Highlights include the Australian premiere of William Tell, Jessica Pratt in The Capulets, and Pelleas and Melisande.

Victorian Opera follows up its adventurous 2017 season with a programme of the rarely-heard and frankly beautiful: Rossini’s William Tell receives its Australian premiere, Jessica Pratt and Caitlin Hulcup are Bellini’s starcrossed lovers in The Capulets and the Montagues, Debussy’s Pelleas and Melisande gets a hearing, and VO celebrates its twentieth new work with the world premiere of cabaret-opera Lorelei. The young and young at heart will also delight in the return of two beloved works, The Magic Pudding – The Opera and Hansel and Gretel.

^{Pelleas and Melisande. Image: supplied.}

“The theatre is a special meeting place where not only audiences and performers but also past and present meet through the rendering of a masterwork”, says Artistic Director Richard Mills. “I want to offer audiences a point of difference, the joy of discovery and a chance to encounter something marvellous”.

Kicking off the season are two operas suitable for the young and young at heart. In celebration of the 100th birthday of...