Victorian Opera has unveiled a year of magic in 2027 boasting star performances, theatrical trickery and unforgettable music.
A sprinkling of fairy dust opens the season and is set to brighten summer in St Kilda as Victorian Opera returns to the Palais Theatre with Gilbert and Sullivan’s enchanting comic operetta, Iolanthe, from 30 January – 3 February.
Bringing her signature sparkle to the stage, Australia’s favourite leading lady Rhonda Burchmore stars as the Queen of the Fairies in this farcical story of fairies and their foes. Following the sold-out success of The Pirates of Penzance (2026), Artistic Director Stuart Maunder and conductor James Pratt reunite for another irreverent Gilbert and Sullivan classic.
The musical mayhem continues with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The beloved comedy follows Figaro and Susanna on their wedding day, as a series of misunderstandings, disguises and schemes threaten to throw their carefully laid plans into chaos.
Presented across three performance seasons, audiences are invited to first enjoy this vibrant new production up close at Victorian Opera’s home, Horti Hall, accompanied by two pianos, from 11 – 13 March. A fully-staged production will then travel to Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat from 19 – 21 March and Arts Centre Melbourne from 16 – 23 October; both seasons will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra.
The Marriage of Figaro will be directed by Eugene Lynch and conducted by Victorian Opera’s Head of Music Phoebe Briggs.
The enduring charm of Oscar Wilde’s storytelling will come to the stage in The Happy Prince, adapted by celebrated Australian composer Malcolm Williamson, in a new production for children and families. Touring metropolitan Melbourne from 7 – 22 May, performances will be staged at The Round, Darebin Arts Centre and Bunjil Place.
Director Elizabeth Hill-Cooper and conductor Simon Bruckard are set to weave theatrical magic through this delightful Australian work, creating the perfect introduction to opera for young people.
In 2027, Victorian Opera presents composer André Previn’s richly lyrical adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at the Palais Theatre from 29 June – 3 July. Previn’s score brings the sultry, blues-infused world of New Orleans vividly to life, illuminating the passion, desire and desperation at the story’s heart.
The production will be directed by Dean Bryant in his return to Victorian Opera following his hit production of Candide (2024) and conducted by Brett Weymark. Leading the cast as the fragile and fading Blanche DuBois, celebrated soprano Antoinette Halloran is set to deliver a tour-de-force performance.
Victorian Opera converts its base into the home of intimate performances in a Winter Soiree Series from 23 July – 27 August. The line-up of one-night only cabarets and recitals will showcase exceptional artists, including Dimity Shepherd, Michael Petruccelli, Jeremy Kleeman and Alex Raineri, Johanna Allen, and Lucy Maunder.
To mark their milestone anniversary, Victorian Opera raises a toast to its Founding Patron with a gala concert, Celebrating 40 Years of The Robert Salzer Foundation, on Wednesday 18 August at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall. The concert will be conducted by former Artistic Director Richard Mills AO and star globally adored soprano Jessica Pratt, in her long-awaited return to Melbourne, alongside a cavalcade of much-loved company artists.
Gothic grandeur, the lyrical beauty of German Romanticism and a timeless tale of temptation and fate fuse in Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Palais Theatre from 28 – 30 September.
The production is a rare opportunity to experience one of opera’s greatest masterpieces in a brooding new production by Stuart Maunder, featuring the Australian National Academy of Music Orchestra conducted by Chad Kelly and a luminary cast of singers including Kiandra Howarth, Kyle Stegall, Meechot Marrero, and Joshua Bloom
The opera follows a once-gifted marksman whose aim is failing him. To win a crucial shooting competition and secure his future and bride-to-be, he enters a dangerous dance with the Devil.
Victorian Opera invites audiences to discover its newest commission, Lola Montez, in a first-look premiere presented with University of Melbourne Arts and Culture at the Union Theatre from 10 – 14 November. Scandalous, ambitious, and endlessly fascinating, the new work traces the unbelievable true story of one of the 19th century’s most celebrated courtesans and performers.
Acclaimed soprano Nina Korbe embodies the legendary showgirl in a new opera by composer Joe Chindamo and writer Peter Tregear. The production will be a stripped-back first look and listen directed by Stuart Maunder and conducted by Phoebe Briggs.
“I want magic,” sings Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, and don’t we all? In 2027, Victorian Opera explores a world in which we all experience magic,” says Artistic Director Stuart Maunder AM, on the season.
“Not just illusion or theatrical trickery, though there will be plenty of that too, but the deeper magic that happens when a room full of people comes together to feel something profound. That is what opera can do, and that is what Victorian Opera will deliver in 2027.”
Subscriptions to Victorian Opera’s Season 2027 are now on sale, alongside tickets to Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. In addition to subscriptions, Victorian Opera will introduce a 30 Years and Under Membership in 2027 boasting incredible savings alongside exclusive member benefits and events. Memberships start from $60.
For more information about Victorian Opera’s Season 2027, visit: www.victorianopera.com.au for details.
Images: Rhonda Burchmore stars in Iolanthe (supplied) | The Marriage of Figaro (supplied) | The Happy Prince (supplied) | Antoinette Halloran stars in A Streetcar Named Desire (supplied) | Der Freischütz (supplied) | Richard Mills AO (supplied)