West Australian Opera will mark its 60th anniversary in 2027 with the company’s first staging of Puccini’s Turandot, a new work by Noongar Songwoman Gina Williams-Ghouse, and a return to Bizet’s Carmen, the first opera it staged in 1968 after the company’s foundation in 1967.

The season features four mainstage productions at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, alongside a double bill of Williams-Ghouse’s Bilya (River) and Verdi’s Requiem at Winthrop Hall, presented in partnership with the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music.

Gina Williams. Photo supplied

The season opens on April 15 with a new co-production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Patrick Nolan and shared with Opera Queensland. James Clayton stars as the womanising Don, alongside Emma Pearson as Donna Anna, with Prudence Sanders and Teddy Tahu Rhodes also in the cast. The production runs until 24 April.

Bilya, which explores the final 12 months of conversations between two great loves, will be performed on 21 and 22 May. The work is dedicated to Williams-Ghouse’s late husband, Guy Ghouse, and will be paired with Verdi’s setting of the Requiem Mass. The soloists for the latter are Naomi Johns, Nicole Youl, Paul O’Neill and Benjamin Del Borrello.

Lindy Hume’s production of Carmen returns from 24 July to 7 August, with Perth-born mezzo-soprano Fleuranne Brockway in the title role. O’Neill, Brett Carter, Samantha Clarke, Prudence Sanders and Brigitte Heuser complete the principal cast.

Maria Stuarda. Image supplied

On 6 August, internationally acclaimed soprano Jessica Pratt makes her company debut as Mary, Queen of Scots, in a concert performance of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. Caitlin Hulcup, James Clayton and Alasdair Kent also feature.

The season closes with Turandot, directed by Ann Yee and first seen in Sydney in January 2026, with Anna-Louise Cole as the formidable Chinese princess and O’Neill as Calàf. The production marks the first time in his two-decade career with the company that the West Australian tenor will perform Puccini’s celebrated aria ‘Nessun dorma’ in a fully staged mainstage production.

For more information on West Australian Opera in 2027 and bookings, visit waopera.asn.au