New productions, international collaborations and Australian premieres define Opera Australia’s 2027 season, its most expansive in years, thanks to Melbourne’s return to full repertory programming.

Opera Australia will mount a broad-ranging 2027 season built around major new productions, international collaborations and Australian works. The company’s program spans everything from Wagner and Puccini to Gilbert & Sullivan, with new productions sharing the stage with established repertoire.

It also reflects the growing influence of Music Director Andrea Battistoni and incoming Director of Opera Amy Lane, who officially joins the company in September but has already contributed to planning the season.

Tannhäuser. Image © Opera Australia

Among the season’s headline attractions is the world premiere of Sir David McVicar’s new production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, to be staged exclusively in Melbourne in November 2027. It will be Opera Australia’s first new production of the work in almost three decades and forms the centrepiece of a Melbourne season consisting entirely of premieres. Battistoni will make his Melbourne conducting debut with this production.

Sydney 2027

The Magic Flute Cast. Scottish Opera, 2019. Photo © James Glossop

The Sydney season opens on New Year’s Eve with Constantine Costi’s new production of Puccini’s La Bohème. Italian soprano Maria Teresa Leva returns to the Joan Sutherland Theatre to star as Mimì, alongside local favourites Jennifer Black and Samantha Clarke, who makes her role debut. Italian tenor Matteo Desole makes his OA debut as Rodolfo, sharing the role with Paride Cataldo and Iain Henderson.

Scottish Opera’s acclaimed steampunk-inspired production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, directed by Sir Thomas Allen, will receive its Australian premiere in Sydney (13 January–23 March) before travelling to Melbourne. Among the cast are Australian sopranos Alexandra Flood and Gemma Nha, tenors Alasdair Kent and Nicholas Jones, and international singers Daniela Cappiello and Tetiana Zhuravel, both making their OA debuts.

Battistoni then teams with director Claudia Osborne for a concert double bill (5 February) of Poulenc’s La Voix humaine and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Anna Caterina Antonacci makes a long-awaited OA debut in La Voix humaine, the electrifying one-woman opera in which an unnamed woman makes one final phone call to a lover whose attentions have turned elsewhere. L’enfant et les sortilèges draws on influences from Wagner to Gershwin and provides an ideal platform for mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer, who leads the all-Australian cast.

Michael Petruccelli as The Stranger in Eucalyptus. Photo © Billie Wilson-Coffey

March sees the Sydney premiere of Sir Jonathan Mills’ acclaimed Eucalyptus, based on Murray Bail’s novel about the relationship between a young woman, Ellen, and the overprotective father who has kept her sheltered from the world. Michael Gow directs, and soprano Desiree Frahn makes her OA debut as Ellen, joined by Simon Meadows, Samuel Dundas and Michael Petrucelli.

Sydney’s winter season opens with Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, returning to the Sydney Opera House for the first time in nearly two decades from 1 July to 7 August.

Conducted by James Pratt and directed by Stuart Maunder, the Opera Australia and Victorian Opera production follows Frederic’s attempt to leave his band of pirates and win Mabel, blending the operetta’s trademark wit, satire and much-loved score.

From 10 July to 4 August, Sir David McVicar’s lavish production of Gounod’s Faust returns to the Sydney Opera House under German conductor Nikolas Nägele, making his Australian debut.

Set amid the decadence of 1870s Paris, the production stars Stefan Pop in the title role and Rafał Siwek – both making their Australian debuts – with Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg returning from Europe to sing Marguerite in this French-language production co-produced with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and several European companies.

Nicole Car. Portrait © Heather Elizabeth Media

The Sydney season concludes with the Sydney premiere of Verdi’s A Masked Ball, presented from 23 July to 7 August in a production by Daniele Menghini direct from Italy’s Verdi Festival in Parma.

Conducted by Alevtina Ioffe, the Italian-language opera stars Australian soprano Nicole Car as Amelia alongside tenor Diego Torre as Riccardo and baritone Daniel Luis de Vicente, making his Australian debut as Renato. The Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Regio di Parma co-production explores political intrigue, forbidden love and revenge in a visually striking Renaissance-inspired setting.

Melbourne 2027

Looking to reward Victorian audiences for their patience in recent years, Melbourne’s reopening season places a strong emphasis on spectacle.

Opera Australia’s return to the refurbished Arts Centre Melbourne begins with the Melbourne premiere of Ann Yee’s contemporary production of Puccini’s Turandot, running from 5–27 May.

Conducted by Andrea Battistoni and Tahu Matheson, the visually ambitious staging features monumental sets, dance and immersive design, with Melbourne soprano Anna-Louise Cole returning home to sing the title role alongside Diego Torre as Calaf and Samantha Clarke as Liù.

Mozart’s The Magic Flute follows from 13–28 May in the Melbourne premiere of Scottish Opera’s acclaimed production, conducted by Sam Weller.

Nina Korbe in The Drover’s Wife. Photo © Carlita Sari

The Drover’s Wife arrives at Arts Centre Melbourne from 21–29 May. Conducted by Tahu Matheson and directed by librettist Leah Purcell, George Palmer’s acclaimed Australian opera stars Nina Korbe reprising her role as Molly Johnson opposite First Nations tenor Marcus Corowa as Yadaka.

The Melbourne spring season is headlined by the world premiere of Sir David McVicar’s new production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, presented exclusively in Melbourne from 5–14 November.

Conducted by Andrea Battistoni, Opera Australia’s first new staging of the work in almost 30 years stars Sergei Skorokhodov in the title role, Joshua Bloom as Landgraf Hermann, Nino Surguladze as Venus and Maxim Lisiin as Wolfram von Eschenbach. The season concludes on 13 November with a full-scale performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, featuring the Opera Australia Chorus and Orchestra Victoria under Battistoni.

Opera Australia on tour

Opera Australia’s national touring program will continue with Michael Gow’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, travelling to regional centres across New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT. The company will also extend its partnership with Musica Viva by presenting the Australian recital debut of French mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and lutenist Thomas Dunford in Melbourne and Sydney.

Ruth Thomas, Opera Australia’s Director of Planning and Programming, said the company had sought to balance Australian and international artists and productions while drawing on the experience and international connections of Battistoni and Lane.

“We’re really excited to be presenting the 2027 season—a program we feel is a great balance of Australian and international productions and talent,” she said.

Battistoni said the repertoire had been assembled not simply to showcase stylistic variety but to immerse audiences in the breadth of operatic expression.

“We’re presenting a diverse repertoire spanning centuries of music … from intense drama to comedy, from bel canto to verismo and beyond,” he said.

Subscriptions for Opera Australia’s 2027 season are now on sale, with single tickets available from 29 September. For information and bookings, visit opera.org.au