Missing the Magic of Opera?

With much of Australia in lockdown, the thrill of live performance seems elusive. While we stay home and stay safe, noe is a great time t explore the riches of OA TV: Opera Australia on demand.
Six of the Company's most celebrated Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour productions are available to stream -free of charge - on your smart device, Apple TV or computer at tv.opera.org.au
Marvel at the epic grandeur of Aida. Watch sparks fly as Carmen seduces audiences with her Haberana. Feel the frisson of new love in La Bohème and relive the beauty and tragedy of Madama Butterfly. Hear hearts soar - then break - in La Traviata. Sing along to Nessun Dorma in Turandot.
To enjoy these aforementioned operas just click on each title.

Opera Australia on Tour

 

The Barber of Seville

Beyond haircuts and beard trims, this canny barber is the city's matchmaking maestro!

Almaviva is wealthy and head over heels. Rosina is witty, pretty and just as smitten. She's also conveniently betrothed. They need a plan. time to call on:Fi-ga-ro!
The stage is set for comic chaos. Our enterprising barber Figaro has wits and tricks as sharp as his razors. It takes all of his clever disguises, subterfuge and scheming to wrangle a romantic encounter for the would be lovers.
The Barber of Seville fizzes and pops with lyrical acrobats and irrestible funny characters. Rossini's most famous 'opera buffa' is a musical masterpiece with a storyline that would be equally at home in a Hollywood rom-com. Opera Australia's finest voices and a live orchestra deliver a score that is instantly familiar from renditions in movies, cartoons and commercials. Here, the frothy humour is intoxicating and the chorus revels in every uproarious escapade.
Delight in a romp along the road to true love! this is opera at its light-heared, effervescent best.

On tour:
Victorian Dates & venues:

Dandenong July 15 & 16. 2022. Drum Theatre

Warrnambool July 21. 2022 Lighthuse Theatre

Bendigo July 23. 2022 Ulunburra Theatre

Mildura July 26. 2022 Mildura Arts Centre

Mooroopna August 30. 2022 Westside Performing Arts Centre

NarreWarren Septemberr 1. 2022 Bunjil Place

Frankston Sept4ember 3. 2022 Frankston Arts Centre

Sale September 13. 2022 The Wedge.

New South Wales Dates & venues:

Wagga Wagga July 28. 2022 Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre

Griffith July 30. 2022 Griffith Regional Theatre

Bathurst August 2. 2022 Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre

Orange August 3. 2022 Orange Civic Theatre

Dubbo August 5. 2022 Dubbo Regional Theatre

Tamworth August 8. 2022 Tamworth Capital Theatre

Port Macquarie August 13. 2022 Glasshouse

Murwillumbah August 16. 2022 Murwillumbah Cvic and culteral Centre

Wollongong August 19 & 20. 2022 Illawara Performing Arts Centre

Newcastle August 25. 2022 Newcastle Civic Theatre

Wyong August 27. 2022 The Art House

Tasmanian Dates & venues:

Hobart September 7 & 8. 2022 Theatre Royal

Launceston September 10. 2022 Princess Theatre

Australian Capital Territory Dates & venues:

Canberra September 17. 2022 Canberra Theare Centre

 

 

The Incident

A BRAND NEW OPERA

ACO is thrilled to aannonce award-winning composer William Barton will compose ACOCO's first major commission - a 2-act opera called The Iincident.

It is still in the earlly vreative phrase so the company can't reveal much -yet! What the Company can share is that it centrs on an Australian story rie for telling, and one that will engage and excite audiences about the role of contemporary opera in Australia and the world.
Combining European and Australian indigenus performance practices, performers and musicians, The Incident is set to premiere in 2023/2024 and will be published by G. Schirmer/Wise Music/ ACO is excited to be working on this creation, and look forward to sharing the journey of conception to stage with you.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

11-year old Alice is joplted out of her bored daydreams in the school holidays when she meets a talking rabbit who insists she follows him to a mysterious Wonderland.
In thia fantastical place, Alice comes across a number of peculier characters, including a repaxed caterpillar, a happy Cat, a depressice Hare, a whte rabbitm a romantic Duchess, a mad Hatter and a sleeoy Dormouse, and learns that all is not well in Wonderland: a mysteruois Queen keen to chop everyone's heads.
A three pice band accompanies the singers as they delve deeper into Wonderland, and the young membvers of the audience occasionly follow he action across the field.
Season: February 20 - March 13. 2022

Mornington Peninsula; Sunday February 20 at 2pm & 5pm.

