Attila is far from Verdi at the peak of his powers. It’s much less sophisticated than the composer’s following work, Macbeth, both in terms of narrative and music, with lots of orchestral oompahing and solo moments that can feel perfunctory. Despite these things, it’s become one of the most frequently staged of Verdi’s early operas, and it’s not hard to see why. A compact showcase for a quartet of powerhouse singers, it’s essentially a melodrama about the assassination of Attila the Hun. What leads to his grisly end? Love, of course. Having conquered Italy, our fearsome warrior falls head over heels for Odabella, daughter of a slain leader. Unfortunately for him, she’s only pretending to accept her fate as Attila’s concubine in order to see him killed, going so far as to thwart a separate assassination attempt to reserve that privilege for herself.

Taras Berezhansky in Opera Australia’s Attila. Photo © Prudence Upton

None of this works if you don’t have a cast able to meet Verdi’s significant vocal demands, or a production that really tries to make something more out of Temistocle Solera’s blunt libretto. While Opera Australia mostly delivered on the...