Opera Australia (OA) has announced its 2027 program featuring an array of works across the centuries and across genres. It will be a season where extraordinary music and storytelling are brought into vivid focus with works by some of the world’s greatest composers.
From the unrelenting intensity of Wagner to the breathtaking melodic beauty of Puccini and the rollicking rhythms of Gilbert and Sullivan, it is a season of contrasts and broad audience appeal across a variety of distinct musical languages.
OA’s Director of Planning and Programming, Ruth Thomas, who has spearheaded the season planning process over recent years said “We’re really excited to be presenting the 2027 season – a program we feel is a great balance of Australian and international productions and talent,” said Thomas.
“It’s the first season where we’ve had the benefit of the international connections and experience of our Music Director Andrea Battistoni and our incoming Director of Opera Amy Lane, ahead of her official start in September.”
New productions will be staged alongside beloved works from OA’s celebrated repertoire. New partnerships will combine with ongoing and valued cultural collaborations to deliver a range of experiences of emotional depth and lasting impressions.
OA continues to champion Australian talent on and off the stage. Constantine Costi’s new production of Puccini’s La Bohème and Sir Jonathan Mills’ Eucalyptus both make their Sydney Opera House debuts, while rising stars Alexandra Flood, Nina Korbe, Gemma Nha and Samantha Clark will all make OA role debuts.
From the international stage, premiering in Sydney will be Scottish Opera’s fabulously creative ‘steampunk’ production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute by widely respected UK baritone turned director, Sir Thomas Allen. While the legendary Sir David McVicar will deliver a masterclass in directing with the world premiere of his new staging of Tannhäuser at Arts Centre Melbourne.
“I’m very much looking forward to working with Music Director Andrea Battistoni and the OA team to deliver the 2027 program,” said Incoming Director of Opera Amy Lane.
“We have some really wonderful performers making their Australian debuts, and some thrilling productions that you’ll be seeing for the first time, not least being Sir David McVicar’s new Tannhäuser in Melbourne – his work is always so inspiring, and this production showcases once more the outstanding creativity and dramatic depths that he is so renowned for,” said Lane.
Music Director Andrea Battistoni, who will conduct in both Sydney and Melbourne in 2027 said, “We‘re presenting a diverse repertoire spanning centuries of music, not just for the sake of variety itself, but to offer up to our patrons the sheer delight of immersing in different operatic styles and languages, from intense drama to comedy, from belcanto to verismo and beyond,” said Battistoni.
Sydney Season:
In addition to the premieres of Constantine Costi’s La Bohème and Scottish Opera’s The Magic Flute, Sydney Summer season will have some distinctly Australian elements with the return of Simon Phillip’s delightfully Aussie take on Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love where corrugated iron reigns supreme, followed by the Sydney premiere of Sir Jonathon Mills Eucalyptus, based on Murray Bail’s beloved novel.
Sydney’s Winter season will see the return of a classic Sir David McVicar production, Gounod’s Faust, with in-demand German conductor Nikolas Nägle at the helm. This will be followed by the Australian premiere of Verdi’s A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera) direct from the Verdi Festival in Parma, a co-production by the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Teatro Regio di Parma.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s swashbuckling The Pirates of Penzance and a double bill of French masterpieces La Voix Humaine & L’enfant et les Sortilèges will round out the mainstage Sydney Opera House season.
Melbourne Season:
The Melbourne 2027 season will herald a welcome return to full repertory programming in the newly refurbished Ian Potter State Theatre and feature an entire season of premieres. The pinnacle will be the exclusive-to-Melbourne, Wagnerian event of the year: the world premiere of OA’s first new production of Tannhäuser in three decades, by one of the world’s most celebrated opera directors, Sir David McVicar.
Making his conducting debut in Melbourne as OA’s Music Director, Maestro Battistoni said “Tannhäuser in Melbourne will be one of the defining productions of the 2027 season. I’ve admired Sir David McVicar’s work for many years, and I’m delighted to collaborate with him for the first time on such a gigantic piece,” said Battistoni.
Also new to Melbourne is Ann Yee’s bold and monumental staging of Turandot, co-produced by the Opera Conference; Sir Thomas Allen’s acclaimed take on The Magic Flute; and Leah Purcell’s operatic adaptation The Drover’s Wife – the Opera, composed by George Palmer, where First Nations storytelling meets traditional opera.
In concert, the Opera Australia Chorus will appear in full force joined by Orchestra Victoria and led by Maestro Battistoni for a Melbourne exclusive, one night only, electrifying performance of the famous Beethoven Symphony No.9.
Touring:
OA will continue its National Tour with Mozart’s Don Giovanni by renowned director Michael Gow. Co-produced by the Opera Conference, the 2027 tour is heading to the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and the ACT delivering exceptional operatic experiences to regional communities.
Continuing OA’s partnership with Musica Viva, 2027 provides a rare opportunity to see “Opera Singer of the Year” (Opus Klassik Awards) mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, who will make her Australian solo debut, alongside partner, Thomas Dunford, providing sunny harmonies and captivating lute solos in Desandre & Dunford, to be performed in the intimate settings of Melbourne Recital Centre and Sydney’s City Recital Hall in October.
For more information about Opera Australia’s 2027 season, visit: www.opera.org.au for details.
Images: Opera Australia presents Tannhäuser (supplied) | Opera Australia presents La Bohème (supplied) | Opera Australia presents The Magic Flute (supplied) | Opera Australia presents The Drover’s Wife (2026) – photo by Carlita Sari | Opera Australia presents Don Giovanni – photo by Daniel Boud