Alowyn Gardens, Yarra Valley Sunday February 20 at 2pm & 5pm.

Yarra Park MCG Precinct, Jolimont Sunday March 0 at 2pm & 5pm.

Bolobek, Mount Macedon Saturday March 12 at 2pm & 5pm.

Yarra Park, MCG Precinct, Jolimont Sunday March 13at 2pm & 5pm.

Book of Longing

An evening-length work of poetry, music and image based on Leonard's book of 2006. Humorous self parody, romantic longing, spiritual striving - a sampling of Cohen's poems that touch on romance, biography, balladry, the dharma, limericks and rhymes.
Season: May 13, 2022 More details to come.

Joy Hester

In the 1940s Joy Hester (1920 - 1967) moved n the exalted company of Albert Tucker (her husband), Sydney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, John Percecal, Charles Blackman, writers Max Morris, and Barrett Reid, and imortantly, the art patrons and philanthropists John and Sunday Reid.
Joy Hester;s art was highly regarded by these people andothers chose her diring her lifetime, but it took more than 20 years after her death before her work sarted to be apprecuated by a larger audience. Joy Hester is now considered by many to be one of the greatest female artists that Australia has produced.
|This opera presents a background to the drama of some of the events leading up to her split with her husband, her child, and her departure from Melbourne in April 1947. The libretto was researched through Janine Burke's biography JoyHester. Melbourne greenhouse Publications, (1983) letters(mainly between Joy and Sunday), personal interviews and accounts, and related sources. Joy Hester faced adversity with incredible courage, and a creative, indomitable life force.
Season: July 7 - 10. 2022 More details to come.

The Secret Kingdom

The Secret Kingdom apotheosizes the simple life, submission to Nature, Joy in little things, and the renunciation of ambition, time and story. The composer wanted to say "no" to modern civilization. which, he felt, consisted of dehumanized haste, degrading commercialization, and hopeless universal corruption.
The plot is an elaborate fairy - tale involving a kingdom in revolt, a monarch of Hamlet-like despondency who would like nothing better than to abdicate, and a queen who seels to usurp her husband's throne and establish a new kingdom with the leader of the rebellion.
In the end all the characters are thwarted, and a new kingdom, based on a love of nature is magically created in a remoe forest.
Season: August 18 0 25. 2022 More details to come.

The Loser

A complex and unsettling piece about talent, jealousy and genius, The Loser, based on the book by thomas Bernhard is grought to lifeby a single baritone voice and string quartet.
Season: October 3. 2022.

To Hell and Back

A smart and ground-breaking work which tales a modern Baroque orchestra, opera and music theatre into an intimate drama of relationship damage due to family violence3, beautiful, riveting, hopeful and unforgettable.
It is difficult to "sell" the domestic violence theme of an opera, and certainly taking it to the Persophonemyth is a clever device by the librettistGene Scheer in 'sweeten' the story. Sometimes we sit spwn to watch films that arenot always pretty, and it pays not to tear our eyes awwa. We don't often stop to think of the ripple effect that violence within familieshas on the relationships beyond perpertrator and victim. The more we are as a society above ourselves to to feel and reset, and contemplate, the wiser and kinder the word becomes..?
Season: October 3. 2022

The Magic Melodica

Thanks to Barrie Kosky and Komiache Opera Berlin, Finnish writer Minna Lindgren cof Lavender Ladies Detective Agency fame and classical- jazz sensation, pianist and composer, Bro Mantala have written The Magic Melodica, as uproarsly dneeky cpmecy. where our favourite charactes have aged - some of them disgracelly.
Season: December 1 - 11. 2022

 

 

