Moffat Oxenbould speech (former Artistic Director, Opera Australia)
Richard Bonynge and Opera Australia
On this stage - a little over 36 years ago - at the conclusion of an opening night performance of The Tales of Hoffmann Richard Bonynge and his wife, Joan Sutherland were asked by the then General Manager of The Australian Opera, John Winther, if they would accept what was at that time the most important honour the Company could bestow – Life Membership. There were only two other Life Members - Dame Joan Hammond and Doctor Nugget Coombs – true pioneers of the early days of the then 18 year- old Company – so Richard and Joan were in select company! They graciously accepted the honour and hinted that they would be back with the Company in Australia in years to come.
The Hoffmann visit had been long-awaited. Nine years earlier Richard and Joan had returned to their native land to head the Sutherland- Williamson Grand Opera Company – presenting seven operas in four capital cities over 14 weeks. That season has already passed into legend – but the excitement it generated contributed mightily to the building up of audiences in our country for the Sutherland Williamson Company’s co-presenter - the young Elizabethan Trust Opera Company, which was to become The Australian Opera and is now Opera Australia.
The day of the first music rehearsal of The Tales of Hoffmann began nervously. Richard and Joan had just done a new production of the same opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with a cast of superstars. We assumed that they would want to replicate as best as possible what they’d just been doing in the United States. How wrong we were! The impeccably prepared members of the Company singing the principal roles gathered in a rehearsal room downstairs. Richard and Joan arrived, and I walked them through photographers and journalists at the stage door. The cast was introduced and the rehearsal began. By the break, nervousness had turned to bubbling excitement after an hour and a half of stimulating ensemble music-making! There was scarcely passing mention of the Metropolitan Opera or previous productions. Instead, the excitement of working as a team took over; inspired by Richard and the director, Tito Capobianco - and the production that was presented on that July Night in 1974 remains one of the landmarks of the Company’s list of great ensemble achievements – musically and dramatically. The Company and the Bonynges had begun an enduring love affair based on mutual respect, admiration and affection.
Eighteen months later Richard returned – having re-arranged his international schedule to open the Company’s 1976 performing year with The Magic Flute. It was important to him to be here on that opening night because it also marked his assumption of the pivotal role of the Company’s Musical Director – a position he held for the next decade – 10 years of extraordinary growth and achievement for the still young Company.
But Richard’s ongoing association didn’t finish when his official role came to an end – it’s continued almost without interruption - so after 36 years he can truly be described as having had the most sustained, ongoing involvement in the company’s musical life. And throughout that time he’s concurrently continued a high level international career.
For Opera Australia he’s conducted more than fifty operas – several of them in different productions in many seasons. He thrives on the company’s ensemble nature, and in a recent interview declared that he found it “a real family company”. Throughout his long membership of the OA family he’s been much more than just an international conductor and a renowned authority on several operatic genres. He’s been an extraordinary encourager of Australian talent – with a proud record of giving Australian artists opportunities overseas. He’s always been happy to pass on his knowledge - we were invited to dine together last Friday, and he was almost late because he’d spent the entire afternoon going through the score of La traviata with a young Australian conductor currently working with OzOpera. He’s always given generously of his talents in raising funds for charity and a host of musical support organisations. He understands the obligations of his professional position as well as its privileges. In times of need Richard has always “been there”.
Some have said that Richard lives in the past and suggest that he should have been born in the 19th century! He certainly has immense knowledge of the arts and social history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries –he’s also lived a fantastically rich cultivated life through most of the 20th – and he brings all of this into his own time and place. His unparalleled expertise – enthusiastically accumulated over many years - has given him an immense respect for the standards and traditions that are our heritage. He’s a proud traditionalist – and isn’t the first conductor - and won’t be the last - to erupt into an occasional loud outburst about a production, a design detail or principal singers placed too far upstage.
I think there‘s one word that perfectly describes Richard and his relationship to the operatic arts and this company – and that is love. He loves singers and singing. He loves the process of inspiring and assisting artists to reach new heights - the hurly-burly of a rehearsal room – the collegial relationship with the orchestra as together they work on the scores he loves so much. He adores the backstage camaraderie that attends a performance. Most of all he loves the relationship between artist and audience – revealing and exploring together a world of musical and theatrical magic – sharing, in performance, the enchantment that he discovered – years ago – that still beguiles and absorbs him.
So, 36 years after that 1974 Hoffmann we find ourselves again on this stage and in this auditorium to honour Richard - and at the same time celebrate his approaching 80th Birthday – with the presentation of the highest honour that the company can now give to one of its own. On behalf of colleagues past and present I’m very proud to wish him a very Happy Birthday and to thank him for the love that he’s given us all – in music and friendship – over so many wonderful years.
Moffat Oxenbould AM
