Ben Apfelbaum

RED CARPET : OPERA AUSTRALIA’S ‘WEST SIDE STORY’

The heavy rain could not dampen the anticipation the first night audience felt with the Handa sponsored West Side Story on Sydney harbour. Held at the first Fleet steps at Mrs Macquaries Chair.

Celebrities, stars and politicians mingled happily together, although all achieved an anonymity when covered with their non plastic white ponchos.

The audience looked like a Hazmat convention complete with white protection suits.

At the after party CEO of Opera Australia Rory Jeffes emphasised the show’s important message which was the way in which a society’s intolerance can lead to tragedy and misery.

A justifiably jubilant Lyndon Terracini, Opera Australia’s Artistic Director, thanked the cast and crew singling out individuals who went above and beyond the call of duty .

After the storm cleared the upper floor of the northern terrace revealed a spectacular view of the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and a three masted tall ship.

Like opera lovers who have just seen Carmen many of the audience left humming the familiar and iconic tunes of WEST SIDE STORY.

All photos by Ben Apfelbaum 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.