La Traviata Raise your glass, bat your lashes, it's Paris in the salons and you're the life of the party. He's staring at you, he's singing for you... Are you tempted? Violetta wears velvet and lace andfrinks only the fiinest champagne from crystal glasses. Her paries are legendary, her company desired. She's free and high-spirited, living outside society's bounds, and for the sourtedan, it seems like the party will never end. Could a little love change everything? La Traviata is so popular because it puts a life we can only fream of on stage, with its risqué glamour, joy and sorrows. Verdi's music sings of freedom with flying melodies, makes merry with rousing drinking songs and leaves us with passionate duets between breaking hearts. Lavish sets and exquisite costumes combined with Verdi's famous score offer the perfect way to experience opera for the first time, or the chance to revisit a favourite with an exciting new cast. Season: May 4 - 28. 2022 Click on La Traviata Lohengrin In a romance of mytical proportions, our Knight of the Swan rescues his damsek asking only one thing in return... Elsa stands accused of a horrible crime. She prays for a champion, and a noble knight appears. but his help comes with a condition: she must never ask his name. Does true love demand blind faithe? Lohengrin is a fantastival romance. It's filled with shimmering string passages and angelic choruses, including the famous Bridal March. Wagner describes his music as :streams od gold, ravishing the senses of the beholder:. Tahu Matheson conducts a stunning cast. Emily Magee is Elsa, while Elena Gabouri sings the conniving Ortrud. Marco Vratogna performs as the deceived Telramund, and Roberto Aronic is the noble Lohengrin. director Olivier Py sets this battle between good and evil in the ruins of Berlin in the aftermath of WWII. A monumental revolving set depicts a decaying theatre, where emblems of German Romanticism gathers dust. Seson: May 14 - 24. 2022 Click on Lohengrin Mefistofele in Concert Come dance with the devil in this garden of demonic delights. Mefistofele has made a bargain with Gos that he does not intend to lose: he can win Faust's soul for himself. disillusioned with his own life, Faust makes his makes is famous pact, and emabarks on a journey through life's wildest pleasures with the devil himself. But it;s not just Faust's soul that hangs in the balance, and this bargain has some unexpected losers. Renowned for his work as a libettist for Verdi, Boito left only complete opera; Mefistofele, it is a distinctive lush work, full of stunning choral pieces, magnificent orchestration and one of the greatest bass-baritone roles. Ferruccio Furlanetto incarnates the devil, Mefistofele, Leah Crocetto soars as the beautiful Margherita and Diego Torre gives us Faust at his most disillusioned. Hear the Opera australia Chorus in all its glory celerating both the sacred and profane, and the magnifcent sound of Orchestra Victoria on the stage in this rare concert performance of Boito'd work. Sensational young maestro Andrea Battistoni conducts. Season: May 25 & 27. 2022 Click on Mefistofele Ferruccio Furlanetto in Concert With a voice that speaks volumes in every note, Ferrussio Furlanetto is one of the greatest basses of our time. Over fivedecades, Ferruccio Furlanetto has become one the the world's most sought after singers. Renowned for his vast range, thndering vocal power and masterful acting, he has performed on opera's finest stages from Milan, Paris and Vienna to London and New York, collaborating with leading orchestras and consuctors including Herbert vonn Karajan, Sir George Solti and the legendary Leonard Bernstein. Throughout his acclaimed international career, Furlanetto has made Verdi's heroes his own, dominating the titular Attila and Filippo in Don Carlo. At Arts Centre Melbourne, he was unforgettable as the quixote Don Quichotte andm at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, he was the first Italian bass to appear in the role of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and as Prince Gremin in Eugen Onegin. Here, the focus on vocal ability is singular. For Furlanetto, recitals provide 'the possibilty to paint with the coloursof our voice and our intentsions...creating omages and feelings that will stsy in the heart and not in the eues"> Accompanied by pinist Natalia Sidorenko, Furlanetto travrses the emotional landscape od Brahm's Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov before filling Melbourne Recital Centre with beloved bass arias from The Marrigas of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Boris Godunov and Don Carlo. Season: June 1. 2022 Click on Ferruccio Furlanetto in Concert The Phaantom of the Opera One of the most successful musicals of all times comes to Arts Centre Melbourne. Hit after Hit puncuates the thrilling score, from the stunning romance of Music of the Night, Think of Me and All I Ask of You to the splendid Masquerade and brilliant title song. Now, you can hear them all in a spectcular new production that has wowed critics across the United Kingdom and North america. It features new direction by Laurence conor, brand new scenic design by Paul rown, lighting design by Tony Award®-Winner Paule Constable, sound design by Mick Porter, new choreography by Scott Amber and the origial, Tony Award®-Winning costume design by Maria Björnson. Overseen by Cameron Mackintosh and Matthew Bourne, the :"simly epic" new staging includes many special effects, from the famous Chandelier to the underground lake, and a large cast and orchestra. The Phantom haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House, He's man and mystery, a deforned genius. And in Christime Daaé, he's found his angel of music: the young woman he would make a star. But how many lives will he sacrifice to maje the music of the night? Season: November 3 - December 31. 2022 Click on The Phantom of the Opera Subscribe Now Priority Booking Free ticket exchange to another opera or date, when plans change discounted dining spedial offers from OA's partners and friends in the arts, culture and food scenes shopping vuchers and discounts opportunities to win exciting behind the scenes experience. click on below https://opera.org.au/buy/subscription-packages/promocode/76395?_ga=2.2673776.1767250071.1633824891-1782053719.1614831259

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Gondoliers

A royal kidnapping...A hidden child...Which handsome gondolier is actually the true King of Baratavia?

