Tenor goes out on a high in Australia

Anson Austin is ending his career with an old favourite. ANNAROSA BERMAN reports

In the 34 years he sang with the company now known as Opera Australia, New Zealand tenor Anson Austin never learned to enjoy the adrenalin rush of opening night. Yet when he makes his entrance to star as Alfredo opposite Cheryl Barker's Violetta in OA's La Traviata production tonight, he will probably mind the tension less than usual: it is the final opening night of his career.

Austin remembers clearly the first time he sang the part: it was in a 1978 Australian Opera (as it was then known) production and Violetta was none other than a youthful Kiri Te Kanawa, also in a role debut.

Among the highlights in a career spanning more than three decades are the role of Tamino in the Australian Opera's 1973 production of Mozart's The Magic Flute for the inauguration of the new Sydney Opera House, and the role of Raoul in the company's 1990 production of Les Huguenots, which featured Dame Joan Sutherland as Queen Mary, in her final performance in opera.

Yet Austin is amazed that any opera ever makes it on stage. "Opera singing is an extraodinarily difficult discipline," he says. "A principal has to sing and act while relating to other singers and following the conductor, and if he is a tenor he is expected to move around without missing a high C or losing his rapport with the audience."

Austin never shied away from challenge. His first role was one of the biggest and most difficult - Rodolfo in La Boheme - for the Australian Opera's 1978 production. "I would not advise any young singer to do that."

He says he has often benefited from finding himself in the right place at the right time. He performed with Dame Joan Sutherland, for example, "probably more frequently than with any other soprano", because when she was travelling regularly to Australia he was the only local tenor who could do the repertoire.

Many of his historic performances with Sutherland - as Camillie in The Merry Widow, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur and Tonio in Daughter of the Regiment - are now available on video and DVD.

Educated at Christchurch Boys High School where the music master nudged him into a singing career, Austin learned to sight-read with Canterbury University's Madrigal Singers. He travelled to London, where he spent three years with the BBC Singers before launching himself into an opera career.

Although he did concert work with the NZSO and other Kiwi ensembles, he appeared in only one major NZ opera production, Rigoletto in Christchurch in 1988. "I was always heavily committed in Australia and the opportunities just didn't arise."

He has performed in Europe and America but most of his career has been in Australia. "I wanted to be close to my family and for my wife and children to have the advantage of the Australian lifestyle."

Among the highlights Austin cites the Australian Opera's 1983 production of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, with Glenys Fowles as Juliette, as his most memorable season. But he feels there were roles he shouldn't have done.

"Although I loved doing The Magic Flute, Mozart was not really suited to my voice. His music looks simple but it is extremely difficult."

Mozart's tenor parts are also not particularly high, when Austin's top range has been his strong point.

During three decades he was booed on several occasions. "I was booed just about every night in Madama Butterfly last year," he laughs. "I took it as a compliment - the better I played Pinkerton the more boos I got."

In a Melbourne production of Lucia di Lammermoor he was booed by just one person. "I don't think someone who boos understands what it does to a performer. Nobody goes on stage underprepared, or wanting to do less than their best."

But the Pinkerton experience had nothing to do with his decision to retire. "It was an appropriate time to go as I feel I am singing quite well at the moment. La Traviata presented me with the opportunity to go out with a role I love, and Madama Butterfly is another favourite. I thought you couldn't do better than to finish on those two."

His decision to give up singing was a rational one: "To continue singing at the level I'm singing I'd have to keep exercising the voice at that level. It's all or nothing for me."

There were other reasons, too, his two young granddaughters among them. "They have changed my life. I want to spend time with them."

He would also like to get more involved in charity work and play golf "while I still have the energy and capacity".

And he would like to buy a vintage car. "I've been wanting to relive my youth. I think the time has come."