Pinchgut Opera is Australia’s premier Baroque opera company.
We are at the forefront of performing early opera and have pioneered excellence in vocal and instrumental playing in this genre and in historically-informed performance practice.
Pinchgut Opera is Australia’s only company dedicated to Baroque opera and vocal music, with a global reputation as one of the world’s finest companies specialising in historically informed performance. Pinchgut takes rare and often undiscovered masterpieces from the 17th and 18th centuries and re-creates them in the modern frame, giving contemporary relevance to this exquisite music of the past for today’s audiences to enjoy.
Artistic Director
Erin Helyard
Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance.
Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009-2010 and from 2003 to 2012 Erin was a central member of the award-winning Ensemble Caprice (Montreal). As Artistic Director and co-founder of the celebrated Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney) he has forged new standards of excellence in historically-informed performance in Australia.
Artistic Director
Erin Helyard
Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance.
Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009-2010 and from 2003 to 2012 Erin was a central member of the award-winning Ensemble Caprice (Montreal). As Artistic Director and co-founder of the celebrated Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney) he has forged new standards of excellence in historically-informed performance in Australia.
Since 2002
We began in 2002 with Handel’s Semele, followed by Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (2003), Monteverdi’s Orfeo (2004), Rameau’s Dardanus (2005), Mozart’s Idomeneo (2006), Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans (2007), Charpentier’s David et Jonathas (2008), Cavalli’s Ormindo (2009), Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (2010), Vivaldi’s Griselda (2011), Rameau’s Castor et Pollux (2012), Cavalli’s Giasone (2013), Salieri’s The Chimney Sweep and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (2014), Vivaldi’s Bajazet and Grétry’s L’Amant jaloux (2015), Haydn’s Armida and Handel’s Theodora (2016), Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea and a Triple Bill of Rameau’s Anacréon and Pigmalion with Vinci’s Erighetta & Don Chilone (2017), Handel's Athalia and Hasse’s Artaserse (2018), Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses and Vivaldi's Farnace (2019), Cavalli's The Loves of Apollo & Dafneand Rameau's Platée (2021), and Cesti's Orontea (2022). We have also done four wonderful works as fundraisers - Vivaldi's La Ninfa, Purcell's Incidental music to Dioclesian, Mozart's The Impresario and John Lampe's Pyramus and Thisbe.
We are forever grateful to our audience who buy tickets and place their trust in us to lead them on a journey of musical discovery. We especially thank our donors, whose support allows us to continue to present music that inspires.
To find out more, contact us on 02 9318 8344 or email info@pinchgutopera.com.au
Our Team
Artistic Director
Erin Helyard
Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance.
Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009-2010 and from 2003 to 2012 Erin was a central member of the award-winning Ensemble Caprice (Montreal). As Artistic Director and co-founder of the celebrated Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney) he has forged new standards of excellence in historically-informed performance in Australia.