The historic Central West village of Millthorpe will once again welcome world-class opera artists next Easter when Handa Opera at Millthorpe returns for its third consecutive year under founding Artistic Director and CEO Lyndon Terracini.

Building on the success of its expanded 2026 program, which presented a full opera for the first time with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, the 2027 festival will feature two complete operas alongside a Gala Opera Concert, the Italian Opera Foundation Australia (IOFA) Singing Competition Final and a program of free community events.

The program will also mark two Australian firsts: the Australian debut of Donizetti’s La Favorite in its original French version and soprano Stacey Alleaume’s first performance of the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor on Australian soil.

Stacey Alleaume in Millthorpe. Photo © Gilfeather Photo & Video

Terracini wants the festival to celebrate both outstanding music and the village that welcomes it. “To have artists of this calibre coming together in Millthorpe is something the whole region can be proud of,” he says.

“These are singers whose careers take them to major opera stages around the world, and here they will be performing in our village hall. It is a wonderful opportunity for people across the Central West to hear them close to home.”

Alleaume, who has performed with leading opera companies in Europe and Asia and toured Australia with Andrea Bocelli, will sing Lucia on Sunday 28 March. She made her role debut two years ago at Deutsche Oper am Rhein and returns to the part this season, alongside appearances as Violetta in La traviata at the Bregenz Festival.

Friday 26 March sees the Australian premiere of Donizetti’s original French version of La Favorite, in which the young monk Fernand leaves his monastery after falling in love with the mysterious Léonor, unaware that she is really the mistress of King Alphonse XI of Castile.

The opera will be heard in full for the first time in Australia in nearly 100 years, having last been performed here in an Italian translation.

Mezzo-soprano Elena Gabouri and tenor Shanul Sharma will lead the concert performance as Léonor and Fernand, alongside baritone Andrew Williams as Alphonse XI, bass Richard Anderson as Balthazar, soprano Barbara Jin as Inès and tenor Thomas Strong as Don Gaspar, with Paul Terracini conducting a two-piano arrangement performed by Glenn Amer and Joanne Kim.

Elena Gabouri and tenor Shanul Sharma. Photos supplied

Gabouri’s international career includes performances at the Arena di Verona and Seattle Opera, while Opera Australia audiences will remember her as Amneris in four consecutive seasons of Aida and as Ortrud in Lohengrin opposite Jonas Kaufmann.

Sharma has established a reputation on stages in Australia and abroad and comes to Millthorpe fresh from his Opéra national de Paris debut in Satyagraha and Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Elijah under Simone Young. Immediately following his appearances in Millthorpe, Sharma will make his US debut as M.K. Gandhi in Detroit Opera’s Satyagraha as part of Philip Glass’s 90th-birthday celebrations.

The festival opens on Thursday 25 March with the IOFA Singing Competition Final, and the program also includes a Gala Opera Concert on Saturday 27 March, in which Gabouri and Sharma will be joined by sopranos Natalie Aroyan and Camilla Wright, baritone Andrew Williams and bass Richard Anderson, with the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra under Paul Terracini.

As in previous years, open rehearsals and ‘in-conversation’ sessions with the artists will be held for free across all four days of the festival.

Historic Millthorpe Hall. Photo © Gilfeather Photo and Video

Part of the appeal of Handa Opera at Millthorpe is its distinctly Australian take on the country-house opera festival. Like the outdoor and estate-based opera festivals in the United Kingdom, it invites audiences to make a weekend of it. Here, however, the setting is a country village boasting beautifully preserved Victorian and Edwardian architecture, bluestone-bordered streets, three local cellar doors and a strong regional food culture.

Millthorpe Hall sits beside TONIC Restaurant, with Tamburlaine Organic Wines across the road. Slow Wine and Angullung are just 50 metres away, while early risers will enjoy rubbing shoulders with the artists over breakfast at Millthorpe Providore.

“The generosity of this community is an essential part of the festival,” Terracini says. “Our volunteers, local businesses and supporters help make Millthorpe such a welcoming place for the artists and everyone who comes to hear them.”

Handa Opera at Millthorpe is supported by Principal Partner, the International Foundation for Arts and Culture, and Patron in Chief Dr Haruhisa Handa, who says, “I am proud to be supporting Lyndon Terracini and his wonderful Handa Opera at Millthorpe.”

“Lyndon’s exceptional talent, his passion for the operatic art form, his commitment to excellence and his resilience is a model for all to follow both in Australia and internationally.”

Handa Opera at Millthorpe runs from 25 to 28 March, 2027.