Lyster Opera

About

Lyster Opera derives its name from William Saurin Lyster (1828-1880), an Irish born entrepreneur who made it his mission to provide opera to the growing population of Australia. Under Lyster’s auspices, Australians were given their first taste of operatic composers as diverse as Mozart, Donizetti, Auber, Meyerbeer and Wagner. Local stars such as Marie Carandini and Fanny Simonsen brought these works to a new public. Lyster’s extraordinary life and career were documented by Harold Love in his book The Golden Age of Australian Opera (Currency Press, 1981) and today the Melbourne suburb of Lysterfield is named in his honour. Today, Lyster Opera perpetuates this vision by bringing opera to new audiences, often in remote areas. Since 2018, Lyster Opera has toured productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale to areas such as Tarnagulla, Avoca, Daylesford, Warrnambool, Albury-Wodonga and Oxley. These country performances have been augmented by performances at various Melbourne venues. Some of Melbourne’s finest singers, musical directors and designers have been engaged.