The story of the opera concerns the young bride of the heir to the throne of the fictional kingdom of Baratavia who arrives in Venice to join her husband. It turns out, however, that he cannot be identified, since he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with is own son. To complicate matters the king of Baratavia has just been killed. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the nurse of the prince can be brought to determine which of them is rightful king. Moreover, when the young queen arrives to claim her husband, she finds the two gondoliers have both recently married local girls. A last complicating factor is that she herself is in love with another man.

January 29. 2022 at 7pm. Venue: Corinella Public Hall
February 5. 2022 at 2pm. Inglewood Town Hall
February 10-12, 2022 Alexancer Theatre Monash University Clayton
February 19. 2022 at 8pm. Quambatook Memorial Hall

 

 

Orpheus in the Underworld

Unlike other composers, Offenbach gave the story a farcical twist in his version of Orpheus and Eurydice, though married to each other, are amicably living separate lives, each blissfully occupied with a new lover. Like Eurydice in the original Greek story, Offenbach's heroine is fatally bitten bgy a snake but, rather than dying tragically, she is willing relocates to the Underworld to be with Pluto - the ruler of the Underworld - who in a mortal form had becone her lover while she was alive. In Offenbach's version Orpheus acts to retrieve Eurydice much against his will. Both he and Eurydice are pleased when his attempt fails.
Offenbach was equally irreverent in terms of music, pairing courtly minuets wigh high-kicking cancans and quoting satirically from Gluck's similar opera.
Season & Venues: Lancefield Sunday June 6. Maryborough June 12. Bunyp Saturday June 19. Buninyong Sunday June 20. Ballan Saturday June 26. Portarlington Sunday June 27.

 

Michael Stubbs and Malcolm Roberts Opera Prize

The Michael Stubbs and Malcolm Roberts Opera Prize will be awarded in 2022 to an emerging artist to assist them in cevelopng their operatic through specialised coaching, mentoring and performancer.
The $50,000 opera prize will enable the recipient to work in residence with the Victorian Opera as a part of the performing company. This will include opportunites to perform in productions and recitals and receive private coaching from Vistorian OPera's Artistic Director Richard Mills and the company;s music staff.
Application Process:
Each candidate will be required to submit the following:
A current curriculum outlining studies and any performance experience. Please provide details around whether the performance history was of a professional nature or through another avenue.
A cover letter outlining why they should be considered for the program

Details of three references.
If selected for an audition, applicants will be required to
Prepare and present three ariasm a maximuum of one aria in English.
Sight-read tweo excerpts of Victorian Opera's choice.
Language es in French, Italian and German.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, auditions may be conducted via online visep submnission.

If the applicant successfully pass this stage of audition, they will be rquired to
Present for an interview with the panel and outline their current career plan.
Please note the 2022 Opera Prize recipient must be able to base themselves in Vistoria for the duration of the contract period.
Victorian Opera seeks to work wiht the very best talent available. The Company values diversity, regardless of age, genderm sexual orientation, physical ability, cultural background ad ethnicity, and encourage all to apply.
How to Apply:
Applications are now open.
Please send applications with CV, cover letter and three references as a single file to auditions@victorianopera.com.au by 5pm on Thursday Sepetmeber 30. 20021

Showcasing Australia's newest operas.

Searching for something top stream?
Victorian Opera has you covered. Digital access is available to Australia's newest operas, the double bill of Simon Bruckard's Cassancra and Kevin March's Echo & Narcisus as well as Deborah Cheetham's Parwang Lifts the Sky
These productions are available to stream on demand entil sunday December 19. Enjoy some video highlights in the Company';s blog. DISCOVER MORE

Production Updates

With changes and challenges across the counry, various productions have been rescheduled across the past month.
IN the comingweeks VO will be sharing updates regarding the rescheduled season of The Who's Tommy due to be staged at the P{alaid Theatre in February 2022.
Audiences booked to stream VO's co-production of Richard Meale's Voss with State Opera South Australia were notified of SOSA's need to reschedule their production until Saturday May 7, 2022. The performance will be live stramed as planned.

The Friends of Slamanca The Friends of Salamanca

Victorian Opera has advised that in the light of the latest locksown extension that it is with much disappoitment the company announces that the upcoming season of The Friends of Salamanca has bee cancelled. Click on the white version above for more info.

