Opera Australia

Verdi

Elijah Moshinsky’s much-loved production of Rigoletto returns to the Sydney Opera House stage, complete with its glamorous La Dolce Vita-inspired sets and costumes and scene-stealing car. The revolving dolls-house style set gives a cinematic detail to each scene.

We’ve assembled a brilliant cast led by Verdi master Renato Palumbo and Dalibor Jenis as the tortured jester at the heart of Verdi’s masterpiece.

Verdi

Verdi’s monumental, transcendent music makes this historic epic a perennial favourite. Our new production comes from the celebrated Italian director Davide Livermore. He is renowned for high-tech sets so tangible, it’s hard to believe they are just light and shadow. Immersive, impressive, intimate — this is the future of spectacle on stage.

Rossini

From Italy’s greatest master of laughs comes a riotous comedy with a knockout score. It skips and sparkles from the gruffest of bass notes to the impossibly high reaches of Stacey Alleaume's coloratura.

Andrea Molino leads a cracking team of comic talents, including Paolo Bordogna in his side-splitting performance as the Turk. Simon Phillips' playful production wrings every last laugh from Rossini’s ridiculous romp.

Gabriela Tylesova’s gelato-coloured costumes and clever, cartoonish sets are stars in their own right: a candied cherry on top of this rather outrageous ice-cream sundae.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

With more than 20 major awards to its credit, the original Broadway and West End production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical Evita will open at the Sydney Opera House in September 2018, directed by legendary Broadway director Hal Prince.

Evita charts the story of Eva Perón, wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón, from her humble beginnings through to the extraordinary wealth, power and status which ultimately led her to be heralded as the ‘spiritual leader of the nation' by the Argentine people.

Evita features some of the best loved songs in musical theatre, including 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina', 'On This Night of a Thousand Stars', 'Oh What a Circus', 'You Must Love Me', and 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall'.

Brian Howard

Kafka’s grotesque tragedy of a man turned insect is an engrossing story. Music adds an edgy intensity: Metamorphosis as opera is riveting, shattering, morbidly fascinating theatre. Brian Howard’s score is percussive, inventive and courageous. Twelve musicians and six singers ratchet up the horror and pathos of this work: a story of social alienation in a modern, inhuman world.

Director Tama Matheson and designer Mark Thompson focus their creative talents on an unusual stage. This chamber opera will take place in the Opera Australia scenery workshop — that magical space where castles, tombs and salons rise from piles of plywood. This season, it becomes a performance space, where a talented cast perform this contemporary piece.

Anthony Pratt and Opera Australia present

Break out the dinner jacket and kick up your heels: you’re invited to a very special night at the opera, interrupted by the irrepressible and irreverent Dame Edna Everage.

Enjoy exhilarating top notes and stunning harmonies as four of our most exciting singers perform the opera hits you love best in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House.

Pinchgut Opera presents

A triumph of casting and repertoire, Pinchgut Opera is proud to present four-time Grammy Award-nominated queen of opera Vivica Genaux with an all-star cast, including superb Australian countertenor David Hansen. Hasse's Artaserse has never been performed in Australia, and Pinchgut Opera is excited to revive this work under the sure hand of Artistic Director Erin Helyard.

Stroll down to the Sydney Opera House and join the stars of Opera Australia for a concert of the greatest hits of opera.

Puccini

Leave the crowds behind as you enter the Sydney Opera House, then settle back for an evening with Rodolfo, Mimi, Marcello and Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème.

The way that first love grabs hold of your insides and floods you with something you've never felt before. The fire that burns you the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant you realise love can't last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music—music that soars with the ecstacy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Step into the the Sydney Opera House's magnificent Concert Hall to watch the Opera Gala concert of popular arias by Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini, with Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks at interval.

Puccini

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss. Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Puccini

Turandot is a fantasy opera of poetry and myth, set in an exotic 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 conductor Christian Badea returns to conduct a thrilling cast: Amber Wagner as the ice princess with Andeka Gorrotxategi as the man determined to win her heart. Later in the season, Dragana Radakovic and Yonghoon Lee are Turandot and Calàf. Hyeseoung Kwon reprises her touching turn as Liù.

Talk

What happens when an extraordinary artist encounters a brilliant composer? Hear it from the artist himself as he sits down with Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini for a wide-ranging conversation about art, music and storytelling across different forms on the set of Wozzeck.

Berg

Berg’s fascinating opera is a portrait of a ravaged man, drawn with vivid clarity through unsettling music and sharp, structured scenes.

One of the most exciting visual artists of our generation, William Kentridge, directs and illustrates this extraordinary production, a collaboration between Opera Australia, the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival and the Canadian Opera Company.

Join us at The Opera Centre for this series of intimate recitals curated by Jun Yi Ma, Concertmaster and Director of the Opera Australia Orchestra, and pianist, Siro Battaglin.

Sunday 3 February at 2:30pm — Berg: Romantic Maverick
Explore the lush, Romantic songs that made way for Wozzeck in this celebration of Berg’s early work and influences, with lieder from Berg, Mahler, Zemlinksy and more.

Monday 26 August at 7pm — Under an Azure Sky
Slip into a Mediterranean dream with a sublime program of poignant pieces and dreamy ensemble works, including Ravel's ethereal Introduction and Allergro, and Turnia's Las musas de Andalucía.

