Victorian Opera (VO) has announced its 2026 season, marking the company’s 21st anniversary.

Artistic Director Stuart Maunder, in his third year at the helm, says the company is “up for a celebration.”

“This anniversary season is a toast to our past, a bold embrace of the present, and a leap into the future. We revisit a treasured past production, premiere a brand-new Australian opera, reimagine a neglected gem of music theatre and, for the first time, explore the sparkling world of operetta.”

Victorian Opera’s Ned Kelly: The Musical. Photo supplied

There’s a distinctly Australian flavour this season, starting with a ‘neglected gem’: Reg Livermore’s Ned Kelly: The Musical. Premiered in Adelaide in 1977, the work hasn’t been staged in since it had a two-month revival with New Moon Theatre Company in 1982. Ned finally sees the sun again in a staging directed by Maunder at Ballarat’s Her Majesty’s Theatre on 28 March – with a cameo from Livermore himself in the performance.

VO’s first operetta is The Pirate of Penzance, which plays from 31 January. It’s a...