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Season Guide
Explore what's in store for 2023 and plan your year of fabulous nights out.
With this one-sentence guide to every opera in the season, with music clips, it's easy to curate your season subscription package.
Buy a subscription to fill your year with extraordinary performances.
Great Opera Hits
1 January–17 March 2023
Sydney Opera House
All the melodies you already know – and a few you’ll never forget – in a relaxed concert presentation.
A must-see if you love concerts which are all-killer, no-filler, discovering more about a fascinating artform, hearing Pavarotti sing ‘Nessun Dorma’.
Sounds like...
Don Giovanni
5 January–17 February 2023
Sydney Opera House
Opera’s Casanova gets his comeuppance in this dark and delicious staging of one of Mozart’s finest.
A must-see if you love breathtaking, monumental sets, stories where women get the last laugh, period costumes, the movie Amadeus.
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La Bohème
12 January–11 March 2023
Sydney Opera House
The original Bohemian love story, set amongst the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s Berlin.
A must-see if you love devastating love stories, gorgeous costumes and impressive sets, the musical RENT, or Moulin Rouge.
Sounds like...
Adriana Lecouvreur
20 February–7 March 2023
Sydney Opera House
A real-life celebrity scandal set to heart-racing music and performed by a starry cast.
A must-see if you love Sunset Boulevard, thought-provoking productions, love triangles, and divas pouring their hearts out.
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Chorus!
4 February–31 March 2023
Sydney Opera House
Thrill to the sound of a mass of spectacular voices singing opera’s most inspiring music.
A must-see if you love choirs, being pushed back in your seat by powerful music, and unsung heroes taking the spotlight.
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Michael Fabiano in Concert
12 February 2023
Melbourne Recital Centre
Experience this uniquely passionate and charismatic artist in an exclusive, one-night-only Melbourne concert.
A must-see if you love swashbuckling, smouldering heroes, and high ‘C’s.
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Roberto Devereux in Concert
16 & 18 March 2023
Sydney Opera House
Elizabeth I has to choose between her country and her heart in this intimate royal drama.
A must-see if you love bodice-rippers like the Tudors or Wolf Hall, royal dramas like The Crown, beautiful melodies.
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Madama Butterfly on Sydney Harbour
24 March–23 April 2023
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour
A stunning, timeless tale of heartbreak, told on Sydney’s most spectacular outdoor stage.
A must-see if you love a good tearjerker, Miss Saigon, stunning sets and costumes, memorable outdoor performances, fireworks.
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Ferruccio Furlanetto in Concert
22 April 2023 Melbourne Recital Centre
27 April 2023 City Recital Hall
The world’s best bass sings two soulful programs of art song in recital with pianist Natalia Sidorenko.
A must-see if you love great voices, heartbreaking arias, beautiful poetry, and musical rapture.
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Satyagraha in Concert
13 May 2023
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
The story of Mahatma Gandhi’s life and legacy, told in one of the greatest operas of the past century.
A must-see if you love Philip Glass, stories of justice and influential figures, new theatrical experiences.
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Tannhäuser in Concert
17 & 20 May 2023
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
An opera of mythic proportions, complete with Venus, a song contest to rival Eurovision, and a knight who makes a terrible mistake.
A must-see if you love Wagner, stories of medieval knights, lush and powerful orchestrations.
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Rigoletto
13–26 June 2023
Sydney Opera House
Royalty, loyalty, devotion, lust and revenge: this humdinger of an opera has everything.
A must-see if you love the tune that’s scored 1,000 pasta ads, clever sets, Fellini and Hitchcock.
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Aida
19 June–21 July 2023 Sydney Opera House
6–20 December 2023 Queensland Performing Arts Centre
A royal love triangle and an epic historic war. This production features floor-to-ceiling LED panels as an impressive, immersive set.
A must-see if you love historic epics like Ben Hur, awkward love triangles, spectacular costumes, screens on stage.
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The Tales of Hoffmann
11–22 July 2023
Sydney Opera House
Hear the intoxicating tales of one poet’s great loves, all played by one superstar soprano.
A must-see if you love rich fantasy worlds, Wes Anderson movies at their most whimsical, and sopranos scaling the highest musical peaks.
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Mad Scenes with Jessica Pratt
3 August 2023
Sydney Opera House
Soar on the wings of madness with Australian soprano Jessica Pratt, in an unforgettable homecoming concert.
A must-see if you love Lucia di Lammermoor, impossible high notes, once-in-a-lifetime concerts, divas shining centre stage.
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La Gioconda in Concert
9 & 12 August 2023
Sydney Opera House
Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann makes his role debut in this darkly beautiful and rarely heard opera.
A must-see if you love Jonas Kaufmann, Victor Hugo, underrated gems, the hippo ballet in the movie Fantasia.
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The Ring Cycle
1–23 December 2023
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Greed, love, murder, jealousy, gods, giants, Valkyries and even a dragon in a four-opera, 15-hour epic.
A must-see if you love Wagner, The Lord of the Rings, event theatre.
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The Phantom of the Opera
From 30 October 2022
Arts Centre Melbourne
Experience the phenomenon as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most successful musical returns in a new production.
A must-see if you love musical theatre, monumental staging, special effects, and iconic musical moments