Ear plugs anyone? … Jane Rosenson, of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, rehearses in the Opera House pit.
Photo: Andrew Meares
By Harriet Alexander
November 19, 2005
The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra knows the din in the Opera House pit is enough to wake, well, Sleeping Beauty.
But its players never dreamed it could be slowly sending them deaf.
The classic fairytale is famed as one of the loudest ballets, and now on the eve of a new performance at the Opera House, WorkCover says the expected noise levels in the pit will breach its regulations.
To stick within the law, some musicians will have to wear ear plugs and some will have to be replaced at the interval, costing Australian Ballet up to $100,000 extra for the production. WorkCover told the orchestra’s managers, Opera Australia, the musicians could not be subjected to noise greater than 85 decibels averaged over a working day, which it believes Sleeping Beauty will exceed.
Opera Australia has agreed to shorten the length of time some musicians spend in the pit and hire casuals – at an average cost of $140 a shift – to fill the 750 extra spots it now needs to cover.
Australian Ballet has to foot the bill, but the upheaval has also given Opera Australia a headache. Finding replacement musicians two weeks before Sleeping Beauty opens on December 2 is proving difficult. Vernon Winley, Opera Australia’s human resources director and executive in charge of the AOBO, said Opera Australia would have to look at bringing musicians in from other states. “We’re having to look very hard,” he said.
The AOBO has rostered musicians to swap at intervals before, but only for long operas.
Australian Ballet’s executive director, Richard Evans, expects the WorkCover rules will cost its productions $200,000 next year. “So it’s urgent that this issue is resolved,” he said. “From a cost perspective it’s really escalating because we’re not just [paying] one orchestra.”
Mr Evans said a federal inquiry into orchestra pit funding was due at the end of the month.
The orchestra pit at the Opera House is notorious for its poor acoustics, but there is still no timetable for its refurbishment.
Musicians complain of damage to their hearing, and at least three have refused to play in Sleeping Beauty.
Those that remain are worried the quality of the music will suffer and are considering writing a disclaimer for the audience.
“It’s going to be really awful,” said Will Farmer, a trombonist. “Nobody knows, for example, how it’s going to sound when the whole brass section have got their ear plugs [in].
“We’re not about to go on strike over it … but I think it places a lot of pressure on the Government to do something about getting it fixed.”
Mr Winley said Opera Australia regularly tested noise levels in different sections of the pit. Levels from the brass section during performances of Swan Lake reached 95 decibels at times.