Olegas (opera)
Encyclopedia
Olegas is an opera based on the life of Lithuanian-born Tasmanian wilderness photographer Olegas Truchanas
(1923–1972), by Tasmanian (Australian) composer Constantine Koukias
, with libretto by Natasha Cica.
Olegas Truchanas was instrumental in bringing the beauty of Lake Pedder
in Southwest Tasmania to the attention of the Australian and international public in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the lake and its remarkable pink beach being inundated by a dam constructed to produce hydro-electricity.
Sung in Lithuanian and English, the opera's themes are resilience and renewal - qualities that enabled Olegas Truchanas to rise from deprivation to find an inner strength and clarity - not once but repeatedly throughout his life. In addition to the loss of Lake Pedder, Truchanas suffered through the Second World War in Lithuania and, many years later, the destruction of his home and photographs in the devastating 1967 Tasmanian fires
.
Truchanas drowned in the Gordon River as the flood waters were rising on nearby Lake Pedder.
Olegas is a major opera being developed with the support of Truchanas' widow, Melva. In 2007, IHOS Music Theatre and Opera
presented excerpts from the work's three acts, the first set in Lithuania, the second in Tasmania up to and including the fires, and the third set in Tasmania during the Pedder campaign. As noted by Gordon Kerry, this work and an earlier opera by Koukias, Tesla, "explore the lives of individuals concerned with elemental forces".
Olegas Truchanas
Olegas Truchanas was a Lithuanian-Australian conservationist and nature photographer.He was a key figure in the attempt to stop the damming of the ecologically sensitive Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania by the Hydro Electricity Commission...
(1923–1972), by Tasmanian (Australian) composer Constantine Koukias
Constantine Koukias
Constantine Koukias is a Greek-Australian composer and flautist.He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of IHOS Music Theatre and Opera, based in Hobart, Tasmania. He is well known for his innovative work in contemporary opera and other forms...
, with libretto by Natasha Cica.
Olegas Truchanas was instrumental in bringing the beauty of Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
in Southwest Tasmania to the attention of the Australian and international public in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the lake and its remarkable pink beach being inundated by a dam constructed to produce hydro-electricity.
Sung in Lithuanian and English, the opera's themes are resilience and renewal - qualities that enabled Olegas Truchanas to rise from deprivation to find an inner strength and clarity - not once but repeatedly throughout his life. In addition to the loss of Lake Pedder, Truchanas suffered through the Second World War in Lithuania and, many years later, the destruction of his home and photographs in the devastating 1967 Tasmanian fires
1967 Tasmanian fires
The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires...
.
Truchanas drowned in the Gordon River as the flood waters were rising on nearby Lake Pedder.
Olegas is a major opera being developed with the support of Truchanas' widow, Melva. In 2007, IHOS Music Theatre and Opera
IHOS Music Theatre and Opera
IHOS Music Theatre and Opera is a Tasmanian opera company was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld to create original music-theatre and opera works.-Major repertoire:...
presented excerpts from the work's three acts, the first set in Lithuania, the second in Tasmania up to and including the fires, and the third set in Tasmania during the Pedder campaign. As noted by Gordon Kerry, this work and an earlier opera by Koukias, Tesla, "explore the lives of individuals concerned with elemental forces".