Welcome to my surreal double life – Lindy Hume
Experiencing all the seasons in one of the most naturally beautiful places on the planet is one of my life’s deepest pleasures. Autumn, especially, on the Far South Coast is particularly ravishing – blue skies and gloriously crisp days for beach or bush walks, easing into pink sunsets and those first delicious nights of reading by a fire. Leaving all that to go on the road for work is a wrench.
It’s a surreal double life, jumping between my home community and creative inspiration in Tathra overlooking the Bega River and that of my opera-directing alter-ego who lives out of a suitcase. For the last few weeks, I’ve been enjoying Seattle’s on-and-off springtime and cultural delights while I’m here directing Rossini’s famous opera The Barber of Seville, a show created in 2016 when I was Artistic Director of Opera Queensland.
Back then it toured all over regional Queensland and venues, some as small as 400 seats, across Australia and New Zealand. Here in Seattle the scenery by New Zealand designer Tracy Grant Lord, sits in the cavernous McCaw Hall whose 3000-seat auditorium and huge orchestra pit feels especially vast when it’s empty except for the rows of desks we use for lighting and technical rehearsals, as you can see here. At tonight’s dress rehearsal there’ll be an audience and around 100 singers, musicians and technicians so it will feel quite different.
Back at my hotel my bags are already packed, because after Saturday’s opening night I’ll jump straight on an Air Canada flight via Vancouver to Sydney and – eventually – home to Tathra, the mighty Bega River shimmering in that glorious South Coast autumn weather and all the delights of our amazing creative community. For a while, at least. I can’t wait…
Lindy Hume – Creative Director
