Loosely based on one of Sir Walter Scott’s tales, Lucia di Lammermoor remains the most popular of Donizetti’s stage works.

First produced in the 1830s, there have been famous productions built around notables including Dame Nellie Melba, Maria Callas and ‘our’ Joan Sutherland, who achieved world-wide acclaim in a Covent Garden production directed by Franco Zefferelli in the early 1960s.

In what is only the second production of the opera mounted by State Opera South Australia, director Laura Hansford has been brought in to resurrect the highly atmospheric 1986 production by John Copley, originally staged for Dame Joan.

Emma Pearson in State Opera South Australia’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo © Andrew Beveridge

The revival of this production remains as vital and vibrant as ever. Henry Bardon’s original sets and Tracey Richardson’s costumes retain their allure, with their earthy colours, contrasting with Lucia’s deep blue dress, presented in the second scene of the work.

The Adelaide Symphony, under the baton of Spanish conductor Lucía Marin in her Australian debut, rises firmly to the occasion, providing a taut and musically appropriate base on which this excellent ensemble brings to life an exciting tale of star-crossed...