very familiar with it before they get to the City Recital Hall. This is a first for us as the singers haven't worked with the set until we bump in to the Hall before. It will be interesting to see how this works.

We are booking all the flights for the orchestra members coming from outside Sydney. For the larger instruments, such as Laura's lirone that means two seats as the lirone needs its own seat - too risky in the hold! Deb Fox is leaving her theorbo at home this year and using a theorbo owned by the Early Instrument Collection here. On one of her trips back from us in the past, despite a hard shell case, the airline managed to break the neck of her precious theorbo when it was in checked luggage. The theorbo will not quite fit in the cabin! This is the first time on stage for this theorbo, which is being built by Peter Biffin in Armidale, NSW. Erin's harpsichord, which is the right sort of Italian instrument, has been shipped from Montreal where it will join another Italian one borrowed from Carey Beebe's collection. It is very exciting to have two Italian instruments for this piece. It is a huge job that Alison does to get our orchestras together every year. We always chose exactly the right instruments and players needed for the work  - quite a job!

Anna

Photo: David Walker as Holofernes in 2007's Juditha Triumphans. Photo by Bridget Elliot.

Is there something in the water in WA?

“Not the water we drink, but the water we swim in. There's something about the ocean. It feeds the spirit.”  Director Talya Masel told 2MBS's Fine Music magazine for an article that was published in the November edition that is out today.

The cover story is about our production of L’Ormindo focusing on the Western Australian talent  - there are “three proud Perth women on the roster, as director Talya Masel and singers Fiona Campbell and Taryn Fiebig join forces with a merry band of locals and imports to bring Francesco Cavalli's madcap comedy L'Ormindo to life in true Pinchgut style.” Read the article here…

Lots of activity on all fronts now and delighted to have the Pinchgut team all on the ground preparing for the first week of rehearsals. The rest of the cast & crew will be arriving in the next few days including Talya Masel, David Walker, Jane Sheldon, Adam Gardnir & Deb Fox.

Anna

Photo: Director Talya and designer Adam during the design presentation a few months back..

Pinchgut Cast & Crew start arriving in Sydney

Erin Helyard arrived early this morning from Montreal - via a few stopovers and a nearly missed connection.  So after the (very) early airport pick up, shower and coffee, he talked about the amazing projects he has been doing and the upcoming L’Ormindo (I’ll get the flipcam on him soon!). Erin will be spending time with family in Gosford for the next few days before returning to Sydney on Saturday. He has scheduled some preliminary chats with various cast members & Pinchgut team before the start of rehearsals next Wednesday including Alison Johnston and Fiona Campbell (who is already in Sydney for the Sydney Philharmonia performance of War & Peace this Sunday at the Opera House).

Last night, I went to Opera Australia’s Peter Grimes - one of the best productions I’ve seen OA do. Just loved it ALL – music, staging, performances, chorus, orchestra…. There is only one last chance to see it this Friday night – GO! A few singers who are performing in Peter Grimes will also be part of Pinchgut’s L’Ormindo - including Richard Anderson (who I hardly recognised in his fat suit), Taryn Fiebig & Kanen Breen. And I managed to have the talented Fiona Campbell sitting next to me! A superb evening.

Anna

Photo: Erin Helyard this morning after a day in a plane.. 

October Pinchgut Newsletter out today!

In this edition we ask soprano Taryn Fiebig to answer a few questions for us. Taryn will be singing the role of Sicle (the Princess of Susio) in L’Ormindo, which will be her first time performing with Pinchgut. She is a principal artist with Opera Australia, and has worked with many organisations Australia wide. Also in the newsletter are articles about soprano Anna Fraser who will be singing the roles of Mirinda and Melide; and the talented harpist Genevieve Lang who will be playing the double harp.

We are also running a competition: - we will give a CD box of your choice of recordings of past Pinchgut productions to the person who can put the L’Ormindo poster in the most unusual place. It must be legal (no red painted “Love Triangles” on the Opera House) - and if on private property the owner must consent. Take a photo showing where your poster is and we will judge the funniest or most original. You can pick up a poster from the City Recital Hall Angel Place, or email me and I’ll send back the poster for you to print out. Then just email your photo to me at anna@pinchgutopera.com.au by 2 December. Check out the poster here..

Anna

Photo: Taryn Fiebig. Photo by Steven Godbee

L’Ormindo rehearsals start next week!

