Split Enz frontman lands Australia’s most ambitious operatic commission of recent years.

Three major Australasian opera companies have joined forces to commission a new opera from New Zealand singer-songwriter, Tim Finn OBE. Finn, who is best known for appearing in rock outfits Split Enz and Crowded House, is the latest in a string of pop music artists who have been engaged to create major new productions in recent years for some of the world’s most respected stages. These have included Rufus Wainwright (Prima Donna) Stewart Copland of The Police (The Tell-Tale Heart), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (Ça Ira), Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz (Monkey: Journey to the West and Dr Dee.) and Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (Most Incredible Thing).

The collaboration between Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera and New Zealand Opera will see the production, titled Star Navigator, touring throughout Australia and New Zealand from 2016. The commission has been spearheaded by WAO who have injected a generous amount of funding from the Department for Culture and the Arts in Western Australia to support the opera’s development.

Star Navigator will explore the story of...