Opera Australia
Strauss, Offenbach, Lehár and more
Sydney Opera House Playhouse, 27 April—22 October
All of your favourite operetta waltzes, polkas and songs by Strauss, Offenbach, Lehár and Kálmán come together in this raucous comedy. Two Weddings, One Bride is a brand new operetta created by Robert Andrew Greene. Gather for a fun night out at the Sydney Opera House and let the sumptuous costumes, pretty sets and joyful melodies take you all the way to French Morocco.
Lerner & Loewe
Capitol Theatre, 24 September—14 October
Celebrating the beloved original, Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady comes to the Capitol Theatre, under the direction of Julie Andrews.Opera Australia and John Frost join forces to honour the past and bring the beloved story of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins to a new generation of theatre audiences.
Recital
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, 27—29 September
Glamourous divas and showy tenors are used to the spotlight, but it's a rare performer who can take a sonorous bass and make it world famous. Ferrucio Furlanetto is that performer: a gifted singer-actor with a captivating voice. He returns to Sydney after his acclaimed performances as King Philip II in Don Carlos to give two recitals with pianist Igor Tchetuev in the intimate surrounds of City Recital Hall.
Wednesday 27 September, 7pm — Schubert's Winterreise
Friday 29 September, 7pm — Russian Songs by Rachmaninov
& Mussorgsky
Puccini
Capitol Theatre, 24 October—4 November
A young Japanese geisha falls head-over-heels in love with her new American husband. She believes their love is real, even after three years without so much as a word from him. Everyone around her knows the truth. They try to convince her to move on but she won't. She can't. Rejected by her past, and forgotten by the man she loves, she waits.
Good Food Month
Glass Brasserie at Hilton Sydney , 25 October
Join us for an exclusive night of fine food, fine wine and world-class opera.
We've partnered with Luke Mangan’s glass brasserie and Keith Tulloch Wine to create a unique and enriching evening in one of Sydney’s most glamourous restaurant settings.
Pinchgut Opera presents
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, 30 November—6 December
Distinguished for its superbly crafted characterisation, Coronation of Poppea is the first opera to have been based on historical figures, and is set to sensuous, exquisitely beautiful music, culminating in the famous duet 'Pur ti miro'.
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, 31 December
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.
Lehár
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 31 December
Leave the crowds behind as you enter the Sydney Opera House, then settle back for an evening with The Merry Widow.
After her husband suddenly dies, a beguiling widow becomes the inadvertant heiress of a city's fortune after just eight days of marriage. Fearing the loss of their riches, the society set are determined that she must wed a local, and soon, before any foreigner catches her gaze. But she's got a history with the man they've got in mind, and to complicate matters, the widow isn't the only one turning heads. There's plenty of love to go around in this story of amorous encounters and elegant romance.
Lehár
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 2 January—3 February
Hanna is newly wealthy, newly widowed and suddenly, she's the hottest catch in town. Dapper gents are lining up for a place on her dance card, but the beguiling widow has eyes for only one man: the one that got away.
International star Danielle de Niese returns to her homeland to play the bubbly, beautiful widow, inadvertent heiress of a city's fortune after just eight days of marriage.
She's looking for love, but the widow is not the only one turning heads. There's plenty of love to go around in this story of amorous encounters and elegant romance.
Lehár's charming operetta is filled with delicious waltzes and pretty ballads, including the famous 'Vilja Song'. Graeme Murphy brings his spirited choreography and direction to this glamorous new production.
Bizet
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 10 February—23 March
This vibrant production of Bizet's opera features gypsy girls and bullfighting boys in eye-popping colours. There are smugglers in suits, parades and punches, lust and loathing aplenty. And underneath those irresistible Spanish tunes, the dark undercurrent of fate pulses. Carmen knows she is dancing with death.
John Bell's production is a bold look at the intense relationships at the heart of Bizet's famous opera. It hones in on the wild love that promises freedom, while binding the lovers in an unbreakable web of fate.
Paolo Carignani conducts the vivacious Rinat Shaham as opera's favourite femme fatale, with Argentine tenor Marcelo Puente as Don Jose and Michael Honeyman as Escamillo. Later in the season, Sian Pendry, star of last year's Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, reprises this famous role.
