Organization

Sydney Festival

Conductor

Jack Symonds

Stage director

Janice Muller

Set designer

Charles Davis

Video designer

James Peter Brown

Lighting designer

Matt Cox

AV Design

Creative Consultant

Matthew Lutton

Costume designer

Mitchell Butel

Gerolamo Cardano

Singer

Soprano

Jane Sheldon

Chiara – mother

Jessica O'Donoghue

Chiara – daughter

Mezzo-soprano

Anna Fraser

Caterina

Tenor

Andrew Goodwin

Aldo/Cassante

Baritone

Simon Lobelson

Archbishop/Giambattista

Orchestra

Ensemble Offspring

Sydney Chamber Opera

English

Latin

Biographica

Sydney City

Australia

Carriageworks

Bay 20

Biographica Finsterer

Public

Approved

SYNOPSISBiographica is an odyssey of maverick Renaissance genius Gerolamo Cardano, whose lust for gambling propelled him on to a precarious path between risk...

Scene II: The Birth
Soloist: Jane Sheldon, soprano
Storyline: Many years ago in 1500, Cardano’s mother grapples with grief while pregnant with Cardano.

In Anno Domini – Aria from Scene II of BIOGRAPHICA

Sydney Chamber Opera continues their pioneering development of the new opera canon with Biographica by Australian composer Mary Finsterer with a libretto by Tom Wright. Biographica is an intricate dance of genius and madness, inspired by the life and demise of Renaissance polymath Gerolamo Cardano.

Cardano was a magnificent and eccentric mind – a prolific inventor and flawed father, solitary, aggressive, peculiar. A man who would listen to a guardian angel, swear by science, and dream of defeating time. He wrote the first texts on the mathematics of gambling, was a world-renowned surgeon, invented algebra, and was a pioneer of sign-language. Leading Australian actor Mitchell Butel stars in this fascinating role, with Finsterer’s music reflecting the piercing beauty of the Renaissance much like maniera painting; rich, florid, bold.

Malthouse’s resident director Janice Muller unites with SCO to develop this extraordinary interrogation of the mind and the soul.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Co-Producer