Blush Opera's inaugural cabaret show was presented at the Slide Lounge in 2013 and remounted for the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015.
Operatic arias beautifully collide with cabaret, high notes, high hair, a little joie de vivre and a whole lot’a cake! Meet Marie Antoinette – 18th century Queen of France, and Madame Veuve Clicquot – Le Grand Dame of Champagne. Both lived lives of excess slathered in cake and drowned in champagne, yet behind their iconic image were just two girls who wanted to have fun.
Featuring seductive arias from Bizet’s Carmen, sultry French songs such as La vie en rose and of course some cheeky drinking songs to revive the boozy baroque atmosphere. Taryn Srhoj and Jermaine Chau play their alter egos Marie Antoinette and Madame Veuve Cliquot in an operatic tête-à-tête. The show is an exploration of the chequered lives and personalities of these two women through operatic song. It follows the fictitious narrative of these 18th century icons coming together for an indulgent brunch and detailing their life experience with men, love and loss. Dressed in their baroque finery they strip back their lives (and a few layers) to reveal their inner most secrets… and their corsetry!
Duration 60min (3 x 20min sets)
Age M15+
Genre cabaret opera
Instrumentation 2 voices + piano
Highlights
“Something magical and a little unsettling and even sublime, happens when you combine a bit of burlesque, with a bit of vaudeville and bring Marilyn Monroe, Delibes and Edith Piaf along for the ride.”
Performances
2013 September // Slide Lounge // Sydney Fringe Festival
2014 July // Festival of Voices, Hobart // Tasmanian Cabaret Festival
2015 January // La Boheme Bar // Adelaide Fringe Festival
Meet the Creatives
Jermaine Chau // Madame Veuve Clicquot
Jermaine is a founding member of Blush Opera and a current Co-Artistic Director. As part of Blush Opera’s commitment to presenting original works by new composers, she has performed Paul Smith composition ‘Fancy Me Dead’ at The Hayes Theatre as part of the New Music Network Mini Series. in 2017 Jermaine is loving having the role of Kitty written for her in Blush Opera's latest creation Chop Chef: The Opera by Smith & Koh.
Jermaine recently trained at the IFAC New Zealand Singing School 2017 where she worked with international coaches. A graduate of the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Summer School in Brisbane (2014), she studied opera at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2013-2014) where she took on the role as a sassy aunt Fidalma in Cimarosa’s comic opera Il Segreto Matrimonio. She took the lead role in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief and has performed as Cecilia in Mark Adamo’s Little Women.
2016 was thrilling year as Jermaine made her debut at the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra Gala; performed as Lady Bertram in Operantics’ production of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park and will again join Operantics and the Penrith Symphony Orchestra in their production of La Sonnambula as Teresa. She revelled in the gluttonous role of Suor Dolcina in Opera Projects Sydney’s Suor Angelica; La Frugola in Puccini's Il Tabarro with Constantine Costi & Luke Spicer and in November, Jermaine was part of the cast of Opera Australia’s The Eighth Wonder in the role of Madame Magda performing on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. In 2017 she performed in Carmen as part of Opera Australia's production on Sydney Harbour.
Taryn Srhoj // Marie Antoinette
Taryn studied at The University of Auckland School of Music, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music majoring in Voice in 2008. Her other musicianship skills include attaining AmusA in piano and being accepted into the piano programme at the Aspen Music Festival and Summer school, USA. Currently based in Sydney, Taryn has recently performed as a soloist in the Willoughby Symphony Grand Opera Gala and was a recipient of the Q Lab Artists in Residence Programme at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre. In 2015 Taryn performed the role of Musetta in La Boheme with the Western Sydney Opera Company, Michaela in Carmen with Symphony Central Coast, Marie Antoinette for Blush Opera’s production Ladies Who Brunch in the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the role of Cora in the world premiere and subsequent tour of Fancy Me Dead by Australian composer Dr Paul Smith. Taryn has often performed with Sirius Chamber Ensemble, most notably the Alan Holley song cycle Borneo Songs and Berg’s Sieben Fruhe Lieder .
Taryn was a Young Artist with Pacific Opera in both 2011 and 2012 during which she performed the role of Bettina in The Deluded Bridegroom and also Second Spirit in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. As a Pacific Opera Young Artist she also performed as a soloist in the Pacific Opera Gala, Opera By The Lake, Opera Unlaced and covered all three roles in the premiere of new Australian work Golden Summers by James Long.
Taryn has had the privilege of premiering many new works. A highlight was performing and recording a new Soprano song cycle by Dr Paul Smith and singing in Art/Opera collaboration Project Rise; Singing The Virtual (Dr Andrew Burrell/Dr Paul Smith).
Bradley Gilchrist // Pianist
Bradley Gilchrist completed a Bachelor of Music at the WA Conservatorium of Music, and post-graduate studies in accompaniment and piano performance in Sydney and Madrid.
Bradley has numerous concerto performances to his name including the Khachaturian
Concerto with the WA Symphony Orchestra, the Grieg Concerto with the Slovakia
Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven’s First and Second Concertos with the Odessa
Philharmonic Orchestra. Bradley has given solo and chamber music recitals across Australia and in South Korea, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. Bradley broadcast two solo programmes for the ABC Young Australia program. Bradley enjoys chamber music and has performed in a variety of ensembles but has specialised in piano trio and flute and piano duo repertoire.
As repetiteur, Bradley’s early interest in ballet repertoire has extended to opera and has been repetiteur for many of Sydney’s chamber opera companies as well as being in demand as an accompanist and vocal coach for auditions, recitals, examinations and concert performances.
Credits
Marie Antoinette Taryn Srhoj
Madame Veuve Clicquot Jermaine Chau
Pianist Bradley Gilchrist
Acknowledgments
MEDIA
Photos by Jessica Harper