As Victorian Opera's annual Youth Opera and production set to feature the inaugural Youth Orchestra the Company is exploring ways in which to engage these talented emerging artists online to contonue their development.
Current ticket holders to this production will be refunded in full via Arts Centre Melbourne.
VO stands with every member of the broader artstic community and family of musc lovers at this difficult time. VO is resilient and look forward to celebrating their magical form with you in many ways across coming months.
If you have further questions or need assistance please email VO or phone (03)9001 6412.

The Who's Tommy

Get ready to rock as the Austgralian premiere of The Who's Tommy takes over Melbourne's rocj n' roll stompning ground from February 22 - March 1. 2022.
The Who's Tommy is a one -of-a-kind theatrical experience featuring a powerhouse soundtrack with music and lyrics by The Who's guitarist and vocalist Pete Townshend. This high-octane musical scooped up numerous awards including five Tony Awards, four Drma Desl Awards, three Olivier Awards and a Grammy.
Seasom: February 22 - March 1. 2022

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SeasonL Tuesday February 22- 7.30pm 2022

Wednesday February 23 - 7.30pm 2022

Thursday February 24 - 7.3-pm 2022

Friday February 25 - 7.30pm 2022

Saturday February 26 - 1pm. 2022

Saturday February 26 - 7.30pm 2022

Monday February 28 - 7.30pm 2022

Tuesday February March 1 - 7.30pm 2022

Venue: Palais Theatre. St Kilda

Happy End

Chicago, 1915, Gangsters, The Salvation Army, and a happy ending.

Premiering a year after their landmark hit, The Threepenny Opera, Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptman's anti-capitalist musical comedy tells the unlikely love story of gangster Bill Cracker and Salvation Army Lieutenant Lillian Holiday. Happy End roars with Weill's musical ganiua and charismatic jazz-influenced style, boasting some of Weill and Brecht's most iconic songs.
Details: Musical/cabaret.
Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse.
Season; Wednesday March 23. 2022 at 7.30pm
thursday March 24, 2022 at 7.30pm
Friday March 25, 2022 at 7.30pm
Saturday March 26, 2022 at 1pm & 7.30pm. BOOK NOW

The Selfish Giant

Oscar Wilde's charming sdort story, The Selfish Giant, has enchanted young readers since it was first published in 1888

After a cantanlerous giant banishes children from playing in his garden, the experiences the chill of perpetual Winter. When childrem sneakily return, so does the beauty and joyfulness of Spring, teaching the giant to open his heart generously in order to enjoy life's riches.
Details: Family Opera
Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse.
Season: Friday May 27. 2022 at 1pm.
Saturday May 28. 2022 at 11am, 2pm, 6pm.
50 minutes no interval.

Il Mago Di Oz

Following inspired retellings on screen, as well as spin-off Broadway musicals, the land of Oz is reimagined yet again.

Launched from the pages of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy Gale's journey dowm the yellow grick road has captured the imagination of children and adults alike since the novel was first published in 1900. Her encounters with the Scarecrow, tin Man, cowardly Lion, and Witches - good and bad - are ;egendary.
Details: Australian Premiers
Venue: Palais Theatre St Kilda
Season: Saturday august 27, 2022 at 7.30pm
Tuesday August 30, 2022 at 7.30pm

Elektra

A thrilling one night only event.

Based on the tragedy by Sophocles, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's opera remains one of the greatest works in the Western canon.
Elektra yearns to avenge the murder of her father, King Aganemnon. Her brothr, Orest, returns to clear the palace of its evil. From her obsessive beginnings to her finakl dance of vengeance and collapse, Elektra;s hourney to catharsis s one of the great trajectories of character in operatic literature.
Details:
Venue: Arts Centre Melvourne, Hamer Hall
Season: Wednesday September 14. 2022 at 7.30pm.

The Butterfly Lovers

In a famous Chinese legend, doomed lovers find freedom when their spiritsd transform into butterflies.

Yingtai disguses herself as a boy to purue an education. On the way to commence her studies, she meets Shanbo and they become friends. Confused by their growing attractionm they eventually succompb to their love. but Yingtai is destined for an arranged marriage. Only as butterflies can they be together forever.
Derails: World Premiere
Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse.
Season: Qwdnesday October 12. 2022 at 7.30pm
thursday October 13. 2022 at 7.30pm
Friday October 14. 2022 at 7.30pm
Saturday October 15. 2022 at 1pm & 7.30pm
!hr no interval.

La Generentola

Victorian Opera and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra return to Launceston's Princess Theatre with a heart-warming and hilarious new wemo-staged production of rossini's classic opra buffa La Cenerentola.

