From fables to fairy stories, from puppets to prostitutes, Richard Mills aims to run the operatic gamut.

Forget the old complaint that opera companies are just doing the same old same old. Victorian Opera seems determined to intrigue and educate its audiences by launching an eclectic mix of the known, the rare and the darn well obscure in their 2017 season. In a programme that mixes fables with fairy tales, popular chanteuse Meow Meow will explore her inner whore, Janáček and Respighi invite us into their contrasting magical forests, and sopranos Jessica Pratt and Greta Bradman come together for a concert performance of Bellini’s romantic gem La Sonnambula.

“Fables as a title is at once wide and specific,” explains Victorian Opera Artistic Director Richard Mills. “A fable is a story with dimensions, I think, and that allows a fair degree of latitude. Many of our fables are classic ones. But it’s also the image of the wood – of Dante’s selva oscura, the dark wood – in which discoveries are made.”

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