Opera Australia announces significant leadership changes

Professor Gynn Davis (supplied), CEO Alex Budd (photo Martin Ollman), Maestro Andrea Battistoni (supplied)

The Board of Opera Australia (OA) has announced the appointment of three key leadership positions, strengthening OA’s place as the nation’s premier opera company, one of its most important cultural institutions and the largest employer in the performing arts.

• Chair of the Board: Professor Glyn Davis AC
• Chief Executive Officer: Alex Budd
• Music Director: Maestro Andrea Battistoni

The three leaders have decades of combined understanding of OA’s purpose and its people, each enjoying a unique connection with the company. Together they will play critical roles in executing OA’s strategic vision for the future, and in the continuing recruitment process for a Director of Opera.

Bringing governance excellence to the OA Board, Professor Glyn Davis AC commences in his second term as Chair. Outgoing Chair Rod Sims AO, after consulting the Board, approached Davis to re-join when he stepped down as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in June this year.

“I was delighted that Glyn agreed, and we have been working together since to ensure a smooth transition. His extensive experience and proven track record guiding Opera Australia through the changes the performing arts sector is facing, makes Glyn the ideal leader to help OA navigate our next important chapter,” said Sims.

To drive strategic, operational and commercial excellence and take a long-term approach to performance programming, new CEO Alex Budd will ensure OA continues to innovate and deepen audience engagement and connection across Australia while balancing artistic ambition with financial sustainability.

With two decades of experience across opera, dance, musical theatre and cultural leadership, Budd is a highly respected senior arts executive who most recently served as Director of Canberra Theatre Centre.

There he has overseen significant growth in audiences and commercial outcomes, strengthened the Centre’s artistic profile and national partnerships, and progressed the vision and planning for a new 2,000 seat lyric theatre in the nation’s capital.

Bringing musical brilliance and a deep knowledge of opera to OA, commencing in January 2026, Italian conductor and composer Maestro Andrea Battistoni will oversee all musical aspects of productions and realise the company’s artistic vision working closely with the Director of Opera and CEO.

Verona-based Battistoni is recognised as one of the most esteemed conductors of his generation, a regular on the podium in the world’s finest opera houses such as Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Palau del Les Arts in Valencia, Royal Opera House in Stockholm, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and the Sydney Opera House.

First attracting international attention at the Verdi Festival in 2010, Battistoni became the youngest conductor to perform at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2012 at only 24 years of age.

“Opera Australia is in a position of strength. The past twelve months have seen a significant financial recovery and performances that are critically acclaimed and selling to full houses, and the 2026 program has been well received. Opera Australia is now on a sustainable footing and with strengthened leadership is well placed for a vibrant future,” said outgoing Chair Rod Sims.

“On behalf of the Board I express our deepest gratitude to Rod Sims during his three-year term as Chair,” said Professor Glyn Davis AC. “Despite COVID and some leadership changes, Rod has ensured OA has achieved some remarkable strategic milestones.”

“He navigated significant challenges and has put OA into a strong position to prosper. I thank Rod for his unwavering commitment and for his passion for the artform as a longstanding lover of opera.”

“I have much appreciated Rod’s encouragement and advice in recent weeks as we have prepared for this handover. With colleagues at the company, I look forward to Rod’s continued involvement as a valued member of our community.”

“The appointment of internationally acclaimed Andrea Battistoni as Music Director brings a familiar and much-loved musical leader to Australia and the Opera. His charismatic style works well with the ambitions of this company to combine global expertise with distinctly Australian voices.”

“Alex Budd brings to OA extensive performing arts expertise with proven commercial capability. His leadership will secure an artistically rewarding and sustainable future for Opera Australia. Alex will build on their achievements and develop new opportunities for partnership and joint productions.”

“I am excited by this opportunity to contribute to the vibrant future of Australia’s national opera company and to work with its leaders, artists, creatives and employees as OA delivers spectacular performances for diverse audiences,” said Professor Davis.

First published at Australian Arts Review, August 19, 2025

Terence Stamp, star of Superman movies and Priscilla, dies aged 87

Terence Stamp has died at the age of 87. (Reuters: Paul Hackett)

British actor Terence Stamp, best known for his roles in Superman and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, has died aged 87.

The London-born actor starred opposite Christopher Reeve's Superman as the arch-villain General Zod in Superman and Superman II in the late 1970s. 

