Batavia is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts and a prologue by Richard Mills

Richard Mills

Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...

 to a libretto by Peter Goldsworthy

Peter Goldsworthy

Peter Goldsworthy AM is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti....

,
commissioned by Opera Australia

Opera Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...

. The plot is based on the historical events surrounding the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

sailing ship Batavia

Batavia (ship)

Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company . It was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and armed with 24 cast iron cannons and a number of bronze guns. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and was made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors...

.

The opera premiered on 11 May 2001 at the State Theatre (Melbourne)

State Theatre (Melbourne)

Melbourne's original State Theatre was built in 1929 to seat 3,371 patrons and is situated on Flinders Street. It was conceived as an "atmospheric auditorium", a novelty in Melbourne at the time. Another notable feature was the dual-console Wurlitzer organ, the first to be built "west of Chicago",...

 for the Centenary
of Federation Festival. It received three Helpmann Award

Helpmann Award

The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006...

s and six Green Room Awards.
The work lasts for about three hours and ten minutes with one interval. The CD recording was captured
at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, on the 11 & 13 May 2001.

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 11 May 2001 Conductor: Richard Mills Richard Mills Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
Francis Pelsaert Francisco Pelsaert Francisco Pelsaert was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East India Company, who became most famous as the commander of the ship Batavia, which ran aground in the Houtman Abrolhos off the coast of Western Australia in June... , commander	bass	Bruce Martin
Gijsbert Bastiensz, preacher	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	John Bolton-Wood
Wiebbe Hayes Wiebbe Hayes Wiebbe Hayes was a colonial soldier from Winschoten, Netherlands. Hayes became a national hero after he led a group of soldiers, sailors and other survivors of the shipwreck of the Batavia against the murderous mutineers led by Jeronimus Cornelisz at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands , off the Western... , provost	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Barry Ryan
Jeronimus Cornelisz Jeronimus Cornelisz Jeronimus Cornelisz was a Frisian apothecary and Dutch East India Company merchant... , undermerchant	baritone	Michael Lewis
Conraat van Huyssen, nobleman/company cadet	tenor	Jamie Allen
Lucretia Jansz Lucretia Jans Lucretia Jans, or Lucretia van der Miles , was a suspected Dutch mutiny leader at the Dutch East Indies 1629....	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Anke Höppner
Zwaantie Hendricx, Lucretia's maid	soprano	Emma Matthews Emma Matthews Emma Matthews is an Australian lyric soprano, noted for operatic roles, but also popular on the concert stage. She is currently a Principal Artist with Opera Australia....
Maria Bastiensz, the preacher's wife	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Elizabeth Campbell
Henchman	tenor	James Egglestone
Judit, the preacher's daughter	soprano	Joanne Blankfield
Willem, Judit's younger brother	boy soprano Boy soprano A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...	Bill Dodd
Caspar, Wiebbe Hayes' son	boy soprano	Mark Casey
Bessel, Wiebbe Hayes' son	boy soprano	Christopher Toohey
Director		Lindy Hume
Design		Dan Potra
Lighting		Rory Dempster
Chorus

See also

External links

For a synopsis and review of the Melbourne premiere performance, see

• by Chris Boyd, 19 May 2001, Australian Financial Review.

For a synopsis and review of the Perth performance, see

• Could This Be The Great Australian Opera? by Sandra Bowdler, (February 2004).

For Bruce Martin's reflections on creating the role of Francisco Pelsaert, see

• If I can sing it, I'll do it by Vanessa Taylor (March 2006, Opera~Opera)