A bold experiment in music theatre, Mahagonny Songspiel is a compact yet powerful work that lays the foundation for Weill and Brecht’s later opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Originally performed in 1927 at the Baden-Baden Festival, this "scenic cantata" presents a fragmented but vivid portrait of Mahagonny—a mythical city built on pleasure and excess, where money dictates morality. Combining elements of jazz, cabaret, and classical music, Weill’s score is both seductive and unsettling, while Brecht’s lyrics offer a biting critique of capitalist greed and societal decay.

I. Mahagonny-Song No. I (Off To Mahagonny)

The journey begins with the dream of Mahagonny, a place where all desires can be fulfilled. The promise is clear: here, you can leave your troubles behind and indulge in endless pleasures—so long as you can pay.

II. Alabama Song

One of Weill’s most famous numbers, this song expresses the restless search for material and sensual satisfaction. The women of Mahagonny long for whiskey, gambling, and "pretty boys," but their desires remain unfulfilled, exposing the emptiness beneath the city’s promises.

III. Mahagonny-Song No. II (If You Have Five Bucks A Day)

The illusion of Mahagonny starts to fade. The song paints a stark picture of economic inequality: with enough money, you can enjoy life’s comforts, but for those without, the city offers no mercy.

IV. Benares-Song

A moment of exotic escapism, this song presents an imagined paradise far from Mahagonny. The characters dream of Benares, an idealised city where suffering and corruption do not exist—an ironic contrast to the harsh reality they inhabit.

V. Mahagonny-Song No. III (God Came To Mahagonny)

Chaos and reckoning arrive. The arrival of God in Mahagonny reveals the city's moral bankruptcy. Instead of justice or redemption, the city responds with indifference—there is no divine order here, only money and survival.

VI. Finale (People Only Dream of Mahagonny)

A haunting conclusion, this final song suggests that Mahagonny is more than just a city—it is a universal human fantasy, a false utopia that exists in dreams but crumbles in reality. The pursuit of pleasure, unmoored from responsibility, leads only to disillusionment.

Spark (Olivia) Sanders Robinson is a mezzo-soprano, shadow puppeteer, and emerging opera director from Adelaide, South Australia. She holds a Master of Music from the Royal Northern College of Music, a Graduate Diploma and Master of Performing Arts from WAAPA, and a Bachelor of Music from the Elder Conservatorium of Music.

Her credits include Menotti’s The Telephone, Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (RNCM Spotlight Concert 2023), and Agento’s Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night (RNCM Lab Week 2023 and Sydney Fringe 2024). With Lights On Theatre, Spark has devised, designed, and directed several puppetry/opera shows, including Winter’s Light (RNCM Christmas Family Day 2022), Light on Le Bestiaire (RNCM Lab Week 2022), Orpheus and the Animals (Manchester Museum 2023), and Illuminating Orpheus (International Anthony Burgess Foundation 2023). She is a recipient of the RNCM’s 2023 Creative Innovator Award with Lights On Theatre.

As an assistant director, Spark has collaborated with Sarah Tipple on Sondheim’s Into the Woods and with Kate Pearson on the 2024 RNCM Children’s Opera. Additionally, she has served as an art assistant with Arracourt Studios on Luna and the Brain Tuna, as an assistant sound designer for New Ghost Theatre’s Frame Narrative, and as an assistant director for New Theatre’s Ink.

Hailing from Brisbane, Dr Philip Eames studied piano with Dr Max Olding and Dr Stephen Savage at the Queensland Conservatorium where he was a category finalist in the ABC Young Performers Awards. Philip then underwent further study on scholarship at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, before completing his doctorate in 2017 at the Sydney Conservatorium on the choral music of Percy Grainger. Currently, Philip is a Research Associate at the Sydney Conservatorium with the Spencer-Bennett NeuroMusic Collaborative, and the Classical Convenor and lecturer at the Australian Institute of Music.

Philip maintains a diverse professional career as a conductor, pianist, academic and composer. He was appointed principal conductor of the Macquarie Singers in 2023, and most recently conducted Operantics’ 2023 season of Menotti’s chamber opera The Medium. Philip’s music has frequently been commissioned and performed throughout Australia by artists including the Australian Voices, Queensland Ballet and the Australian National Piano Award.

