Why so long since Il trovatore has been performed in Melbourne? Semi-professional CitiOpera’s production was in 2017, and Opera Australia’s in 2004. Perhaps it’s because, according to Caruso, Verdi’s tragedy requires “the four greatest singers in the world.”

While Melbourne Opera hasn’t managed that, they have gathered three of Australia’s finest singers for this vocally impressive Il trovatore. Helena Dix, Rosario La Spina and Christopher Hillier may be the most exciting line-up this increasingly ambitious little company has offered yet (even while their non-government-funded budget remains tight).

Perhaps another reason why Il trovatore has become a rarity in this city is its plot, which is ridiculous and misogynistic even by traditional opera’s standards.

Melbourne Opera’s Il trovatore. Photo © Robin Halls

First performed in Rome in 1853, it’s driven by revenge for the past, when a Romany woman was executed for witchcraft. Her daughter, Azucena, apparently killed the accuser Count di Luna’s son, but actually threw her baby in the fire by mistake and raised the kidnapped child as her own.

In the present, we witness unwitting brothers Manrico and the current count as bitter rivals for Leonora. She’s cursed by her beloved...