Melbourne’s multi-award-winning Lyric Opera returns to fortyfivedownstairs to present the Australian premiere of this “dazzlingly original score”. First staged at The Kitchen in New York, it has been hailed as a masterpiece of modern opera, drawing influences from baroque to minimalism to indie rock.

Isabelle Eberhardt’s journals were a rich source of inspiration for Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. Eberhardt, born in 1877, led an extraordinary though short life. After the deaths of all her immediate family, she travelled unfettered to North Africa on a journey of self-discovery. She rode through the desert dressed as a man, outraged authorities, married an Algerian, converted to Sufism, and died in a flood, all by the age of 27.

The role of Eberhardt will be sung by the “commanding and captivating” mezzo-soprano Olivia Federow-Yemm supported by a cast of Melbourne’s most talented young singers and instrumentalists.