His choral cycle “This Great Unrain” was selected as the winner of the 2020 Willgoss Choral Composition Prize, the Tagore, and ASKM Composition Competitions. In 2019 he collaborated with the Black Square Quartet and the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation to create a large-scale string quartet based on the stories of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. This work “Minjeribah Dreaming” received a string of acclaimed performances during the 2019 Quandamooka Festival.

Nathaniel Kong is a pianist, performer and teacher in Sydney. He was an award winner at the Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition in Townsville performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2.

Performances have been with Operantics, Operabites, Sydney Fringe Festival, Canberra Enlighten Festival, The Cooperative, Cantorion Sydney Choir, Sydney Male Choir and the Mosman Symphony Chorus and Orchestra.

He studied under Gerard Willems at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and with Zsuzsanna Giczy at the Australian Institute of Music. He has performed and worked across various styles from Armenian vocal folk music under soprano Arax Mansourian, to recording piano works of Australian composer Peter Stannard, and working with vocalists from opera, theatre and jazz.

As well as piano, he plays pipe organ regularly and was head cellist of the UNSW Orchestra. He is based at Sydney Girls High school and at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

Anna I (Seven Deadly Sins) & Bessie (Mahagonny Songspiel)

Laura is a Texan born soprano whose operatic roles include Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, and Mère Marie in Dialogue of the Carmelites.

She is an alumna of the Pacific Opera Young Artist program and she is a grateful recipient of support from both the Wagner Society NSW and the Prue Kennard Career Development Scholarship.

Laura has performed with the Opera Australia Chorus in productions of King Roger, Verdi Requiem, Nixon in China, Otello, La Juive, Carmen, La Traviata, La Gioconda, Hamlet, Cinderella, and multiple productions of Turandot and Aida.

She was also a featured soprano soloist in Peter Shaffer's critically acclaimed play 'Amadeus' starring Michael Sheen at the Sydney Opera House for their 50th Anniversary celebrations.

Anna II (Seven Deadly Sins)

Mia Rashid is a ballet and contemporary dancer based in Canberra, Australia. She attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and continued her dance education at the Queensland Ballet Academy, Classical Ballet 121 Sydney, Joffrey School of Dance Chicago and recently, ADDA Barcelona.

She has worked with Chicago’s Meadows Dance Collective, Las Peinetas Spanish Dance company in Sydney and partaken in a two month long artistic residency with Blivande House in Stockholm, Sweden.

As well as pursuing dance, Mia is completing a double Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies and Arts at the Australian National University. Passionate about the power of movement, Mia aims to connect with audiences through her artistry.

Benjamin Oxley

Father (Seven Deadly Sins) & Charlie (Mahagonny Songspiel)

After studying at the Tasmanian Conservatorium, Benjamin  joined Opera Queensland, and subsequently Opera Australia, performing a variety of small roles. His further vocal study took him to England, initially on contract with English National Opera (ENO), with whom he toured Russia. Since leaving the ENO, Benjamin has pursued operatic and concert work and has appeared with Netherlands Opera in Lohengrin, Opera de Vlaamse in Billy Budd, and with Nationale Reisopera in Der fliegende Holländer, Parsifal, Manon Lescaut, Fidelio and Le Grande Macabre, the latter in the presence of the composer György Ligeti. Benjamin has worked with many leading conductors, including Harry Bicket, Richard Bonynge, Stuart Challender, Paul Daniel, Sir Mark Elder, Valery Gergiev, Elgar Howarth, Sir Charles Mackerras, Edo de Waart and Jaap van Zweden. Most notably, he was invited to appear in Simon Boccanegra and Tristan und Isolde with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Berlin, and toured with the orchestra to the Salzburg Easter Festival, as well as to Tokyo, Japan.

Operatic roles include: the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann (Rockdale Opera Company), Riccardo in A Masked Ball (Northern Opera, Newcastle-upon Tyne), Alfredo in La Traviata and Lindoro in The Italian Girl in Algiers (St. Alban's Chamber Opera), The Duke in Rigoletto (Activopera), Nadir in The Pearl Fishers (Belcanto Opera), Gustavus in A Masked Ball and Don Jose in Carmen (Riverside Opera, London).

Brother I (Seven Deadly Sins) & Billy (Mahagonny Songspiel)

Matt has recently come home to Sydney after 12 years living in Canada. Whilst he was there, he obtained a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, majoring in composition, and a Masters of Music in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia, where he studied with J. Patrick Raftery. Roles performed there include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Nika Magadoff in Menotti’s The Consul, and Herzog von Urbino in Johann Strauss’ Eine Nacht in Venedig.

