WAO Presents Star Navigator (Ihitai ‘Avei’a)

Bendat Family Foundation presents STAR NAVIGATOR, a new work composed by Tim Finn OBE with Tahitian monologues by Celestine Hitiura Vaite. Originally commissioned by West Australian Opera, New Zealand Opera and Victorian Opera and supported by the State Government of Western Australia.

Based on the true story of Tupaia, a Tahitian star navigator who sailed with James Cook on the Endeavour, this beautiful and haunting work explores the 1769 meeting of the two master mariners, each from a vastly different place and culture, both proud of their knowledge and unwavering in their ambition.

The opera delves into the minds of Cook and Tupaia and the gulf of belief between them that, despite their common love of the sea and thirst for exploration, stops them from finding their way into each other’s world.

A beautiful and haunting new work by Tim Finn OBE that will lift you up to the stars.

SUNG IN ENGLISH AND TAHITIAN

Composer and Lyricist* – Tim Finn OBE
Conductor – Christopher van Tuinen
Piano – Tim Finn OBE
Chorus Master – Hugh Lydon
Repetiteur – Adrian Soares
Arrangement and Additional Music – Tom McLeod

James Cook  -Teddy Tahu Rhodes
Tupaia – Amitai Pati
Purea – Natasha Te Rupe Wilson
Narrator / Tahitian Monologist – Célestine Hitiura Vaite
Teata – Josiah Nielsen

*Additional lyrics by Gary Henderson

WASO CHORUS
WASO

WHEN: Friday 13 August 2021, 7:30pm AWST (subject to COVID-19 restrictions)

Visit www.WAOPERA.asn.au to book