David McVicar’s classy production shifts opera’s famous comedy of manners back a century from Mozart’s time, with thoughtful direction, lavish sets and the prettiest of frocks. A tale of savvy servants outwitting their amorous masters, it features a string of greatest hits from Cherubino’s Voi che sapete to Figaro’s Non più andrai. Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner sings the over-sexed Count Almaviva, with Kiandra Howarth and Jane Ede doing duty as his slighted wife. Meanwhile, below stairs, up-and-coming American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel is the canny Figaro, with Siobhan Stagg as his fiancée Susanna and Emily Edmonds as Cherubino. Matteo Dal Maso conducts.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

After a successful summer season of The Barber of Seville, opera’s most charming character Figaro returns in the delightful sequel The Marriage of Figaro. The ultimate ensemble opera, it is filled with witty fast-moving, hum-along melodies featuring brilliant trios, quartets and even a sextet to match the utter madness of disguises, duplicity and desire that unfolds before the audiences’ eyes. International singers Gordon Bintner and Michael Sumuel make their Australian debuts in the role of Count Almaviva and Figaro alongside a strong line-up of local female stars, Kiandra Howarth, Siobhan Stagg, Emily Edmonds and Jane Ede.