Monday 16 September at 7pm — Salon Diversions: Exquisite and Eccentric
Hear William Walton and Edith Sitwell's Façade — an Entertainment, a piece that scandalised the 1920s literary set, alongside Zemlinksy's Piano Trio Op.3 and Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Winds.

Massenet

In the ultimate Romantic opera, Massenet’s rich score magnifies the drama and emotion of the story. Werther falls hopelessly in love with Charlotte in lyrical, melodious phrases. As Charlotte chooses duty over heart, Werther’s turmoil is palpable in restless music that bursts out of an enormous orchestra. The French composer’s ability to evoke mood and moment in music is on brilliant display. Young star, Michael Fabiano, is renowned for his intense, character-driven performances. Hear his role debut as the troubled poet, with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova as Charlotte and Carlo Montanaro as conductor.

Strauss

Strauss’ taboo-breaking opera strips back Oscar Wilde’s play to its core: a gripping journey to the outer edges of human behaviour. Lise Lindstrom is riveting as Salome, finding fragility and nuance in a role that demands a powerhouse voice and gifted actress.

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

In 2019, West Side Story takes the iconic stage at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Encounter the wildness of youth and ecstasy of love as this modern day Romeo and Juliet unfolds under the starlit city skyline.

‘Somewhere’ in ‘America’, ‘Something’s Coming’, and it might be ‘Tonight’. The Jets and Sharks are rival gangs and the city is their playground. They keep things ‘Cool’, but when love crosses enemy lines and ‘A Boy Like That’ falls for ‘Maria’, the stage is set for a rumble.

Concert Performance

Pinchgut Opera presents a stellar line-up to perform Bach's Easter Oratorio as a masterly celebration of Eastertide joy. Alongside Bach's jewel, we present Telemann's Thunder Ode, a masterpiece never before performed in Australia.

Monteverdi

Pinchgut Opera presents Monteverdi's late masterpiece based on the final chapters of Homer's timeless poem, the Odyssey. Fernando Guimarãres stars as Ulysses in a role he has sung to international acclaim and is joined by Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby as Penelope.

Puccini

Graeme Murphy’s arresting new production of Madama Butterfly is a contemporary look at Puccini’s alluring heroine.

Puccini’s sublime music imbues this ageless story with impossible beauty, from the irrepressible, famous aria ‘One fine day’ to the intense finale.

Two exceptional casts perform throughout the season. Karah Son returns to Sydney, sharing the role of Cio-Cio-San with Hyeseoung Kwon.

Donizetti

Donizetti’s opera rips the best bits from a bloody time in history to create a thrilling ride through the last days of Anne Boleyn’s marriage to King Henry VIII. Jealous courtiers and scheming royals have the queen caught fast in a tightening trap. And her lady-in-waiting is waiting indeed, consumed with guilt, to take her place on the throne.

Kats-Chernin & Fleming

He burst onto the international art scene, all golden curls and bravado. He was dynamic, damaged, a big idea and a bold brush. With the vivacious Wendy on his arm, Brett Whiteley was magnetic. In 2019, this Australian icon meets two of Australia’s greatest artists in a brand new work for the Australian stage: Whiteley, by Elena Kats-Chernin and Justin Fleming.

Andrew McKinnon in association with Opera Australia presents

Nicole Car partners with her husband, internationally acclaimed baritone, Etienne Dupuis, and brilliant pianist, Jayson Gillham, to perform a recital of romantic French song.

Giordano

Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann returns to Australia in one of his most celebrated roles. A concert performance of Andrea Chénier offers the perfect showcase for his “dark, liquid tone, which soars through the music with refined ease and intensity” (The Guardian).

Opera Australia & GWB Enterainment present the BB Group production of

Hailed as the greatest Broadway musical of all time, the genius of West Side Story  is unquestioned. Bernstein’s world-famous score features unforgettable songs including ‘Maria’, ‘Tonight’, ‘Somewhere’, ‘America’ and ‘I Feel Pretty’, that have been universally adored for generations; proving this iconic dance musical remains one of the most poignant stage works of the twentieth century.

Concert Performance

An evening of Vivaldi, Hasse, Porpora and more with ECHO Classic Award winner Valer Sabadus. Pinchgut is proud to be bringing one of the world's top countertenors to Australia for the first time.

Reimann

Aribert Reimann’s 1984 opera is a haunting and evocative chamber work, exploring Strindberg’s moody text with complex rhythms and other-worldly tones. Director Greg Eldridge creates a chilling picture of Strindberg’s Stockholm in this new staging in the Opera Australia Scenery Workshop.

Mozart

Mozart’s classic comedy has been entertaining crowds for centuries, and between the witty, fast-moving libretto and the melodic, charming writing, it’s not hard to understand why.

Rossini

If Rossini made a showreel of his best work, it would sound like Il Viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Reims). In Damiano Michieletto’s playful take, the eccentric cast of characters find themselves in a gallery filled with the master works of art history. It’s a surreal world, where artworks step out of the frame and come to life the moment the lights go out.

Vivaldi

Farnace is a passionate drama of political and dynastic intrigue and the ideal candidate to receive the unique Pinchgut touch. A rarely performed gem, it was one of Vivaldi's most meticulously prepared operas, with orchestral colour and dramatic characterisation. Pinchgut Opera has assembled some of the world's finest voices to bring these characters to life and showcase Vivaldi's thrilling tunes.