Opera Australia flicks switch to festival in 2021 season

The Merry Widow will open the summer season at the Sydney Opera House in January.

Soprano Julie Lea Goodwin, centre, at the Sydney Opera House, will star in OA’s post-lockdown relaunch production of The Merry Widow. Picture: Nikki Short

Lyndon Terracini has unveiled details of Opera Australia’s evolution as a festival-style operation — including compact opera seasons and more special events — as the company prepares for a post-lockdown relaunch.

Four productions will be seen at the Sydney Opera House from January — starting with romantic operetta The Merry Widow — and three major events are yet to be announced, but are likely to include the return of the popular ­operas on Sydney Harbour.

The changed business model will see OA present operas in ­stagione style, meaning short, sequential seasons of individual productions rather than several different productions within a ­single week.

The Merry Widow, opening on January 5, will be followed by Verdi’s Ernani from Milan’s La Scala opera house, then a revival of John Bell’s production of Tosca and Bartok’s expressionist one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle.

Terracini, OA’s artistic director, said changes were necessary to allow greater flexibility in the event of more lockdowns and to help reduce fixed costs.

The company recently has shed 56 jobs — including 16 musicians from the Opera Australia Orchestra — as it stares down a multi-million-dollar loss this year due to cancelled performances.

OA recently has advertised for staff for “temporary project roles” for its summer season, angering the MEAA union, which accused the company of seeking to casualise its workforce.

Terracini said the festival-style model involved each production having its own budget, and artists and additional staff would be hired as required. “Most people who work in the arts are freelance,” he said. “We need to make everything work in a way that will enable the company to be sustainable in the ­future.”

Plans for a Melbourne season next year are to be confirmed, and OA expects to present its new Ring Cycle in Brisbane next Oct­ober, postponed from this month.

Other changes have been introduced to ensure a COVID-safe opera experience, including reduced audience capacity in venues, some modification to productions, and possibly having brass instruments play from the loges (boxes) in the Joan Sutherland Theatre.

Opening the Sydney season, Graeme Murphy’s production of The Merry Widow will feature Julie Lea Goodwin and Alexander Lewis, recently seen together in West Side Story.

“We wanted to do something fun and alive — come back to the Opera House and have a great time,” Terracini said.