During his studies he took part in the masterclass and Singer Behind the Song series with Ben Heppner, performed the tenor solo for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as concert tours as soloist with the UBC Opera Ensemble to Czech Republic, China, and Christmas concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Matt has also performed the role of Tito in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and Tamino in The Czech Republic for the European Music Academy in Teplice, as well as Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Professional chorus and choral work includes the Vancouver Opera Company, Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto.

Since returning to Sydney, Matt has appeared as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (The CoOperative), Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Concordia Ensemble), 1 st Commissaire in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmelites (Gente! Gente! Productions), and the Gamekeeper in Rusalka (The Opera and Song Collective).

Brother II (Seven Deadly Sins) & Bobby (Mahagonny Songspiel)

Baritone Matthew Avery is an exciting emerging talent, hailing from the Blue Mountains. As a Young Artist with Pacific Opera (Pacific Opera Growth Scholarship) from 2020-2022, his performances included Dr Dulcamara (L’Elisir D’Amore), Superintendent Bud (Albert Herring), Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte), Rocco (Fidelio), Collatinus (Rape of Lucretia) and The Bonze (Madama Butterfly). With Operantics he appeared as Frank (Die Fledermaus) and with Cooperative Opera as Angelotti (Tosca).

Last year he performed Dr Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with National Opera Canberra, and as Ben in The Telephone and The King in Die Kluge with Endangered Opera. Over the past two years Matthew performed with the Opera Australia chorus in Attila, Roberto Devereux, Aida and La Gioconda, and performed the role of Valens in Handel’s Theodora for the Consortium Ensemble.

Concert soloist performances include The Messiah, Beethoven 9 th and Mozart’s Missa Breve. Matthew was a scholarship recipient and soloist at the AIMS in Graz summer program, performing in various operatic scenes with the AIMS in Graz Festival Orchestra and distinguished conductors such as Lukas Beikircher.

Matthew has been successful in several national and international competitions including as a finalist in the Sydney Eisteddfod Operatic Scholarship in 2022 (2MBSFM Young Virtuoso Award and Damien Whitely Award). He received third prize (Stimme, Leib und Seele award - 2022) and the John Wenger award (2023) in the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award Competition, and was a finalist in the Sydney International Song Prize (2023).

Internationally Matthew has represented Australia in the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Latvia (2024) and was a Semi-Finalist at the AIMS in Graz Meistersinger Competition (2024). In November this year he will compete as a semi-finalist in the German-Australian Opera Grant Competition.

Mother (Seven Deadly Sins) & Jimmy (Mahagonny Songspiel)

Gordon Costello is from New Zealand, where he began his musical career in the late 1970s as a member of a punk rock group, the Ambitious Vegetables. Besides singing, he played guitar and keyboards in several groups, achieving a gold album award in 1984 with The Mockers.

After coming to Australia he turned to the theatre, and has become one of Sydney's most prolific exponents of Gilbert and Sullivan, having performed roles in most of their comic operas, notably Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore, the Lord Chancellor in lolanthe, and the Duke of plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers.

He trained in singing at the Sydney Conservatorium in the 1990s, and has appeared in a number of operatic roles, most recently as Germont in Troupe Viva's production of La Traviata last year.

Jessie (Mahagonny Songspiel)

Katie Miller-Crispe is a soprano and independent opera producer, and holds a Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance) from the Australian Institute of Music. Her roles include Monica, The Medium, Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro, Serpetta, La finta giardiniera, Maria Bertram, Mansfield Park, Lisa, La sonnambula and Dorabella, Cosí fan tutte. She has performed as a soloist at the Atherton Tablelands Chamber Music Festival, with Voces Caelestium, and the Penrith Symphony Orchestra.

Katie was a young artist with the Australian Contemporary Opera Company’s Gertrude Opera Young Artist Program in 2020 and 2021, and studied the role of Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin under the guidance of Maestro Aza Sydykov as a part of the Eurasia Festival Summer Institute, based in New York City.

Katie founded Operantics in 2015, with the mission to create opportunities for local artists and to foster new opera audiences. She has programmed and produced each opera season since 2015 while transitioning Operantics into a DGR endorsed not-for-profit organisation.

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