Opera Australia will mark the re-opening of the Ian Potter State Theatre this October with a one-night-only Gala celebration that will feature a selection of Wagner’s most extraordinary pieces of music including operatic arias and orchestral masterpieces, that will signal a welcome return to its traditional Melbourne home.
A major highlight of Opera Australia’s history with the State Theatre was the staging of a brand-new production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the Company’s first, in 2013 and re-staged in 2016, cementing Art Centre Melbourne’s reputation for staging ambitious and exciting grand scale opera.
“The facilities and scale of the Ian Potter State Theatre make it the natural home for epic works of the operatic canon. This Gala will whet the appetite for audiences for what we have in store when we return in 2027,” said Opera Australia CEO Alex Budd.
Central to the history and eventual reshaping of German opera, Richard Wagner is known for composing some of the largest, longest and most complex operas such as Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the biggest of them all, the 16-hour epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, otherwise known as the Ring Cycle.
Experienced Wagner conductor, German Maestro Michael Güttler will make his OA debut, bringing Orchestra Victoria onto the vast State Theatre stage for this one-off Gala performance. Making their Australian debuts are internationally renowned Wagnerian performers, British dramatic soprano Catherine Foster and Russian tenor Sergei Skorokhodov.
Foster is known for her portrayal as Brünnhilde which she sang at the Bayreuth Festival for Wagner’s bicentenary celebrations, and Skorokhodov’s career has been dominated by demanding lead roles such as Lohengrin and Tannhäuser which he’s sung to great acclaim in leading opera houses around the world.
Joining them on stage will be one of the country’s most versatile and in-demand baritones, James Clayton, making a welcome return to Opera Australia.
The Wagner Gala Concert
Ian Potter State Theatre – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Performance: Friday 16 October 2026 – 7.30pm
Information and Bookings: www.opera.org.au
Image: Catherine Foster, Sergei Skorokhodov and Maestro Michael Güttler feature in The Wagner Gala Concert – courtesy of Opera Australia