Shostakovich
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 21 February—3 March
When Shostakovich released his debut opera into the world at the tender age of 20, his brilliance was plain as the nose on his face. The Nose is a zany, exuberant story with weird and wonderful 20th century music, in an outrageous production by the inventive Barrie Kosky.
Verdi
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 1—27 March
Violetta wears velvet and lace and drinks the very best champagne from crystal glasses. Her parties are legendary, her company desired. She's free and free-spirited, living outside society's bounds, and for this courtesan, it seems like the party will never end. Could a little love really change everything?
This production by Elijah Moshinsky is one of our most successful, featuring lush party scenes in Paris and beautiful autumn afternoons in the countryside. Lavish, crowded sets and exquisite costumes combined with Verdi's famous tunes offer the perfect way to experience opera for the first time, or the chance to revisit a favourite with an exciting new cast.
Adored at home and sought-after abroad, Nicole Car makes her debut as Violetta.
Massenet
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 16—28 March
From a time when men were brave and bold comes the dreamer, Don Quichotte. He chases bandits. Tilts at windmills. Serenades the pretty girls. He’s a hero like the knights of old, pursuing dreams the world forgot.
It takes a special performer to make you fall in love with this eccentric character. Ferruccio Furlanetto’s Don Quichotte is famous. He takes the dreams and delusions of the famous knight-errant and paints an earnest and endearing portrait of a man out of time. Furlanetto’s Don Quichotte is brimful of whimsy and bursting with bravery. His sonorous bass finds all the colours of Massenet’s lush, romantic score.
He performs with brilliant French conductor Guillaume Tourniaire and Elena Maximova as the damsel Dulcinée.
Puccini
Opera on Sydney Harbour, Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquaries Point, 23 March—22 April
Experience the romance of the original bohemian love story at the magnificent Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. You’ll taste the best of Sydney in a single night out: food, fireworks, singing and spectacle under the stars.
Pinchgut Opera presents
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, 21—26 June
Handel’s brilliance is in full flight with Athalia. A juicy story of murder, intrigue and an idol-worshipping Queen intent on eradicating the line of David. Pinchgut Opera Artistic Director Erin Helyard forms a winning combination once again with director Lindy Hume to present Handel’s stunning choruses and heart-stopping moments of musical magic and wonder. This will be Pinchgut Opera at its very best.
Donizetti
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 28 June—27 July
Lucia is a woman on the edge of insanity: deceived by her brother, bereft of her lover, she marries a man she does not love and descends into madness.
The sopranos that conquer her stratospheric notes are some of the greatest the world has ever seen. Jessica Pratt has joined the ranks of Nellie Melba and Joan Sutherland: one of just three Australians to sing this role on the hallowed La Scala stage.
Pratt performs her celebrated Lucia with Michael Fabiano’s intense Edgardo and Giorgio Caoduro’s menacing Enrico.
Carlo Montanaro conducts this brilliant young cast in a compelling production by John Doyle with period designs by Liz Ascroft.
Verdi
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 6 July—24 August
Leo Nucci is the most famous interpreter of Rigoletto in a generation. He brings his legendary performance as the bitter court jester to Australia for the first time, with Gianluca Terranova and Irina Lungu under the baton of Verdi veteran, Renato Palumbo. Dalibor Jenis, Nadine Sierra and Attala Ayan are a dream alternate cast.
Roger Hodgman’s plush, period production presents a dark and dangerous world, with forbidding sets and costumes rich in detail.
Verdi
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 18 July—31 August
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, projected 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.
Thrilling young conductor Andrea Battistoni returns to lead this production. Three magnificent casts perform Verdi’s difficult leads. You don’t want to miss the stunning soprano of Amber Wagner, paired with Elena Gabouri as Amneris and Riccardo Massi as Radamès.
Later in the season, rising star Natalie Aroyan takes on her dream role, and Clémentine Margaine, Milijana Nikolic, Diego Torre and Yonghoon Lee join the all-star lineup.
Rossini
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 10 August—1 September
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
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 13 September—3 November
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 Peron, wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, 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'.
Howard
Opera Australia Scenery Workshop, The Opera Centre, Dawson St, Surry Hills, 26—29 September
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.
Pinchgut Opera presents
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, 29 November—5 December
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.