A History of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

La Traviata (2012 & 2021)

The story of Violetta Valéry, the famed courtesan who dreams of being more than Paris's favourite party girl, was the perfect way to launch Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Verdi's luscious opera juxtaposes the glamour and excess of Parisian high society with a story of devastation. It's timeless, heartbreaking and features some of the most infectious music ever written.

Designers Brian Thomson and Tess Schofield drew inspiration from the 1950s, with gorgeous, sleek gowns and a set design that forced Violetta to confront her own reflection as she watches her life transform irreversibly before her very eyes.

We revived the production again in 2021 with a re-imagined version by young director Constantine Costi.

Carmen (2013 & 2017)

Bizet's wildly popular opera throbs with the heat of a sweltering Spanish summer. So where better to stage a new production than by the water of the world's most beautiful harbour? Gale Edwards' production was driven by the rhythms in Bizet's score, while Kelley Abbey's magnificent Broadway-style dance numbers brought Carmen's story to life.

The production was so successful that it returned in 2017 with a new cast telling the story of opera's original femme fatale and the men who dare to fall for her.

Madama Butterfly (2014 & 2023)

Revolutionary Spanish theatre company La Fura dels Baus brought a confronting new perspective to Puccini's Japanese tragedy in this bold staging of Madama Butterfly.

Director Àlex Ollé tackled the darkness of Puccini's story head-on. Although he retained all the beauty of the score and the idyllic Japanese town where this story takes place, Ollé brought a critical eye to the relationship between the young Japanese girl, Cio-Cio-San, and Pinkerton, the American naval officer who promises a life of happiness but brings only pain and destruction. In this version, Pinkerton was reimagined as a kind of property developer, transforming the natural beauty of the site into a man-made environment.

The production returned almost a decade later in 2023, with a brand new cast.

Aida (2015)

Verdi's Egyptian epic seemed destined for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour with its epic scale. The story of the enslaved Ethiopian princess who is forced to make the greatest sacrifice for her country calls for spectacle.

With a small troupe of camels (and a much bigger troupe of singers and dancers), the production had plenty of awe-inspiring moments — as well as a thoughtful approach to political machinations at play in the story, thanks to director Gale Edwards.

Turandot (2016)

If Puccini's Turandot is known for anything, it's the enduring 'Nessun Dorma', an aria made famous all around the world by Luciano Pavarotti. But there's much more to this fascinating opera about a princess with a heart of ice and the prince who seeks to thaw it. Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng created a stunning new version of this opera, which is often staged as an exotic fairytale by western directors. He tied the story to Chinese history, and used both contemporary and traditional storytelling methods, including large-scale video projections, in his bold reimagining.

La Bohème (2018)

When you think of opera's greatest love stories, it's hard to go past Rodolfo and Mimì, the young bohemians who fall hopelessly in love at the height of a bitterly cold Parisian winter. Sydney's autumn is generally pretty warm, but director Andy Morton transformed the harbour-side stage into a slice of Paris, complete with realistic snowfall. With a cast of Australian and international singers, and the Opera Australia Orchestra under Brian Castles-Onion's baton, Puccini's score sounded utterly glorious.

West Side Story (2019 & 2024)

Our first musical on Sydney Harbour was Leonard Bernstein's 1950s masterpiece. Francesca Zambello, who directed the first Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, returned to the grand outdoor stage to create a new version of this Broadway classic, which takes the story of Romeo and Juliet to the streets of New York.

Working with Jerome Robbins' iconic original choreography and an enormous cast of singers, actors and dancers, Zambello created a production that transported the audience to New York and captured the romance and ultimate heartbreak at the centre of this story. The production was revived with a new cast in 2024.

The Phantom of the Opera (2022)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's world-conquering musical had its first major outdoor staging at Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in 2022. Director Simon Phillips and designer Gabriela Tylesova brought a new level of spectacle to the show's most iconic moments, with an unforgettable rendition of 'Masquerade' performed atop a giant staircase.

We were lucky enough to have Lloyd Webber in the country for the season, and he even treated the opening night guests to a special DJ set.