Why is Australia’s so-called cultural capital only getting its first mainstage opera production for the year in May?

Victorian Opera offered an operetta, the excellent Candide, and Melbourne Opera a small-scale Marriage of Figaro to showcase emerging artists. But local opera lovers are crying out for something more substantial, and Melbourne Opera delivers in its financially modest but creatively inventive and honest way with a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

As always, director Suzanne Chaundy tells a story with clarity and engaging drama. The fine cast includes Elena Xanthoudakis, making a welcome return to her homeland and Melbourne Opera as Donizetti’s ‘mad bride’.

Elena Xanthoudakis in Melbourne Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo © Robin Halls

Premiering in Naples in 1835, Lucia di Lammermoor was adapted from Sir Walter Scott’s novel, The Bride of Lammermoor. The tale’s Scottish star-crossed lovers are the title character and Edgardo, a nobleman from a rival family.

Lucia’s brother, Enrico, already troubled about his family’s misfortune, is enraged by her secret trysts with Edgardo. He forces his sister into a politically advantageous marriage but, mad with grief, she murders her husband on their wedding night.

The star of...