He first reached success in the 1960s and even auditioned for the part of James Bond, before landing roles in films such as Star Wars and Valkyrie.

He died on Sunday morning, aged 87, his family said in a statement. The cause was not immediately known.

"He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come," the family statement said.

He is known to Australian audiences for his role portraying a transgender woman in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994.

With its array of outlandish outfits and make-up, the film won best costume design at the Oscars and has inspired several stage musicals around the world.

"It was only when I got there, and got through the fear, that it became one of the great experiences of my whole career," Stamp said.

"It was probably the most fun thing I've ever done in my life."

Stamp played the transgender role of Bernadette Bassenger in 1994 Pricilla movie (supplied)

But after early success in the 1960s, the revival of his acting career nearly never happened at all.

Stamp liked to recall how he was on the verge of becoming a tantric sex teacher at an ashram in India when, in 1977, he received a telegram from his London agent with news that he was being considered for the Superman film.

At that point, he had been largely out of work for eight years.

"I was on the night flight the next day," Stamp said in an interview with his publisher Watkins Books in 2015.

'I would have been laughed at'

Terence Henry Stamp was born in London's East End in 1938, the son of a tugboat coal stoker and a mother who Stamp said gave him his zest for life. 

As a child he endured the bombing of the city during World War II and the deprivations that followed.

"The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning because we were really poor," he said.

He left school to work initially as a messenger boy for an advertising firm and quickly moved up the ranks before he won a scholarship to go to drama school. 

Until then, he had kept his acting ambitions secret from his family for fear of disapproval.

"I couldn't tell anyone I wanted to be an actor because it was out of the question. I would have been laughed at," he said.

He shared a flat with another young London actor, Michael Caine, and landed the lead role in director Peter Ustinov's 1962 adaptation of Billy Budd, a story of brutality in the British navy in the 18th century. 

That role earned him an Academy Award nomination and filled him with pride.

After his early success in Hollywood and art house cinema, Terence Stamp quickly became recognised as a "swinging sixties" icon. (Collector Company/Collection ChristopheL via AFP)

"To be cast by somebody like Ustinov was something that gave me a great deal of self-confidence in my film career," Stamp told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019. 

"During the shooting, I just thought, 'Wow, this is it'."

Famous for his good looks and impeccable dress sense, he formed one of Britain's most glamorous couples with Julie Christie, with whom he starred in Far From the Madding Crowd in 1967. But he said the love of his life was the model Jean Shrimpton.

"When I lost her, then that also coincided with my career taking a dip," he said.

After failing to land the role of James Bond to succeed Sean Connery, Stamp sought a change of scene. 

He appeared in Italian films and worked with Federico Fellini in the late 1960s.

"I view my life really as before and after Fellini," he said. 

"Being cast by him was the greatest compliment an actor like myself could get."

Friendship with a princess

It was while working in Rome – where he appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Theorem in 1968 and A Season in Hell in 1971 — that Stamp met Indian spiritual speaker and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968. 

Krishnamurti taught the Englishman how to pause his thoughts and meditate, prompting Stamp to study yoga in India.

Mumbai was his base but he spent long periods at the ashram in Pune, dressed in orange robes and growing his hair long, while learning the teachings of his yogi, including tantric sex.

"There was a rumour around the ashram that he was preparing me to teach the tantric group," he said in the 2015 interview with Watkins Books. 

"There was a lot of action going on."

Terence Stamp's success continued into the 2010s with films such as Yes Man and Valkyrie. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)

After landing the role of General Zod, the megalomaniacal leader of the Kryptonians, in Superman in 1978 and its sequel in 1980, both times opposite Christopher Reeve, he went on to appear in a string of other films, including in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994.

Other films included Valkyrie with Tom Cruise in 2008, The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon in 2011 and movies directed by Tim Burton.

He counted Princess Diana among his friends.

"It wasn't a formal thing, we'd just meet up for a cup of tea, or sometimes we'd have a long chat for an hour. Sometimes it would be very quick," he told the Daily Express newspaper in 2017. 

"The time I spent with her was a good time."

In 2002, Stamp married for the first time at the age of 64 — to Elizabeth O'Rourke, a pharmacist, who was 35 years his junior. 

They divorced in 2008.

Asked by the Stage 32 website how he got film directors to believe in his talent, Stamp said: "I believed in myself.

