daniel smith

Rehearsals are now in full swing for Cosi fan tutte. The set is mostly built and every day there are various rehearsals – orchestra alone, soloists with piano, stage direction, soloists with orchestra (unstaged). Over the next few days the chorus will come together and rehearse with piano and then with orchestra, followed by direction [...]

Here I am sitting in a scene and staging rehearsal for W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. The set is now half built, wooden props resembling more realistic marble than marble itself surround the stage – with the set built entirely around the orchestra and into the audience. We have now moved theatres from the Costanzi [...]

What a brilliant experience here in Rome – apart from the weather which is down to about 3 degrees Celsius – a far cry from Sydney! At present, am continuing work on two operas at the same time which leaves little time for much else. The production of W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is currently [...]

Sitting in my wood-beam ceiling living room in Rome yawning after a very busy last few days assisting for Berg’s opera, Wozzeck and W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at the same time! Just when you have your mind in the modern atonal Wozzeck in German in the morning, one hour later, you are dancing to [...]

What an honour and privilege it was to meet an Australian idol, Sir Charles Mackerras. His performance with the Sydney Symphony was a real privilege to witness. How lucky I am now to be sitting once again on a plane somewhere between Sydney and Bangkok, enroute to Italy and the United States of America to [...]

When life moves so fast, it’s easy to miss treasuring the experiences you have had in the past, you are always preparing for what the future holds instead of spending time in thought of the present moment. This frustrates me because I am so lucky for this wonderful life I have. Having only just returned [...]