Opera Australia has outlined a roadmap toward financial sustainability after reporting a $10.1 million deficit for 2024. Its 2023 Annual Report, revealed an overall operating loss of $4.9m. In the previous financial year – one bolstered by a $10m booster shot in the form of a NSW Government COVID Support Package – OA reported a loss of $447,878.

Despite the hefty deficit (similar to that posted by The Australian Ballet in its Annual Report, also released this week), and considerable turmoil at management level, Opera Australia Chair Rod Sims expressed optimism about the company’s trajectory.

“We will be very close to breakeven in 2025, and I am very confident we will make a small profit in 2026,” he tells Limelight, adding that the deficit in 2024 “was due to a lot of things that won’t happen again. We did Tosca in a tennis court because we wanted to something fully staged for Melbourne and we just had no access to theatres. Now, we’ve got the Regent, which is not as good as the Arts Centre, but it’s way better than the tennis court.”

“We’ve had lingering COVID issues that delayed our programming and rushed things, while the move from Alexandria...