"Originally, when I didn't get cast I told myself there was a lack of discernment in them. 

"This could be considered conceit. I look at it differently. Cherishing that divine spark in myself."

Reuters

Published at ABC News, August 18, 2025

Porgy and Bess - Ray Charles and Cleo Laine

Porgy and Bess

Ray Charles and Cleo Laine

Music by George Gershwin

Libretto by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward

2LP set

Decca London 1976

200g Quiex Super Vinyl re-issue 2024

By Tony Magee

With the passing of Dame Cleo Laine on July 24 2025, I’m reminded of the recent re-issue of her 1976 recording of Porgy and Bess with co-star Ray Charles.

Now available for the first time on 200g Quiex Super Vinyl, the two weave their soulful and hypnotic spells over the Gershwin-Heyward operetta, all under the watchful eye of legendary producer Norman Granz. 

This monumental undertaking from 1976 not only teams two of the greatest voices of the century, but also showcases an all-star lineup of support musicians. Arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol, players who were name artists in their own-right are featured, including Joe Pass and Lee Ritenour on guitars, Joe Sample on keyboards, Ernie Watts on saxophones, J.J. Johnson and Britt Woodman on trombones, Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet, Sam Most on flute, Bill Perkins and Jerome Richardson on various reeds, Bud Shank on alto sax, as well as Victor Feldman and Paul Smith.

Background:

Porgy and Bess" is an opera set in Catfish Row, a fictionalised African-American neighbourhood in Charleston, South Carolina, inspired by the real-life Cabbage Row. The story revolves around the love between Porgy, a disabled beggar, and Bess, who is trying to escape her abusive past with her ex-husband Crown and the drug dealer Sportin' Life. The opera explores themes of community, resilience, and the challenges of addiction and redemption. 

Key aspects of the setting:

Catfish Row:
This fictional neighbourhood is the central setting of the opera, depicting a close knit community with its own unique culture and struggles. It is described as a seaside area, reflecting Charleston's waterfront.

Real-life inspiration:
The opera is based on the novel "Porgy" by DuBose Heyward, which in turn draws inspiration from the real Cabbage Row in Charleston. Cabbage Row was historically inhabited by descendants of freed slaves.

Themes and atmosphere:

The setting of Catfish Row contributes to the opera's themes of community, resilience, and the challenges faced by its residents, including poverty, violence, and addiction.

The selections: 

1. Summertime - Ray Charles 

2. My Man's Gone Now - Cleo Laine 

3. Woman Is a Sometime Thing - Ray Charles 

4. They Pass by Singin' - Cleo Laine 

5. What You Want Wid Bess? - Cleo Laine 

6. I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' - Ray Charles 

7. Buzzard Song - Ray Charles 

8. Bess, You Is My Woman Now - Ray Charles 

9. Oh, Doctor Jesus - Cleo Laine 

10. Crab Man - Ray Charles 

11. Here Come de Honey Man - Ray Charles 

12. Strawberry Woman (Instrumental) - Ray Charles 

13. Strawberry Woman - Cleo Laine 

14. It Ain't Necessarily So - Ray Charles 

15. There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York - Ray Charles 

16. I Loves You, Porgy - Cleo Laine 

17. Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? (Instrumental) - Ray Charles 

18. Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? - Ray Charles 

19. Oh, Lawd, I'm on My Way! - Ray Charles

A must have!

Other jazz vocal versions of Porgy and Bess include those by:

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (Verve, 1959), also produced by Norman Granz

Mel Tormé and Frances Faye (Bethlehem, 1956)

Sammy Davis Junior and Carmen McRae (Decca, 1959)

Harry Bellafonte and Lena Horne (RCA Victor, 1959)

Obituary - David Stratton

David Stratton was a major figure in the Australian film industry. Photo courtesy news.com.au

By Tony Magee

Australian film critic David Stratton, who died August 14 aged 85, will be fondly remembered starring alongside Margaret Pomeranz on The Movie Show on SBS and At the Movies on the ABC.

Tributes have flowed including from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said “that with dry humour and sharp insight David Stratton shared his love of film with our country.

“All of us who tuned into At The Movies respected him for his deep knowledge and for the gentle and generous way he passed it on”.

Director George Miller said “His immense contribution included screening films at the Sydney Film Festival from Asia, Europe, the Eastern Bloc, India and Japan, influencing the directors who were breaking through in the 1970s.

