Sebastian Maclaine & The Fairy Queen

Interview - June 10, 2025

CONTEXT

Sebastian Maclaine is one of the most exciting tenors to emerge from Brisbane in recent years. A graduate of Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, he has since performed with prestigious companies including Glyndebourne Festival, Opera Queensland, and most recently, Pinchgut Opera, in their current production of The Fairy Queen.

Don’t miss Sebastian’s captivating performance in Pinchgut Opera’s season of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.

Please visit their website for more information.

QUICK QUESTIONS

• What has been your favourite show to perform in so far?

  This show ranks pretty highly among the shows I’ve been in up to this point. The team hasbeen so lovely to work with, both in a musical and collegial sense. The piece is fabulous too and full of memorable tunes and I have loved the experience.

  
  

• Is there an aria you never get tired of singing?

  I have a lesser-known aria by American composer, Bernard Herrmann called Now Art Thou Dear from his only opera, Wuthering Heights, that I whip out whenever I can. It’s schmolzy and sweet and I love to perform it.

  
  

• What is a dream role you haven’t yet tackled?

  I would love to perform the role of Belmonte in Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart. Every aria is stunning but quite demanding and I would relish the opportunity to take up the challenge one day.

  
  

• If you weren’t an opera singer, what career path might you have taken?

  I think I would have liked to do something with an immediate and tangible sense of helping the community. I have at times thought there are aspects of being a teacher or even a police officer that would appeal to this part of my personality.

  
  

• Fun fact about you most people don’t know…

  I am obsessively interested in sport to an extent that rivals my pursuit of music. I retain loads of useless statistical information about cricket, AFL and football (and other sports) and often wish my brain would redirect this capacity to something more useful!

  
  

ABOUT THE FAIRY QUEEN

The show is a real feast for the eyes and is packed full with beautiful, memorable music. While the narrative of the Fairy Queen as a whole can be a little confusing, our wonderful director, Netia Jones, has pieced together a series of effective and engaging vignettes that tell many smaller stories, which come together to give an impression of love in many different guises. It is a clever and captivating take on a classic piece, performed by a fantastic orchestra, twelve homegrown, Australian singers and four fabulous dancers.

LESSONS FROM THIS PRODUCTION

The technical and production elements of this show are intricate and detailed and we performers on stage have had to be keenly aware of what is going on at all times. From timings and speeds of entries, to hitting marks, to moving pieces of set to precise locations at particular times, to quick changes – the expectations on us in this show have been high. We all have had to rely on each other a lot in this regard and it has reminded me of the importance of working as a cohesive team in the theatre. The requires everyone to be on top of not just their music and character choices, but all of these extra aspects too, to make the show work effectively.

ON EARLY MUSIC AND MISCONCEPTIONS

I am aware of this impression some people have of Baroque opera being boring or repetitive. I think sometimes performers of Baroque have been partially responsible for this by not doing their job well enough. One of the things I love most about performing in this style is the freedom of ornamenting and finding a different or heightened version of repeated text or chunk of music. It allows you to explore a character or emotion to a greater depth and it is your responsibility to communicate that effectively through your performance. When this isn’t done effectively, you have a lot of dry, repeated phrases, seemingly for no reason. Fortunately, our production is blessed with brilliant singers and a top-notch orchestra, led by our incredible music director, Erin Helyard, in such a way that I believe will leave no one bored.

ON PURCELL

Purcell is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential English composers in history. He created a distinctly English, emotionally raw, theatrically vivid, musically innovative body of music that still resonates strongly to the current day.

Image provided by Artist