Mulga Bill’s Bicycle: The Children’s Opera Project
It was Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk that caught the cycling craze, and when he turned away his good old horse, everything fell apart. He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen, hurried off to town and bought a shiny new machine.
Banjo Paterson’s delightful poem, Mulga Bill’s Bicycle, has been delighting readers since its first publication in The Sydney Mail in 1896. Now, Mulga Bill has a back story (and a few good tunes) in a new adaptation composed and conducted by Lachlan Massey.
Musgrove Opera is joined by over 200 young singers from schools across Sydney to present Mulga Bill’s Bicycle as the culmination of the 2024 Children’s Opera Project. The young singers fill the exciting surrounds of The Concourse Concert Hall alongside a stellar cast led by soprano, Brianna Louwen. Join us for a joyous celebration of music, and the world premiere of a brand-new children’s opera. You won’t want to miss it!
Musgrove Opera’s Artistic Director, Lachlan Massey, says “I’ve loved Mulga Bill’s Bicycle for a long time…it’s a highly rhythmic text full of percussive oomph! Finding the right musical setting for Mulga Bill was like trying to pair cheese and chocolate…when it matches it’s brilliant, but it takes a long time to find the right combination of flavours! I’m thrilled that our new Children’s Opera project will bring together hundreds of school children to form the children’s chorus who are truly the stars of the show.”