All-time classics and new opera works are represented in the Collection with period and modern costuming, designs, and associated material.
All-time classics and new opera works are represented in the Performing Arts Collection with period and modern costuming, designs, and associated material. Costumes from The Australian Elizabethan Trust Opera Company, Metropolitan Opera, and the State Opera of South Australia show the breadth of this substantial collection.
South Australian opera history is also especially rich with the wonderful stories of internationally acclaimed singers Clara Serena and Lawrence Power who both appeared with major opera companies in the 1930s. The Serena and Power collections hold rare fallalery, fake moustaches, and stunning costumes.
Clara Serena was a South Australian operatic contralto singer. She performed on the stages of the great opera houses across Europe and the British Isles in the 1920s. With a range of three octaves, Clara Serena delivered notes with a thrilling power and resonance.
State Opera of South Australia (SOSA) is the parliamentary supported opera company of South Australia. Established in 1976, SOSA is known for producing large-scale opera and collaborating with institutions such as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Festival Centre Trust to stage innovative performances.
The Performing Arts Collection holds costumes, designs, props and set pieces from State Opera of South Australia’s first years and is still collecting from their most current productions.
Tytania costume, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021
Dale Ferguson (2021)
Jewellery worn by Clara Serena as Delilah, 1927
Clara Serena (1927)
Alberich costume worn by John Wegner, Der Ring des Nibelungen, 2004
Stephen Curtis (2004)