Lyndon Terracini once sang naked atop a disembowelled horse for an opera by the film director Peter Greenaway, and his 10 years as artistic director of Opera Australia (OA) have been almost as provocative.

Supporters think the suave 69-year-old saved Australia’s largest performing arts company. They credit his audience-pleasing instincts, honed by a youth spent in Salvation Army bands, two decades on stage, and another decade running festivals in Lismore and Brisbane, for OA’s box office more than doubling on his watch.