Limelight catches up with Australian conductor Dane Lam at his in-laws’ place on steamy-warm upstate New York evening, where he’s taking a short break from his Hawaii Symphony Orchestra duties (Lam was appointed HSO’s Artistic Director in 2023) and prior to his return to State Opera South Australia (another of his Artistic Directorships) for rehearsals of Mozart’s comic opera Cosí fan tutte.

Opening in late August, it will be South Australia’s first look at the acclaimed, Patrick Nolan-directed production that premiered in Brisbane in 2023. For Lam, it’s an opportunity to touch base with an opera he fell hard for as a conducting student.

“I really sunk my teeth into it – and into a lot of Mozart’s music – when I was studying with Gianluigi Gelmetti [then Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma],” Lam explains.

“I spent three summers in Sienna with him and during one of those we teamed up with some of the voice students from the local academy, and did a concert performance of Cosí, splitting it between several conductors. I really fell for it and I’ve loved conducting Mozart ever since.”

Lam didn’t get to conduct Cosí...