The unsung craft behind Opera Australia’s grand 70th
A small team of wigmakers is keeping centuries-old artistry alive with every curl, braid and moustache for the nation’s grandest performers.
Opera may dazzle with soaring arias and emotive sets, but behind every sweeping scene lies a world of painstaking craftsmanship. Nestled deep below the Surry Hills headquarters of Opera Australia in Sydney, head of wigs Carla D’Annunzio is quietly orchestrating her own kind of performance. There are reams of costumes draping every square inch of the cavernous warehouse, enough boots to fit a battalion three times over, and endless shelves of head moulds and palm cards of every act, style and principal to ever sport a wig on the coveted stage dating back decades. In the background, a tight-knit team works away.
“We’ll be working on multiple shows at once,” D’Annunzio tells Culture, rifling through a library of soon-to-be repaired hairstyles and their accompanying “look book”. “I’ll have to figure out what’s coming back, what’s going, what needs washing, what needs redressing.”
It’s a meticulous process that honours a time-old tradition stretching back to the 18th century. In one respect, wig makers boast an artistic nod to the unique beauty that accompanies each show, defining character, social status and era within a single curl. On the other hand, it’s practical – rapid changes and dramatic appearance shifts fastened within seconds.
“Plus, it’s easier than having hundreds of hairdressers for each production,” D’Annunzio laughs.
She pulls out a whiteboard with a variety of moustaches pinned to it. “We make new wigs, facial hair, eyebrows – there’s a number of things,” she explains.
Every wig requires 40 hours of effort, and they are almost entirely crafted from human hair, while each performer’s head is cast and carefully catalogued.
“We still use an old palm card system – none of it’s digital,” D’Annunzio adds, pulling out the smallest drawer in the building, filled with details of each performer. “For every wig that’s ever been on stage, we can find who wore it, which season, which year. Which principal!”
Opera Australia’s wig department, one of the few of its kind in the southern hemisphere, maintains hundreds of wigs each year, with some dating back over half a century, all woven and styled to perfection. “You actually need more hairs to go into one wig than we have on our heads,” D’Annunzio says.
“I think we possibly deal with over 500 wigs a year, and that’s probably being conservative.”
Her own journey into the field was a weaving of fate and fascination. Attending a makeup course early in her career, she was instructed by a woman who had previously worked with the opera to exhibit the craft.
“I’d never seen anything like it. I didn’t even know it was a thing,” D’Annunzio recalls.
“I immediately began an apprenticeship. That was it.”
While D’Annunzio has helped shape Opera Australia’s look for decades, she’s now preparing for the company’s biggest season yet – its 70th anniversary. Founded in 1956, the company’s 2026 program celebrates both its legacy and its evolution, pairing classic revivals such as Turandot and La Boheme with contemporary interpretations of the operatic form.
The season will also see the return of The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour, marking 40 years since its West End debut.
In a tribute to the late Dame Joan Sutherland – the soprano who elevated the company to international acclaim – Opera Australia will honour what would have been her 100th birthday in her namesake theatre at the Sydney Opera House.
A new opera adapted by veteran stage and screen actor Leah Purcell will debut with The Drover’s Wife, pairing grand opera tradition with First Nations storytelling.
For D’Annunzio, the return of Phantom holds a special place. “It took us at least four months to pull together the wigs for that production with a small team,” she recalls. “You’ve got multiple time periods within one show – 1880s, baroque, romantic – it’s a challenge making them all look natural but also live up to the elements.”
Her favourite creation? “The Carlotta wig,” she says, smiling. “I was honoured to put that one together. It’s been used in other shows too – that’s the beauty of wigs.”
“You build them for one production and they live on in many others.”
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