Opera singers will no longer sweat through a Victorian summer with Opera in the Alps organisers moving the 2020 event to autumn.
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The decision was announced on Wednesday morning to move the 24th annual event to autumn next year stating the scorching hot weather in January as the main reason.
Australian Music Events director Graeme Wall said in the past six months organisers had been looking at ways to "develop Opera in the Alps, extend and renew our programming and attract a new generation of audiences."
"We've also had to contend in recent years with the reality of hotter summers and the prospect of higher, more unpredictable temperatures in January, when our summer school and Opera in the Alps have traditionally been staged in Beechworth," he said.
"These conditions pose real challenges for our performers, audiences, suppliers, contractors and Indigo Shire Council staff, local community organisations and the many volunteers who help us to produce the scholars' school and our performances.
"We began in March to discuss the options in detail with Indigo Shire Council tourism and events staff, canvassing possible changes with prospective performers, tour companies and Beechworth's hospitality providers."
Mr Wall said the result of these collaborative talks, which also aimed at avoiding competition with established events in the region, was the Opera in the Alps Festival which will open on March 8.
"Beechworth will become 'Opera central' in regional Australia and we're very excited about working with the community to deliver these wonderful celebrations of music and the seasons," he said.
But this isn't the only change on the cards for the event.
Organisers are also introducing Opera in the Alps Week, a festival featuring a series of voice and instrumental concerts staged for small audiences at key landmarks around the region.
It will culminate the following Saturday, March 14, with a mid-afternoon outdoor feast of seasonal, local produce and wines and the signature Opera in the Alps performance at Baarmutha Park.
The changes also include separating Opera in the Alps from its long-associated Opera Scholars Australia summer school.
The scholars' previous five-day program of workshops, coaching and rehearsals in voice and movement is to become a six-day OSA Opera Winter School in Beechworth and opens on July 8 this year.
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It will finish with the scholars' public performance of Voices in the Twilight in a new venue, the town's historic Anglican Christ Church on Saturday, July 13.
AME general manager Jessica Hutchinson said the intimate concert series ahead of Opera in the Alps would be set in National Trust listed spaces in Beechworth.
"We're working to activate great music and performance in some really wonderful settings," she said.
"We'll also maintain the opportunities for Indigo and other North East people and communities to understand and experience fine music.
"Both the Opera in the Alps Festival in March and Opera Winter School in July will include programs for school students to learn about the ways in which opera works."
For more information visit operainthealps.com.au
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