Following yesterday’s look at our classical music highlights for 2018, the Limelight team today looks back on the opera productions that have excited us most across the last 12 months.

Jo Litson – Editor

Douglas McNicol, Jud Arthur and Allan Clayton in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Adelaide Festival. Photo © Tony Lewis

Hamlet, Adelaide Festival

Brett Dean’s new opera Hamlet, directed by Neil Armfield, arrived in Australia to open the Adelaide Festival after much fanfare following its premiere at Glyndebourne. To see an Australian opera generate such a buzz at such a major event felt like a real moment. The stunning, unsettling score, superbly played by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Carter, was matched by the monumental set and dazzling theatricality. Among a strong cast, Allan Clayton blew everyone away in the title role.

Metamorphosis, Opera Australia

Not only was it exciting to see a revival of Brian Howard’s 1983 opera Metamorphosis, but it was fantastic seeing it in a new, make-shift venue in the OA scenery dock where the grungy atmosphere really suited the opera. Starring Simon Lobelsen as Gregor Samsa, Tama Matheson’s production drilled right into...