Without a doubt he's made people aware of the festival in and outside of Sydney. He's absolutely superb at marketing and his prodigious energies in that regard are phenomenal. Cloudstreet was an innovation of the highest order and the opportunity to experience Elektra was very significant. For Sydney audiences it was like seeing a new work, given that it wasn't part of Opera Australia's repertoire . . . But Elektra, with Deborah Polaski and Lisa Gasteen singing and Simone Young conducting the Sydney Symphony, was a great achievement.
People still talk about it.
I had done Songs with Mara for Anthony Steel but this was the first large-scale work for the festival. That was a fabulous year and one of the best festivals the city has had . . . Leo has made the festival an important event and people talk about it overseas - they never did that before. Sydney has become one of the hottest cities in the world because of the Olympics, and Leo has contributed to making it exciting. He has shrugged off recent criticisms but is understood to be dismayed by Wherrett's remarks.