Yep, we are certainly rounding the corner with the cast and crew assembling for the first day of rehearsals next Wednesday 4 November. It’s a very exciting time at the moment with people arriving from many parts of the world including Erin Helyard, David Walker (Ormindo), Deb Fox (theorbo). We are all looking forward to seeing old and dear friends and meeting new ones.

We will be rehearsing at Opera Australia Studios in Surry Hills, which is wonderfully convenient for most people, and once the greetings are over, music calls begin. We have two days of music calls, during which time Erin, Deb and Nicole Dorigo (our terrific language coach) will see all the singers individually, and then together. Tayla and Adam will give the team the outline of how the piece is to be performed on Friday morning, and then we’re off with staging calls.

It’s been a very busy time for the Pinchgut team with Alison Johnston busy arranging final touches to schedules, artists needs and many other jobs too countless to mention. Andrew Johnston and the production team are working mad hours completing the individual parts of the set ready to be constructed in the rehearsal room next week, so the singers will be able to work with it from the start.  Erin arrives this Wednesday and has been working on the final version of the score – instrumentation choices, ornamentation, ways of delivering the text, phrasing, dynamics etc etc – all the things that go into making his own interpretation of the piece.

Anna

Photo: Deb Fox and theorbo during 2004 L'Orfeo

Special radio broadcast of: Cavalli’s L’Ormindo: “Hip”, Then and Now

This Sunday 25th October at 7pm (EST) a special radio program will be broadcast on Melbourne’s 3MBS-FM - and live via the web at www.3mbs.org.au. Pinchgut’s co-artistic director, Erin Helyard has put together Cavalli’s L’Ormindo: “Hip”, Then and Now over several months, and as Erin explains: - 

“Musical scores from the seventeenth-century are under prescriptive and lacking in detail when compared to scores of later periods. Any realisation must therefore be predicated on a myriad of decisions based on current knowledge, taste and dramatic intent. This radio program traces the historiography of historically-informed performance (or HIP, for short) by  comparing and contemplating two recordings, one from 1967, the other from 2006, of Cavalli’s L’Ormindo (1644), soon to be staged in Sydney by Pinchgut Opera.”  The music selections are from the Les Paladins, Correas recording (2006) and Raymond Leppard recording (1967).

The program will be repeated on 2MBS-FM in late November at a time to be set and we hope left online (via 3MBS) for streaming.

Also, November’s Vogue Living is now on sale with a chance to win opening night tickets to L'Ormindo, accommodation at the Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney, airfares to Sydney, CDs and more! See page 217.

So be listening & be reading! Anna

Designing Jewellery for Opera.

Today I meet up with jewellery designer Claire Aristides and painter & Pinchgut supporter, Alison Free. Claire will be designing and making the jewellery for L'Ormindo, working closely with designer Adam Gardnir in the coming weeks. (Claire also runs a successful jewellery making school.)

Looking at her sketchbook and hearing her ideas, she is certainly underway designing the jewels to match Talya & Adam’s concept of the work. There are 10 characters (5 male and 5 female) with one singer, Anna Fraser, performing two roles - Melide & Mirinda, and Jane Sheldon playing a boy - Nerillo, and Kanen Breen playing a woman - Erice (well, it is an intriguing comedy of love triangles after all!). Everyone will be wearing something to complement the beautiful costumes that will be created soon. Working in opera, Claire tells me that she has to be very mindful of movement and sound considerations – and a quick 30-second costume change for Anna Fraser between characters!

Anna

Photo: Claire showing the jewellery designs for Taryn Fiebig's Sicle.

Architect Andrew Andersons talks about designing successful performance venues

Andrew Andersons is the architect that designed the wonderful City Recital Hall Angel Place where L’Ormindo will be performed. He is also (as he once corrected me) an “obsessive” concertgoer. I meet up with Andrew yesterday for a chat and asked him whether he thought opera would one day be staged in the Hall when he designed it, and how he feels seeing the space used the way we do in Pinchgut.

Andrew has designed for various cultural venues in Australia and overseas, and various extensions to art galleries, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia and the Heide Museum of Modern Art building. He also designed the controversial (and fabulous) Toaster in Circular Quay.

Andrew believes that traditional theatre design was very good. These early theatres not only had good direct sightlines and volume to resonate but also gave the audiences "the awareness of itself". That is, every audience member had a real sense of being there and participating in the action. He believes this is lost on many architects designing for live performance spaces today. Unlike film where no amount of audience interaction will alter the film, the magic of live performance is the dialogue between the audience and the performers. What the audience does is vital to what goes on on stage. He gave the example of the Teatro Della Pergola in Florence as a fine early theatre, and said that the City Recital Hall is an excellent space for audiences to achieve a “tremendous sense of interaction”.

