This July, Opera Australia will unveil its new production of Puccini’s Il trittico (The Triptych), providing a rare opportunity to marvel at the composer’s multifaceted genius across the tragic, lyric and comedic genres.

What’s more, each of its one-act operas is being staged by a different director – Constantine Costi, Imara Savage and Shaun Rennie.

As Costi puts it, “Opening night is going to be like Blind Date – the operatic version!”

Tying it all together is set and costume designer Michael Hankin, who has the Herculean task of accommodating each director’s unique vision within the confines of the Sydney Opera House’s Joan Sutherland Theatre.

Constantine Costi, Imara Savage, Shaun Rennie and Michael Hankin. Photos supplied

Devised as a showcase of theatrical genres from the melodramatic and lyrical to the comic, Il trittico was originally intended as a treatment of the three books from Dante’s Divine Comedy. In the end, only the third opera, Gianni Schicchi, drew upon the story of the eponymous knight in Inferno.

The first opera, Il tabarro (The Cloak), was adapted from Didier Gold’s play Le Houppelande by Giuseppe Adami, while the second, Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), was the brainchild of librettist...