Opera Collection

From the 1840s onward, Italians have played a central role in opera, classical music and ballet in Australia. Among the most prominent were the Carandini family, who opened a ballet and opera school in Hobart in 1843, and went on to tour the country. The Benvenuti family introduced classical music to Queensland in the late 1800s. Count and Countess Filippini helped establish opera companies in South and Western Australia in the 1920s. In 1906, violinist Alberto Zelman Junior, son of the composer and teacher of the same name, founded the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

These artists are represented in the collection by: photographs; biographies, newspaper clippings; and a scrapbook. Also included are signed concert programs; photographs taken on tour; a personal travel account; and tourist brochures and postcards of Australian cities from the papers of Concert Master Arturo Franco. Franco toured Australia in 1924 as part of the Melba Williamson Grand Opera Season. 

Access by appointment. 

Search the Italian Historical Society catalogue here.