“I feel like I’ve come home,” said Stuart Maunder when Victorian Opera announced that he would be taking over as Artistic Director, when Richard Mills departs in October 2023.

Maunder’s recent collaborations with VO have included successful productions of four Sondheim musicals (Sunday in the Park with George in 2013, Into the Woods in 2014, Sweeney Todd in 2015 and A Little Night Music in 2019), as well as Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen in 2017.

Stuart Maunder.

Stuart Maunder. Photo © That Photography Place

“I look forward to strengthening the ties with Victorian Opera’s loyal, passionate audience,” said Maunder. “We will continue to build on the company’s history of nurturing and premiering new Australian works and acknowledging and including the voices and stories of First Nations Artists. I am equally excited by the prospect of developing new engagements with the state’s richly multicultural community.”

In mid-2023, Maunder will leave State Opera South Australia, where he has been Artistic Director since 2018, after spending four years as General Director of New Zealand Opera. While in Adelaide, he curated the Lost Operas of Oz series, giving new life to works by...