Finsterer’s interest in renaissance and baroque music contrasts with her well established practice in the modernist aesthetic. “I respond to the particular requirements of the project at hand.  I don’t like being restricted by a particular style”, she remarks. Finsterer’s ability to adapt her technique to diverse circumstances has not gone unnoticed by prominent musicologist Richard Toop, who once said of her work, “Like Stravinsky before her, Mary Finsterer has a remarkable capacity to adjust the basic characteristics of her music to very different circumstances, without any sense of compromise.”

In Biographica, her aim was to capture an essence of renaissance music by filtering it through a contemporary lens. Thus, the music is built on harmony made from 3-note chords. “I use this tertian harmony as the basic building block, but in ordering that elemental material, I draw from serialism to assist me with chord progressions and voice–leading. I’m interested in finding ways to take the listeners to places that are perhaps unexpected or even surprising”, Finsterer explains.

Admirers of Finsterer’s music might think that her compositional style has changed in this work. But she says, “The material is derived from the Renaissance, yet the method by which it’s constructed draws from the modernist aesthetic. I wanted to bring the two worlds together. I realise that the outer layers of the music are quite different but I don’t feel that I’m writing very different music at all.”

In writing an opera, a big part of attending to the task at hand is to write vocal lines to which opera singers can feel a connection. “In opera it’s very important to have clean, clear vocal lines,” Finsterer says. “In Biographica, because the harmony stems from the tertian system, extracting material to support the vocal lines is an enjoyable part of the process.”

To some it might come as a surprise to learn that Finsterer had been working on Biographica for almost two decades. She says, “It’s been part of my life for a long time; but it’s not as if I’ve been working on it constantly. I like having a large–scale piece in the background while I’m working on other projects. This enables me to compose many works, drawing on the same research.”

Will she be writing for the theatre in future? Fortunately, yes. “I feel that Biographica has initiated ideas for more opera,” she says.

As Cardano, beloved Australian actor Mitchell Butel garnered high praise. Limelight’s Angus McPherson writes that Butel’s “striking intensity” held the show together. The family members were well received too: Jane Sheldon as Cardano’s mother, sang with “frightening power”, “from soaring fear to guttural rage” (Keith Gallasch, RealTime), while Jessica O’Donoghue “found an elegant awkwardness” for Cardano’s tragic daughter (Alistair Noble, Partial Durations.). Mezzo-soprano Anna Fraser shone as the unfaithful wife poisoned by Cardano’s son, sung by Simon Lobelson, her “full, characterful mezzo” standing in stark contrast to Lobelson’s “cold, smooth baritone”. (Angus McPherson, Limelight). Tenor Andrew Goodwin, as the kleptomaniac son, Aldo, “sustained pure expressive tonal evenness” (Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald).

Janice Muller’s direction was simple, direct and effectively lit by Matt Cox, according to McCallum, and conductor Jack Symonds “controlled the balance of iridescent purity and gritty noise in the sound to create an aural equivalent reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s image of a person lying in the gutter staring at the stars”.

In conclusion, Biographica is “inventive, engaging, stimulating, and moving”; and, “an outstanding new opera” which “deserves a permanent place in the repertory”, says Murray Black.

Another mission accomplished for Sydney Chamber Opera and the artists who enable the company to pursue its ideals.