Lyric soprano Nicole Car has been tipped by Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini as the next big thing in opera, as confirmed by her recent triumphs at Covent Garden. “She has the genuine, real potential to be the most important Australian opera singer since Joan Sutherland,” he says.

Terracini may have a vested interest, but if they haven’t already seen her, Sydney and Melbourne operagoers will get a chance to gauge what all the fuss is about when she stars in two Opera Australia productions this year: first in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller and then as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte.

They can also get an idea from this, her first solo studio recording, which is excellently produced by the ABC Classics team. The 30 year-old from Essendon, Melbourne, built her reputation with roles like Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2014. Then last year she made a triumphant Royal Opera House debut in Onegin and as Micäela in Bizet’s Carmen (arias from both are featured on The Kiss).

Car has a versatile voice – she started studying jazz singing before turning to orchestral – and...