Angelina known as Centerentola, lives with a generous spririt despite the cruelty of her stepsisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, and stepfather Don Magnifico. As Prince Ramiro sesrches for a wife, he cunningly uncpovers everyone's true nature - cue disguieses, hijinks and romance. Beyond the belly laughs, the essence of La Cenerentola is a parable of love and forgiveness.
DEetailsL Semi=staged comedy,
Venue: Princess Theatre Launceston (Tas)
|Season: Friday November 25. 2022 at 7.30pm.

A Christmas Carol

Victorian Opera's new production invites all Melbournians to celebrate the festive spirit and discover the magic of opera as one proudly diverse community,.

The sporot of the festive season woll shine brightly in a new adaptatiion of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, as well as Tiny tim and the Crachit Family, are transported from the 19th century London to contemporay Melbourne in a sparkling reimagination of this timeless tale.
Details: A world premiere
VenueL Palais Theatre St Kilda
Seaon: Wednesday December 14. 2022 at 7.30pm
Thursday DEcember 15. 2022 at 7/3-pm
Friday December 16. 2022 at 7/3-[m
Saturday Deember 17. 2022 at 1pm & 7.30pm,

 

 

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La Bohème

On a freezing Christmas Eve, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends' lives change forever.

Experinxe the romance of the original bohemian love story.

When Mimi meets Rodolfo, it's love at first touch. they head out to bustling, Café where the feisty Musetta and Marcello rekindle their relationship. But even the deepest love can't warm a freezing winter. The bohemians have some growing up to do/
Some emotions are too big for words alone, and for thatr, we have music, La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express. The music soars with excstasy of love, cracles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.
Set among the fishnets an fairy lights of 1930s Berlin, this is the final season of one of OA's most popular productions.
Stellar soprano. Valeria Sepe, sings the role of Mimi. Kang Wang sings as the poet, Rodolfo. Lorenzo Passerini and Paul Fitzsimon conduct.
Season: December 31. 2021

 

Turandot

As the moon rises, a death cry wails through imprial Peking. Torture and death mean nothing. Freedom means everything. Can the princess win her heart's desire?

When Pavarotti sang out the top B in Puccini's Nessun dorma across a huge crowd at the 1990 FIFA world cup, the world collectively held its breath. A generation of football fans were learning what opera was all about - music that can transport you to another world, another place,, a place where emotion wells up inside you at the sound of a single note.

Vencerò, the tenor cries - "I will win! I will WIN!"

Few had seen Turandot - Puccini's opera abput a brutal princess and an impossibly brave suitor, who will make any sacrifice to win ker love. How many ot the millions of people who watched that broadcast suddeenkly had an inkling of what the power of music can be.
Turandot is a fantasy opera of poetry and myth, set in an exotice world where fear and love go hand in hand and death is always just around the corner. Nessun dorma is just one of its magnificent moments.
Renowned conductors Christian Badea andLeonardo Sini retrn to Australia t conduct.
Season: January 12 - March 14. 2022.

Marriage of Figaro

A chaotic whirlwind if mistakken identities makes the wedding day of Figaro and Susanna a lesson on hilarity.

Wih a witty, fast-moving libretto and hum-along melodies, it's easy to see wy Mozart's classic comedy continuies to charm audiences the world over.
Musicaally, tis is the ultimate ensemble opera, with brilliant trios, quartets and even a fantasticsextet laced through the score. Dramatically, it's the opera with everything: lovers and liasions, tricks and disguises, lust and laughter.
the Countess lves Count Almaviva, but he's got designs on er servant Susanna, it's Susanna's wedding day, and figaro has no plans of giving up his bride. In one crazy day of diguises, cuplicity, desire and utter madness, the fiancés must fil the philandering noble's seductive advances.
Sir David McVicar's naturalistic staging opens a "comic cauldron of sex and social politics" where comedy has a dark, sharp edge.
True to the 17th century design and detail, historical fashion, specialist Jenny Tiramani clothes the aristcracy in ravishing silks and the servants in cornflower blue. David Finn's radiant lighting strams through vaulted windows illumonating enormous rooms in sunlight and moonbeams as day turns to night.
Season: January 27 - February 18. 2022.

Otello

A flawed hero. An innocent woman. A masterful villain.

Verdi takes the best bits of one of Shalespeare's most famous works tor crate a taut, vivid romantic tragedy.

From the almighty storm to Desdemona's impossibly beautifully Willow song, the emotional music compohnds the tension and coming tragedy.

