Opera Australia hopes past hits and new work and musicals will boost bottom line
For its 70th anniversary, a leaderless Opera Australia bets on a mix of past hits, new work and musicals to boost its bottom line.
A tribute to Joan Sutherland and a revival of classic musical My Fair Lady – directed by the show’s original star, Julie Andrews – feature in Opera Australia’s 70th anniversary season, which was unveiled as the company battles a $10m deficit and a leadership vacuum.
OA’s 2026 season also includes an operatic version of Leah Purcell’s Indigenous retelling of The Drover’s Wife; a Turandot world premiere and a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical, Phantom of the Opera, to be mounted on a floating stage on Sydney Harbour. OA acting CEO Simon Militano said the 2026 anniversary season was “a collaborative effort” that attempts to balance crowd-pleasing “operatic masterpieces” with bold new work. He said: “We have to try to address some of our current financial losses over the last year, but it is important to maintain that balance.’’
The country’s largest performing arts company has been in crisis since artistic director Jo Davies left in 2024 just nine months into her contract, with CEO Fiona Allan following Davies out the door in January 2025. They have yet to be replaced. The board said the recruitment search “continues to make good progress” adding: “It’s a very thorough process.’’
Sutherland would have turned 100 in 2026. To mark that posthumous birthday, Jessica Pratt, a celebrated Australian soprano who has, like La Stupenda, performed the role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Italy’s La Scala, will perform a tribute concert. During the concert, to be held at the Sydney Opera House in August, Pratt will revisit Sutherland’s biggest career moments in the theatre that bears the late superstar’s name.
OA head of music Tahu Matheson said: “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world now who sings Joan Sutherland’s repertoire like Jessica Pratt. She’s our greatest coloratura (soprano) export and expert.’’
Phantom of the Opera will be staged as this work marks 40 years since its West End debut. The production will be helmed by local director Simon Phillips.
Like OA, My Fair Lady marks its 70th anniversary in 2026, and Andrews’ production – which featured in the company’s 60th season – will be restaged at the Sydney Opera House in September. Militano said Andrews’ production is “very loyal to the original’’ that launched the performer on a path to stardom. It was unclear, he said, whether Andrews, 89, could travel to Australia for the revival. “Never say never,” he said. “She is a legend.”
A co-production with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Purcell’s take on The Drover’s Wife combines Australian bush legend with First Nations storytelling and will feature Indigenous singers Nina Korbe and Marcus Corowa and a score by George Palmer. Tahu said it would be “absolutely gorgeous and harrowing at the same time’’.
Militano said OA would mount its biggest season in Melbourne “for some time” in 2026, with a line-up including a new production of La Boheme and the Victorian debut of Sarah Giles’s acclaimed production of La Traviata, under the baton of renowned Italian conductor Giampaolo Bisanti. Bisanti will also conduct the 70th anniversary Opera Australia concert at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in May.
The company has programmed a third musical for 2026, Broadway hit Anastasia, which will have Sydney and Melbourne seasons. Militano said “musicals provide a more diverse audience for us’’ and allowed staff to showcase different skills. “It’s great if they can obviously contribute something to the bottom line, but it’s not the sole reason that we do musicals.’’
He revealed OA “is doing much better” financially than in 2024.