What are gut strings?

Nicole Forsyth will be playing the viola in the Orchestra of the Antipodes in L'Ormindo. I had a coffee with her and asked about playing with Pinchgut (she has been in every production) and what exactly are gut strings:-

Nicole is one of Australia's finest chamber musicians on viola and also a researcher in socio-music history. She is soloist and guest principal violist with many specialist early and avant-garde music groups including us, Flametree Festival, Halycon and Ludovico's Band. Nicole has a very active schedule as a performer and recording artist with ABC Classics and with the major Australian symphony orchestras, and teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and MLC School, Sydney and has been a curator at the Museum of Sydney.

L'Ormindo rehearsals start on the 4 November (3 weeks time!) with the orchestra (including Nicole) coming in on the 25 November - ready for opening night on the 2 December. Have you got your seat?

Anna

Building sets for a timeless world

Andrew Johnston, our amazingly calm and talented production manager, is busy building the set in time for the beginning of rehearsals early November. This year, the set will be something never seen before in the City Recital Hall. Director Talya Masel and designer Adam Gardnir have created a timeless world of colour and space that will use the height and grandeur of Hall. There will be many different levels for the singers to perform from and a lot of stage art needed. I asked Andrew to give me an update:-

“Our scenic flats are being painted onto MDF boards - which are 2.4m x 1.2m in dimension. So I've been breaking the plans of each of the flats into 2.4 x1.2 size pieces. Then I've transferred these onto transparencies, borrowed an overhead projector and just today began projecting onto the MDF drawing the outline in marker pen and then cutting the MDF with a jigsaw.

We're very lucky to have been given the use of a big empty dusty warehouse for free. It's been empty for years so even after a couple of hours of sweeping and mopping, there is still plenty of dust around. The next two weeks in my two days off per week from my other job (Andrew works at the Sydney Theatre Company), I’ll deposit my daughter with my mum and cut out all the remaining MDF. As well as screwing timber cleats onto the back so we can join the pieces together. Then I'll lay them all out on plastic sheeting in their finished positions and Anthony Babicci our scenic artist will then come in and spend a week painting them all to look just like the model box.

The rest of my time devoted to the set is spent hunting for companies that have the correct rostra that we need for the rest of the set. We've just found the last bits we need - and all given to us for free. Thank you Sydney's theatrical community! Now I need to go to the Opera Australia store to hunt up the various treads stairs and ladders that we'll need. All of this is happening much earlier than other years, as we need to get the whole set into the rehearsal room.”

All the best Andrew in the coming weeks! Anna

Photo of Andrew with a snippet of the set from the model box..well, we can't give too much away

Rare opera gem by most famous composer of his time

Opera Now is a UK magazine that is “a unique and all-encompassing perspective on the international opera scene”. Anyway, their current edition (with fab new design) published a wonderful lift-out on future productions, done in association with operabase.com. At the end they list new and rare works, and there is no L’Ormindo listed anywhere in the world with a mention of only one-night concert of Cavalli’s Xerse at Champs Elysees. I have alerted to them of our new production of L’Ormindo, a rare opera gem by the most famous composer of his time – and now attempting to alert the rest of the world of this most unusual event! I’m happy to accept any help in this mission...

Also, there was a terrific interview with the film and opera director Peter Greenaway on ABC's The Music Show with Andrew Ford on the weekend. He discusses his amazing work, music in cinema, 17th century art, and opera  - with some very interesting comments on early opera. I’d love him to come to L’Ormindo! You can listen to the podcast here. For your information, Greenaway is in Melbourne for his Leonardo's Last Supper installation in the 2009 Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Anna

Happy Birthday City Recital Hall

City Recital Hall Angel Place turns 10 years old this month, so many happy returns and music making!

Pinchgut would not be able to exist without this fine space. Our aim is to present these rare opera gems in intimate venues - where the audience is “up close and personal” to the music. We take out the first 4 rows of seats and put the orchestra there, so you hear and see ALL the music and drama from every seat. The Hall allows the music to shine by its fine acoustics, excellent set-up and special staff. This is our eighth year in the Hall and we were the first company to use it in such a way – fully staged opera productions. The architect, Andrew Andersons is also a regular concertgoer and is delighted with what we do with the space (we arranged an interview with him on ABC RN with Margaret Throsby a few years ago..).

