Opera Australia to premiere a new version of La Boheme in Melbourne as leadership tumult continues
By Elizabeth Flux and Nick Galvin
Opera Australia’s 2026 program will feature a new production of La Boheme – the company’s first revamp of the beloved Puccini work in 15 years. Exclusive to Melbourne, the production is one of the highlights of a solid program revealed on Monday by the company for its 70th-anniversary season.
The launch comes in a year the company has had significant departures at leadership level – there is still no permanent CEO or artistic director – and in which it recorded a $10 million deficit.
Opera Australia’s widely praised La Traviata will be staged in Melbourne as part of the 2026 season.Credit: Guy Davies
Next year marks 130 years since La Boheme was first staged, and in that time Puccini’s cherished work has been endlessly reimagined.
“You’re dealing with one of the greatest works ever written,” says director Constantine Costi. “Claus Guth set La Boheme on the moon for the Paris Opera, so I feel like the ceiling has been smashed.”
Costi’s version, conducted by the internationally acclaimed Finnegan Downie Dear, will “go back to the essential DNA of the piece”.
“The hook, for me, was thinking about these central characters being artists – we’re dealing with a writer, a painter, a poet, a philosopher ...” he says. “So we’re really exploring a kind of heightened reality, a heightened romantic Paris, as seen through the eyes of these artistic Bohemians.”
Constantine Costi will direct a new production of La Boheme.Credit: Janie Barrett
Meanwhile, Sydney opera fans will be treated to a new production of Turandot, directed by Ann Yee, in a season that opens there with a welcome return of Moffatt Oxenbould’s dreamy Madama Butterfly, a sharp contrast to the controversial 2022 version from Graeme Murphy.
Reliable favourites Hansel & Gretel, Rigoletto and The Merry Widow will sit alongside a new opera, The Drover’s Wife, based on the play, novel and film by Leah Purcell. New operas are “always a priority for us” says head of music Tahu Matheson. “I really hope it comes to Melbourne. It certainly deserves to. It’s quite an extraordinary piece.”
Next year also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Dame Joan Sutherland. To honour the occasion, Opera Australia will stage La Stupenda: A Joan Sutherland Celebration starring soprano Jessica Pratt.
Joan Sutherland as Violetta in the Australian Opera’s production of La Traviata in 1981Credit: The Australian Opera
In Melbourne, La Boheme will be one of three staged operas, alongside the critically acclaimed Watershed: The Death of Doctor Duncan, directed by Neil Armfield, and Sarah Giles’ celebrated spin on La Traviata.
The remainder of the program is heavy on concerts, including a 70th Anniversary Gala and the return of Opera Up Late hosted by Reuben Kaye. Gilbert and Sullivan: A Musical Celebration, will be directed by Stuart Maunder, artistic director of Victorian Opera, and The Trumpet of the Swan, which sees E.B. White’s novel brought to the stage in a mix of readings and music promises to be a more unusual offering from the company, with the cast yet to be announced.
Asked about the number of concerts versus staged productions, acting CEO Simon Militano points to the ongoing renovation of Melbourne’s State Theatre that has forced performing arts companies including Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet to seek alternative venues for the duration. “It does limit what we can do. So the concerts are a good answer to that.”
No major musical has been announced for 2026, but Militano says to “watch this space”.
Opera Australia has endured a tumultuous 12 months following the abrupt departure of artistic director Jo Davies after just 18 months in the role. Davies was closely followed out the door by chief executive Fiona Allan, who joined in late 2021.
Militano says 2024’s $10 million operating deficit was an anomaly and 2025 will be “much better”.
“We have applied a similar approach to 2026 that we have in 2025, which is a real balanced approach to programming,” he says. “So, we have to be cognisant of our financial responsibilities, but at the same time we strive for artistic excellence. And I think that what you’re seeing in 2026 is a balanced program.”
Neil Armfield’s critically acclaimed Watershed: The Death Of Dr Duncan was one of a record four Australian works that Opera Australia produced in 2024.Credit: Andrew Beveridge
Militano would not be drawn on when a full-time CEO would be announced, referring the question to the board, which in turn played a straight bat to inquiries, saying only that it was making good progress.
However, it is believed the board is close to signing off on a new CEO, a music director and possibly a director of opera. The announcement could come as early as this week.
“I think it’s a really exciting time for opera to carve a space in an overly digitally saturated world, to offer up an analogue experience that can only happen when you’re sitting in the stalls,” says Costi. “As great as live on-demand and pre-recorded opera experiences are, it will always pale in comparison to the experience of sitting in the [room] with hundreds of people and all going on the same journey.”
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