“If Stratton had not screened the first short film that I made with producer Byron Kennedy in 1971 - Violence in the Cinema, Part 1 - it would not have been distributed by Greater Union and we would not have made Mad Max. That was directly attributable to David standing up for the film”.

A spokesperson for his family said, “David’s passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema and generous spirit touched countless lives.

“He was adored as a husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather and admired friend. David’s family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support from friends, colleagues and the public recently and across his lifetime.”

Stratton also chronicled the history of Australian film in his books The Last New Wave, The Avocado Plantation and, in 2024, Australia at the Movies. His memoir I Peed on Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film, was published by Penguin Books in 2008.

A “ten-pound Pom”, Stratton was born in Wiltshire in the UK in 1939, and moved to Australia in 1963 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme introduced by the Chifley government in 1945.

In 1965, he took over as director of the Sydney Film Festival, a position he would hold for the next 18 years. He championed foreign-language films, rallying against the censorship that was rife at the time.

A spokesperson for the festival said “We would not exist without David’s remarkable passion and devotion.

“We praise his successful fight against censorship of films in Australia, the establishment of the Travelling Film Festival (which returns to his home town of the Blue Mountains next weekend), support for emerging filmmakers from Australia and around the world, and fostering of a brave and adventurous cinema culture in Australian audiences”.

He later gained greater fame for reviewing films on SBS and the ABC with Margaret Pomeranz, the two becoming one of Australian television’s most famous duos.

Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton were co-hosts for 28 years — first of “The Movie Show” on SBS
and then “At the Movies” on ABC. (Photo supplied / ABC TV)

“When we met I was a cinema enthusiast, not a walking encyclopedia of film like David.” said Pomeranz. 

“When he first came into SBS and I tried to talk to him, he brushed me off unceremoniously. I imagine a few people have had that experience with him but over the years he became much more welcoming of people approaching him – especially young film enthusiasts, many of whom he mentored and promoted. He was unstintingly generous in that way.

“So I became the producer of his movie introductions, to Movie of the Week and his beloved Cinema Classics. I had to create new lead-ins to these, and David and I decided to use Nino Rota’s music. I had such fun with the introduction to the Classics, with images of Polanski’s Knife in the Water, Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and from Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. Of course David had to approve everything, and we formed a good working relationship.

“Our first film discussion, or vague disagreement, was about the Australian film The Empty Beach, directed by Chris Thomson, based on a novel by Peter Corris. I was dismissive but, as I listened to David’s support for the film, I realised that my reaction had been too facile. It was the beginning of Strats’ education of my film appreciation.

“It’s extraordinary that, over all the time we worked together, we never had a falling out.”

David Stratton experienced significant vision loss in his later years due to giant cell arteritis. The condition caused him to lose sight in one eye and severely limited his vision in the other. This impacted his ability to review films, leading him to retire from reviewing in 2023, though he continued to be involved in other film-related activities. 

Singin’ in the Rain starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor was his all time favourite film.

“It’s probably the best of the MGM musicals in an era when the musical film was one of the most innovative forms of cinema,” he told digital editor Craig Platt. “It’s funny, it’s clever. The songs and dances are great, and it also has a fascinating story.”

Australian jazz pioneer Judy Bailey, accomplished pianist, composer and educator, dies aged 89

Photo supplied ABC News

By Henry Rasmussen - ABC Jazz

Australian jazz pioneer Judy Bailey has died peacefully at the age of 89.

The New Zealand-born pianist was one of the most prominent forces on the Australian music scene, ever since she arrived in Australia in the early 1960s. 

A brilliant musician and composer, Bailey was also a keen educator, with a passion for building up generations of young Australian jazz musicians.

Her son, Chris De Gray, said he and his sister Lisette were "privileged to have been with her and holding her right to her last breath".

"We are so sad right now but happy that she is free of her suffering," he said.

Growing up on New Zealand's North Island in the 1940s, Bailey first encountered the piano at the age of 10 — and soon developed an ear for jazz after hearing George Shearing on a local radio broadcast.

"It just hit me between the eyes, and I remember that after hearing this one piece, I went over to the piano with a feeling that I had never had before," she said in 1981.

Piano at the time was somewhat of a hobby. Despite the fact that Bailey was learning from a former Trinity College teacher in New Zealand, she initially left school looking for a job to help support her family.