I’m off to celebrate at a party they are holding there tonight and then to the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s final performance at another great space – the Sydney Opera House. What a way to celebrate! And I started by seeing more dolphins at wild Bondi this morning. So go and see something at City Recital Hall - and especially now (and December 2, 5, 6 & 7!) with Sydney’s Art & About currently on – there’s a fabulous bird cage installation in the laneway..

Anna

Calling all Opera Virgins

I’ve been promoting our opera virgin offer recently with good response on the radio. The offer is that Pinchgut will refund the ticket price to anyone who has not seen a Pinchgut production before (or “opera virgin”) and who does not enjoy the up-coming production of Cavalli’s L’Ormindo. This year we have decided to add $5 to cover the bus or train fare. We are sure that we are the first (and only) opera company in the world to make this offer, and have made this claim since we introduced it a few years back. We have had only two people in the past three years ask for a refund - so I reckon (well, know) that we have definitely made many people virgins no longer."

“After hearing from friends of the work of Pinchgut, I joined your list last year...with a great sense of anticipation we took our seats…I had told my husband cheerfully the he could go to sleep if he wished (he is not a fan of opera except for Verdi and Puccini) and settled down to enjoy the performance. I was amazed however to discover that my 'enjoyable' evening would turn out to be such a fantastic experience for us both! From beginning to end we were entranced. The music, the singing, the performances....I have been spreading the word to all my friends and congratulate you on your vision and initiative in staging these wonderful productions each year.”  Philippa Davern, audience member.

And a note on the “Pinchgut” name. Prof. Andy Short, Director of the Coastal Studies Unit at Sydney University and Very Smart Guy, responded to my email about where the name comes from (see post below), and as far as he is aware, “Pinchgut is related to the harbour topography and not the convict story.” He directed me to the Museum of Sydney and also the NSW Geographical Names Board (new to me). So there you have it - no more staving convict tales!

This morning's walk at Bondi was a white out, with later weather reports telling people to stay indoors and away from windows. The gales force winds have produced 10m swells with waves up to 8ft. There was a pod of dolphins sheltering from the wild seas in Bondi’s bay - amazing.

Anna

Pinchgut Explained

I received a phone call from one of our audience members Brett Davis, to book tickets for the Art Gallery concert and order Pinchgut T-Shirts and CD (you can too here). Brett pointed out that "Pinchgut" is a naval term, and has nothing to do with staving convicts (which we thought it did). It refers to the narrowing of the harbour of the north and south channels (or guts) in Sydney Harbour, that form a rocky outcrop – the island. So apparently there is no need for any tales about starving prisoners!

From an internet search, the City of Sydney, Australian Navy and National Parks and Wildlife offers no explanation, but the Wikipedia entry adheres to the yarn: - “In 1788 a convict named Thomas Hill was sentenced to a week on bread and water in irons there, and the island came to be known as Pinchgut.”

But I did find this from an independent science writer, Peter Macinnis:- “Let's get one thing straight: Pinchgut does not, despite what most Sydneysiders assert, and most tourist books and guides say, get its name from the habit of starving prisoners there in the early days of the colony. Rather, it is an island situated at a pinch point in the channel, or “gut”. Popular legend has it that "Pinchgut" got its name because convicts were placed there to starve on bread and water, or nothing at all: these tales do tend to get embroidered! The origin of that yarn could lie with "Bony" Anderson, a convict who was kept in solitary on Goat Island for two years, chained to a rock on the southern side of that island. The "pinched guts" yarn goes as far back as the 1830s, but nobody seems to have identified any convict who was actually starved there, although at least one unfortunate was hung in chains on Pinchgut. Lieutenant Collins speaks of convicts being confined to a small rocky island at the mouth of the Cove, but this could equally well be Goat Island as Pinchgut, so the question is still open to debate.”

Just to be clear, we named our company Pinchgut Opera, as we wanted something very “Sydney” and it has nice musical connotations - and starving artist jokes aside we do feed them well! Being an ex-marine scientist, I’ve emailed my past supervisor (and personal hero), Prof. Andy Short at Sydney Uni to point me in some official direction. So I’ll keep you posted.

So the plot thickens… off stage. Anna

Photo of Andrew Johnston (with flag) on our attempt to take over Pinchgut Island for the French - a stint we did for the launch of Dardanus in 2004.