Opera Australia has dropped its 2026 season, and I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours going through every detail with the kind of obsessive attention I used to reserve for learning chorus parts at 2am. Let’s talk about it.

The Headlines

First, the good news. The company is staging Janacek’s Jenufa — a work that hasn’t appeared in their mainstage repertoire since 2002. It’s a psychologically searing piece, and the casting of Karah Son in the title role suggests they’re serious about this one. Son was extraordinary in last year’s Madama Butterfly, and Jenufa demands even more dramatic weight. I’m cautiously thrilled.

There’s also a new production of La Traviata, which — yes, I know, another Traviata — but this one is being directed by Priscilla Jackman, who did that stunning Turn of the Screw at the Adelaide Festival in 2024. If she brings even half that level of psychological insight to Violetta’s story, we’re in for something special.

The season includes a total of eight mainstage productions across Sydney and Melbourne, plus three smaller-scale works at the Joan Sutherland Theatre. You can see the full lineup on Opera Australia’s website.

What’s Playing It Safe

Let’s be honest: four of the eight mainstage productions are works that have appeared in the OA season within the last five years. Carmen, The Magic Flute, La Boheme, and the aforementioned Traviata. I understand the financial logic — these are titles that sell. But there’s a risk of the company feeling like a greatest-hits jukebox rather than a living art form.

The Magic Flute gets a “reimagined” staging, which could mean anything from a genuinely fresh concept to some new projections slapped onto an existing set. I’ve been burned before.

The Analytics Behind the Curtain

One thing that’s changed dramatically in how companies plan seasons is the role of data. Opera Australia, like most major performing arts organisations, now uses sophisticated audience analytics to model which titles will sell, which demographics they’re reaching, and where the gaps are.

I spoke to a colleague who works in arts technology, and she mentioned that companies are increasingly working with AI consultants in Sydney to build predictive models for subscription sales and single-ticket purchasing patterns. It’s fascinating — and a bit unnerving — to think that algorithms might be influencing which operas we get to see. But the reality is that a company with OA’s budget constraints can’t afford to programme purely on artistic instinct. The data helps them take calculated risks rather than blind ones.

What’s Missing

No Australian work on the mainstage. Again. There’s a chamber opera by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon in the smaller season, which is welcome, but I’d love to see an Australian work given the full mainstage treatment — orchestra, chorus, the lot. We’ll come back to this in a future column, because it’s a conversation that needs more than a paragraph.

There’s also nothing from the Baroque repertoire, nothing by Handel, nothing by Britten except The Turn of the Screw holdover from a co-production. The Russian repertoire is entirely absent — no Tchaikovsky, no Mussorgsky, no Shostakovich. I understand the geopolitical sensitivities, but Eugene Onegin isn’t exactly propaganda.

The Casting

Some genuinely exciting names in the cast lists. Teddy Tahu Rhodes returns for Don Giovanni — he’s been singing this role for two decades now, and honestly, he’s still magnetic in it. Diego Torre continues his residency as the company’s go-to tenor. And there are several debuts from younger Australian singers who’ve been making waves in European houses, which is exactly what the company should be doing: bringing our people home.

The Verdict

It’s a season that balances ambition with pragmatism, which is probably the best we can expect from a company navigating post-pandemic audience recovery and flat government funding. The Jenufa alone makes it worth paying attention. But I can’t shake the feeling that OA is still playing defence when Australian opera needs someone playing offence.

I’ll be covering individual productions as casting and rehearsal details emerge throughout the year. In the meantime, if you’re thinking about subscribing, the early-bird packages are genuinely good value — especially the under-30 flex passes, which OA introduced last season and have been quietly successful.

More soon. Happy Christmas, opera lovers.

— Margot