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Beleaguered Opera Australia announces its 2026 season

Next year marks the national opera company’s 70th anniversary, and follows a tumultuous 12 months for Opera Australia.

6 Aug 2025 9:00

Richard Watts

Promotional image for Opera Australia's 2026 production of 'La Bohème'. The photo shows a young woman in white walking away from a young man, who clings to her left hand as if imploting her to stay.

Performing Arts

Promotional image for Opera Australia’s 2026 production of ‘La Bohème’. Photo: Supplied.

Opera Australia – which currently lacks a permanent CEO and Artistic Director; the company also posted a $10 million deficit earlier this year – launched its 2026 season yesterday.

Jo Davies, who started as Opera Australia’s Artistic Director in November 2023, abruptly parted ways with the company in August 2024 after less than a year in the role. CEO Fiona Allen subsequently left Opera Australia at the end of January 2025, having started in November 2021.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts

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