Art world - Opera Australia: Season 2024

During 2018, Opera Australia offers some of the world's great Opera's and musical events:

Bizet - Carmen

JOAN SUTHERLAND THEATRE, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, 24 FEBRUARY—23 MARCH

Bizet's opera has gypsy girls and bull­fighting boys, 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. The vivacious Rinat Shaham returns as opera's favourite femme fatale, with Argentine tenor Marcelo Puente as Don Jose and Michael Honeyman as Escamillo.

Great Opera Hits
JOAN SUTHERLAND THEATRE, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, 25 FEBRUARY—19 AUGUST

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

Verdi - La Traviata
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 - Don Quichotte
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 - La Bohème on Sydney Harbour
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 - Handel's Athalia
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 - Lucia di Lammermoor
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 - Rigoletto
JOAN SUTHERLAND THEATRE, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, 6 JULY—24 AUGUST

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 - Aida
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 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 - The Turk in Italy
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 - Evita
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 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'.

Howard - Metamorphosis
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.

The iconic, Sydney Opera House will provide a perfect setting for Opera Australia's spectacular and star-studded, 2018.

For information on Opera Australia's - Sydney Opera House - performances during 2018 visit: The Sydney Opera House.

For Qantas flight and hotel information to Sydney, Australia: Qantas.