Verdi's score demands three outstanding voices, while Shakespeare's story takes you on a dramatic journey. Yonghoon Lee is a remarkable singerr-actor, debuting in the role of Otello, against the incomparable Karah Son making her long-awaitededebut as Desdemona. Marco Vratogna is world-renowned for his chilling Iago. Young conductiong sensation Andrea Barristoni conducts.
Henry Kupfer's timeless production explores all the action on a precarious, monumental staircase that dominates the stage. Yan Tax;s costumes would be at home on the most elegant runaway.
Season: February 19 0 March 19. 2022.

La Juive

From her to oblivian...
Can love eer drive out hatred?

A young couple begin a dangerous, passionate affair. In their world, a Jew cannot love a Christian. the punishment is death. Whe it all comes out, Rachel faces two impossible chices. Denying her God, andsaving herself.

Secrets, sex and bitter religious result in human tragedy on a grnad scalke.
This is a rare chance to revel in the gorgeous music od one of the grat French operas. From sacred choruses toimpassioned arias, Halévy's epic opera is a tour-de-force.
Director Olivier Py's production takes a haunting look at love and persecution.
Set in 1930s France with elegant, monochramatic costumes, the production offers glimpses of the Holocaust to come. Imprssive rotating sets fill the stage with a dark grandeur.The score offers audiences the rare gift of two tenors and a bass in leading roles, as well as dramatic crowd scenes.
Soprano Natalie Aroyan performs as Rachel with Diego Torres as her father, the impassioned Eléazar. Award-winning Shanul Sharma is Leopold, Lyric coloratura Sopranos Esther Song performs as Princess Eudoxie.
Season: March 9 - 25. 2022.

Maria Stuarda in Concert

A throne is not made for two... Which //////queen will rule her country and his heart?

Every aria demands greatness. some interpretationa transcend talent to reach for the sublime. With its intense trills and stratospheric highs, Maria Stuarda calls for a true prima donna to portray the ill-fated monarch on this concert rendition of Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece. Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko takes up the mantle of La Superba Montserrat Caballé ad La Stupenda Joan Sutherland,. giving us a Mary Queen of Scots of lyrical baeuty.
Season: March 23 - 25. Venue: Sydney Opera House

The Phantom of the Opera

Experience the phenomenon as the Music of the Night resounds across Sydney Harbour.

The longest running show in musical history is coming to the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour stage in a dazzingly new production.

This is The Phantom of the Opera as you've never sen it before. Under the stars on a floating stage in front of Sydney Opera House, with the Harour Bridge and city skyline glittering in the background. With fireworks every night and the pop-up bars and resaurants, this will be an unforgettable evening.

Having played for 35 years on the3 West End, and 34 on Broadway, this inspired interpretation of Gaston Leroux's novel remanis one of the world's favourite musicals. The story of a masked man who lives beneath the Paris Opera House, and the beautiful young singer who becomes his obsession and muse, seduces generation after generation and continues to enchant long-time devotees
Two of Austrlia's most in-demand theatric talents, director Simon Phillips anddesigher Gabriela Tylesova, bring a whole hew level of spectacle to the sho'w defining moments - the mirror, the journey to the Phantom's lair, the chandalier - on a purpose-built stage over te water.
See them bring the Phantom's extraordinary world to lofe, complete with a massive cast of musical theatr and opera's top talents accompanied by a live orchestra hidden beneath the stage.
Season: March 25 - April 24. 2022

Madama Butterfly

Filtering beauty, caught and pinned for his pleasure bound, yet beautiful still,.

Constrained, cocooned, caught in a moment of destiny, Butterfly is incadescent. In her exotic embrace, Pinkerton finds paradis, then carelessly condemns his bride to purgatory.

Graeme Murphy's arresting production of Madama Butterfly takes a contemporary look at Puccini's alluring heroine using a towering digital set.
Fragments of film flutter across the stage, creating a dynamic backdrop for Murphy's vision of Butterfly. He draws on his roots in choreography to capture the grace and gravity of a story that begins in raptuous love and ends in the cruellest heartbreak.
Puccini's sublime music imbuers thisageless story with impossible beauty, from the irrepressible famous aria One Fine Day to the intense finale.
South Jorean soprano Sae Kyung Rim's voice is in demand the world over and her Butterfly is richly nuanced. Coached by none other than Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor Ivan Magri gives Pinkerton complexity and depth through his exemplary technique and timbre. His compatriot Carlo Montanaro conducts.
Season: June 39 - July 30. 2022

La Traviata

Raise your glass, bat your lashes, it's Paris in the salons and you're the life of the party. He's staring at you, he's singing for you... Are you tempted?
Violetta wears velvet and lace andfrinks only the fiinest champagne from crystal glasses. Her paries are legendary, her company desired. She's free and high-spirited, living outside society's bounds, and for the sourtedan, it seems like the party will never end. Could a little love change everything?

