In the name of the Rose

Opera bass Peter Rose allows a sweet smile to settle on his face as he begins talking of his role of Osmin in Opera Australia’s new production of The Abduction from the Seraglio.

The British singer has previously performed the role 60 times, and reveals it was four years ago while doing the Mozart opera in Salzburg, Austria, that he met his partner, Florian.

The couple met after a performance, have been together ever since, and are now based in London. Florian has just flown in to Sydney to be with Rose for this season, which plays at the Opera House until 10 August.

“So you can say this one is special for me,” Rose said.

“This was the first time he had ever seen me perform and I still remember the look on his face when I met him afterwards – it was such a moment. So it will be nice to do this again.”

The tale of that Salzburg season of The Abduction from the Seraglio, however, does have a sting in its telling.

Rose, who has performed with opera companies all over the world since making his debut in 1986, says that 2004 season in Mozart’s home town was something of a disaster.

“It was a very different production and the scandal of the season,” he chuckled.

“It was slightly off the wall, and the audiences booed throughout the show every night. They were yelling, ‘This is not Mozart!’ and were angry we had changed it so much.

“It was all a lot of fun, until the audience came along. In Europe, they let you know what they think.”

Rose has been on the road for most of the past four months – “the longest I have ever spent away from home,” he said. He recently performed concerts in Taipei and Tokyo, as well as a season in Seattle.

He was last in Australia two years ago for a February summer. “But I did miss the Mardi Gras as we took off north to Queensland,” he said. He has previously starred in Der Rosenkavalier in Sydney and Melbourne.

He is sure, however, that Michael Gow’s production of The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Opera Theatre won’t elicit the dramatic reaction the Salzburg season experienced.

The Abduction from the Seraglio is a comedy adventure, telling of a group of European travellers who are captured by pirates and then sold into slavery in a Turkish harem. Emma Matthews and Andrew Goodwin star as the lovers of the piece.

Konstanze is the young woman conflicted by her choice of accepting life in the harem, or escaping to be with the man she loves. Rose’s Osmin is the evil eunuch, but the singer says he always enjoys stepping into this character again.

“I do have a good time playing the arsing-about roles,” he said. “When I started in opera, I saw myself as being a bit more serious and doing the Italian repertoire, but here I am doing this comedy again.

“It used to make me nervous as it is musically so challenging. I have done this opera 60 times, but it is one I still have a passion for.”

The Abduction from the Seraglio plays at the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House until 10 August. Bookings on 9318 8200 or www.opera-australia.org.au.