Yet music was always more than just an interest, and by 1960 she found herself en route to Sydney, with the intention of continuing on to the United Kingdom to further her musical endeavours.

Luckily for Australia, she decided to stick around.

Experimentation and a steady gig

After arriving in Sydney, it wasn't long before Bailey found herself at the El Rocco — the hub for underground improvised music in the city.

Speaking with writer John Clare in 1995, she recalled that during the 60s, the club hosted a "particular sort of modern jazz … there was a fair amount of experimentation, and people were more inclined to accept the experimentation with a certain amount of curiosity".

At the El Rocco, Bailey encountered many aspiring jazz musicians such as John Sangster and Graeme Lyall.

But it was fellow New Zealand ex-pat Julian Lee who helped give the young piano player the break she needed.

Lee helped Judy get a gig with Tommy Tycho's orchestra at Channel 7, and it wasn't long before Don Burrows invited her into his septet for recordings at the ABC.

ABC Jazz featured Don as a Retro Artist in early 2018 — and a memorable session from that era was an LP Burrows produced featuring his band's work for TV called On Camera — showcasing Judy Bailey on the piano.

For Judy and many other musicians in Australia during the 1960s, TV gigs were one of the main sources of income — and Bailey would continue on to work for both Channel 9 and Channel 10.

A female bandleader

During the 60s, Bailey also cut her own albums as a bandleader, recording two albums for CBS with producer Sven Libaek.

One of those records from 1965 was called My Favourite Things — and featured her compatriots from the El Rocco, including Sangster, Lyall, Ed Gaston and Jack Grimsely.

Addressing her role as a leading woman in the Australian jazz scene during that era, Bailey remarked that there was a certain novelty to it all.

However, she was also "quite certain that if I hadn't been able to prove my point, it couldn't have continued".

Bailey toured internationally throughout her career, as well as organising local performances. (Supplied)

While she earned the respect of her peers as a player first, Bailey also endured struggles as a young mother, balancing a demanding life as a gigging musician with looking after her young children.

During the early 70s (in between rearing her own children) she started working for ABC Radio, producing music content for kids.

She also began working professionally as an educator, becoming one of the founding faculty members for the jazz program at the prestigious Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

In 1974, Bailey formed one of her most well-known combos called the Judy Bailey Quartet, featuring Ron Philpott on bass, John Pochee on drums and Ken James on sax.

The band only produced two studio albums, yet they were both important and memorable LPs, with Bailey leading from the front on the electric piano.

With her own ensemble, Bailey was also able to showcase some of here original writing in the jazz fusion style.

One of her tracks from the album Colours was sampled by hip hop artist Rick Ross on the tune Santorini Greece.

The record was originally recorded at Trafalgar Studios in Sydney in 1976 — and somehow made it into thew hands of Ross’s producer Bink 40 years later.

The 1980s saw Judy team up with the rock vocalist Margret Roadknight as a side-woman for the record Out Of Fashion … Not Out Of Style.

Whilst largely a departure for the jazz pianist, working with Roadknight broadened Bailey's musical horizons.

She went back to the blues, and even started exploring classical and folkloric music, which — in turn — informed her jazz playing.

"I thought, 'You've heard jazz until it's pouring out of your ears. Try to cut the apron strings. Try to find your own direction'," she said.

"And that's the way it still is."

Passion for music education

Aside from performing, education was always an important part of Bailey's work as a musician.

Aside from her work in various roles at the ABC over the years, she served on the Australia Council Music Board, and toured internationally with Musica Viva.

She was also a key figure in the Con's jazz department over many decades, and organised music performances and lectures at the Sydney Opera House.

Another important and memorable contribution on the education front for many years was her student-run big band — Judy Bailey's Jazz Connection.

The ensemble, led by Bailey, was formed in the early 1990s, and over the years aided the development of a large number of young, local jazz musicians by giving students the opportunity to perform live in various clubs and venues around Sydney and further afield.

"When you've got something yourself that you've discovered, experienced and nurtured, and it's been a tremendous thing in your life, then it's natural for you to want to help other people who are exhibiting the same need to experience what you've experienced," she told saxophonist in 2015.

Bailey passed away on August 8, at the age of 89.

Her legacy as a trailblazing pianist and composer in Australia will be long remembered.

This article was originally written in 2018 as part of ABC Jazz's Retro Artist series. It was updated on August 11, 2025.

Published at ABC News, August 11, 2025