La Traviata is so popular because it puts a life we can only fream of on stage, with its risqué glamour, joy and sorrows.
Verdi's music sings of freedom with flying melodies, makes merry with rousing drinking songs and leaves us with passionate duets between breaking hearts.
Lavish sets and exquisite costumes combined with Verdi's famous score offer the perfect way to experience opera for the first time, or the chance to revisit a favourite with an exciting new cast.
Season: July 5 - November 4. 2022.

Il Trovatore

This burning tale of gypsies, witchcraft, murder and recompense demands four of the world's most powerful voices.

Blinded by rage as her mother burns at the stake, Azucena throws the executioner';s child into the flames. but in the darkness she has made a fatal mistake, and it is her own child that burns. She seizes the executioner's child and raises him as her own: A family secret that will haunt the next generation until their deaqths.

Verdi had a taste for high drama, and Il Trovatore has all the hallmarks of a great story, enhanced by monumental digital stagecraft: a love triangle, an intergenerational quest for revenge, and a woman willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the man she loves.

but the real atteaction lies in the sensational music: from the famous Anvil Chorus to the series of stunning arias penned for the four leads. It is dome of Verdi's finest music, and demands the finest of voices. Hear the incomparable Leah Crocetto as Leonare, Elena Gabouri as the haunted Azucena, audience favourtite Yonghoon LKee as the title character Manrico and Maksin Aniskan as Count di Luna.
Season: July 15 - 30. 2022.

Attila

The King of the Huns meets his match.

No one can stnd in the way of Attila and his hordes, until a warrior woman turns his head. As he opens his heart to his prisoner Odabella, the barbarian king reveals his weakness.
The scene is set for one of the great revenge operas of the 19th centruy: an early Verdi in the vein of Aida
In the prelude, a mournful cello draws you sown into the gravity and turmoil of war. Verdi's score is full of darkenss, rhythm and kife, displaying the composer's gift for cratong emotion.
This co-production with La Scala was a tremendous success at its Milan premiere. It's a "blockbuser spectacle" (finacilatimes), with four vivid characters, two live hrses ad plenty of crowd scenes.
Director Davide Livermore fuses video projections with colossal set pices to creat anawe-indpiring world for Attila.
World-renowned bass Ildar Abdrazadov sings his acclaimed Attila. Natalie Aroyens is Odabella with Diego Torres as Odabella's lover Foresto. Marco Vratogna performs as the Roman General Exio.
Season: October 29 - November 5. 2022.

Carmen on Cockatoo Island

Venue: /bolt Wharf, cockatoo Island

The ultimate femme fatale is back, in a brand new island performance in the middle of Sydney Harbour.

Carmen tosses her hair, stams her feet and the whole world falls uinder her spell,

Revel in the irrestible Spanish tune, sultry story and dark undercurrent of Carmen. You'll hear the flirty Habanera and famous Toreador Song amid a spectacle that features fire-twirling car crashes and fireworks.
Your night begins with a ferry ride across the glittering water to the world-heritage listed sanctuary of Cockatoo Island. Step off the boat and you're surrounded by layers of history. Once a meeting place for the Eora Nation,. the site is now dotted with the industrial relica of a century of shup-building and architectual marvels dating back to Sydney's convist past./

Today, the island is a world-class contemporary arts venue, hosting eveerything from the Biennale of Sydney to live music concerts. It's the perfect backdrop for Bizet's gritty tal; of fate and fereedom.
Raise a glass with friends and grab a snack from an array of pop-up eaterieson the foreshore before settling in under the stars for an unfogettable night out. You can even saik right uo to the event and book a mooring to watch the show.
Season: November 25 - December 18. 2022.

Cinderella

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is the Toney Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The Sound of Music that delighted Broadway audiences with its surprisingly contemporary take on the classic tale.

This lush production features incredible ordhestrations,m jaw-dropping transformations and all the moments you love - the pumpkin, the glass slipper, the masked ball and more - plus some surprising new twists! Be transported as you rediscover some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beloved songs, including My Own Little corner, Impossible.It'sPossible and Ten Minutes Ago in this hilarious and romantic experience for anyone who's ever had a dream.
Season: November 25 - December 18. 2022. Venue: Lyric Theatre.

 

State Opera of South Australia