Victorian Opera Season 2025

From rarely heard operatic gems to a major Stephen Sondheim musical, Victorian Opera’s Season 2025 bursts with Broadway dazzle and adaptations of classic literature in Stuart Maunder AM’s second season as Artistic Director.

Victorian Opera opens Season 2025 with a fully staged production of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical, Follies, from 1-6 February at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda.

Set in a run-down theatre scheduled for demolition, former chorus girls reunite to honour their performances there during the interwar years. 

The star wattage burns bright as theatre royalty assembles for what promises to be an unmissable production in Australian musical theatre history. The star cast includes Marina Prior, Antoinette Halloran, Adam Murphy, Alexander Lewis, Geraldine Turner, Rhonda Burchmore, Collette Mann, Evelyn Krape, Geraldene Morrow and Merlyn Quaife. 

Following their previous hit productions of Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, My Fair Lady and The Pirates of Penzance, Stuart Maunder directs this glamourous new production designed by Tony Award-winning designer Roger Kirk AM. Victorian Opera’s Head of Music Phoebe Briggs (Lorelei) conducts Orchestra Victoria.

Image: Stuart Maunder

Victorian Opera returns to the Palais Theatre with a re-imagining of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio from 12-16 August, directed by Constantine Costi (Melbourne, Cheremushki).

The darkly comic opera tells the story of Konstanze and Blonde, who are kidnapped by the mysterious Pasha Selim and the subsequent attempts to rescue them amid entwining romances. Weaved between the drama of heroism and suffering are moments of unrequited love, unshakeable loyalty, and even a few laughs. Mozart’s score is rich with feeling, nuance, and breathless energy.

Abbreviated to Abduction, this dynamic new production stars Cleo Lee-McGowan as Konstanze and Katherine Allen as Blonde. Chad Kelly (Il Mago di Oz) conducts Orchestra Victoria.

Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s opera Katya Kabanova is staged at the Palais Theatre from 14-16 October in a new production enriched with audio-visual effects.

Based on Alexander Ostrovsky’s play The Storm, Katya Kabanova is a turbulent love story that does not shy away from the rawness of being alive. A young woman longs for more than her dull life, loveless marriage, and respite from her tyrannical mother-in-law. When an opportunity presents itself to ignite that missing spark, Katya must face the grip of her guilty conscience. Inspired by Slavic folk songs, Janáček’s lyrical score captures beauty and tragedy in equal measure. 

This new production is led by the next generation of opera and music makers with direction by Heather Fairbairn (The Merry Wives of Windsor) and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) orchestra under the baton of young internationally acclaimed conductor Finnegan Downie Dear. Desiree Frahn (Eucalyptus) returns to Victorian Opera in the title role.

English composer Jonathon Dove’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park will be brought to musical life in a new chamber production. Published in 1814, Mansfield Park tells the story of Fanny Price who, as a girl, was sent from her impoverished family to live with her wealthy relatives in their opulent manor. As a young woman of marrying age, she must navigate her new social environment, including the romantic entanglements and moral dilemmas of her cousins.

This intimate production, directed by Stuart Maunder and conducted by Phoebe Briggs, will sparkle with style, wit, and Georgian decorum. Presented in the lavish rooms of historic homes such as Ripponlea and Werribee Mansion with piano accompaniment, Mansfield Park will be staged alongside a chamber orchestra at His Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat from 4-5 April.

This exclusive staging is one of three events as part of Victorian Opera’s Ballarat Opera Festival, including Celebration in Song, raising funds for the Ballarat Arts Foundation and the return of popular community-centred performance, The Big Sing on 30 November.

Family audiences will delight in a new work staged across Melbourne’s outer suburban ring in May. Developed by Peter Rutherford and six youth participants of the New Work Opera Studio 2023, The Lyrebird’s Voice charms with a quirky assortment of Australian animals including one trickster lyrebird. 

Enchantingly realised by director Elizabeth Hill-Cooper (The Grumpiest Boy in the World) and conductor Carlos del Cueto, this new family opera imparts important lessons on identity and how we use our voice.

As a bookend to Victorian Opera’s Season 2025, VO Emerges (Emerging Artists) star in Martin Wesley-Smith’s Boojum!. Based on Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark, the semi-staged production is brought to life by director Elizabeth Hill-Cooper and conductor Warwick Stengårds. Boojum! will be presented at Victorian Opera’s base Horti Hall featuring beloved tenor David Hobson as Carroll himself from 7-23 November.

Subscriptions to Victorian Opera’s Season 2025 are on sale now. Secure the best seats at the lowest prices. Single tickets to Follies are on sale now.

Discover more at www.victorianopera.com.au 

VICTORIAN OPERA SEASON 2025

Follies
Musical, sung in English
Palais Theatre, St Kilda
Saturday 1 February, Tuesday 4 February, Wednesday 5 February, Thursday 6 February

Mansfield Park
Chamber opera, sung in English
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat
Friday 4 April, Saturday 5 April

The Lyrebird’s Voice
Family show, sung in English
The Round, Nunawading
Thursday 8 May, Saturday 10 May
Darebin Arts Centre
Wednesday 14 May, Friday 16 May
Frankston Arts Centre
Wednesday 21 May, Friday 23 May

Abduction
Fully-staged opera, sung in German with English subtitles
Palais Theatre, St Kilda
Tuesday 12 August, Thursday 14 August, Saturday 16 August

Katya Kabanova
Fully-staged opera, sung in Czech with English subtitles
Palais Theatre, St Kilda
Tuesday 14 October, Thursday 16 October

Boojum!
VO Emerges, sung in English
Horti Hall, Hemstritch Studio
Friday 7 November, Saturday 8 November, Friday 14 November Saturday 15 November, Friday 21 November, Saturday 22 November

Ballarat Opera Festival

Mansfield Park
Chamber opera, sung in English
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat
Friday 4 April, Saturday 5 April

Celebration in Song
Ballarat Arts Foundation Fundraiser
Date TBC

The Big Sing
Community event
Sunday 30 November