On Christmas Eve, a splendid party is taking place at the Stahlbaum's house. The magical Drosselmeyer brings gifts - for Clara, a beautiful wooden Nutcracker doll. Later that night, Clara is unable to sleep and as the clock strikes midnight, very strange things start to happen ...

The Nutcracker is one of the world's favourite ballets, but if you haven't seen this production, you're in for a treat! Set to Tchaikovsky's immortal score, this fairytale bonbon bursts with bewitching dancing, magical sets and the prettiest costumes imaginable. The Nutcracker sold out three cities in 2007 - don't miss this very special encore season!

Credits

The Nutcracker (1990)

Choreography Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov, Vincent Redmon
Composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Set and costume design John F Macfarlane
Sydney: with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 3 - 22 December

A sophisticated showcase of Australian dance

When Stephen Baynes' Molto Vivace first premiered, the Handel score was accompanied by the sound of dropping jaws.Boldly colourful, playful and laugh-out-loud funny, it showed the future of ballet was very bright indeed. This triple bill teams Vivace with Baynes' achinhly romantic At the edge of night and the brand-new Halcyon from breakout choreographer Tim Harbour. Athletic, engaging and elegant, Edge of night showcases Australian Ballet at its very best.

Credits

At the edge of night (1997)

Choreography Stephen Baynes
Music Sergei Rachmaninov
Set and costume design Michael Pearce

Halcyon (2010)

Choreography Tim Harbour
Music Gerard Brophy
Design Bluebottle

Molto Vivace (2003)

Choreography Stephen Baynes
Music George Frederic Handel
Costume Design Anna French
Set Design Richard Roberts

SUPPORTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET ENDOWMENT
Tim Harbour's choreography supported by The Robert Southey Fund for Australian Choreography, endowed by The Sidney Myer Fund

Sydney: with Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 11 - 29 November

Strauss’s rapturous tale of life, love and the passage of time is back with a new Marschallin, Cheryl Barker, gliding her way through this classic production. The words are ever bittersweet, and the music finds timeless and complex beauty in a Viennese waltz, heartache in a simple song.

The Marschallin has kindly offered Octavian as the Rosenkavalier, the knight who is to present a silver rose to Baron Ochs's fiancée, Sophie. A fine gesture, except that Octavian is far more loveable than Sophie's bovine betrothed, Baron Ochs. One look, and Sophie and Octavian have fallen for each other. So where does this leave Ochs and the Marschallin?

On the surface, Der Rosenkavalier is as light and fluffy as a bedroom farce, but in spite of all the plot twists and pratfalls Richard Strauss and his librettist, Hofmannsthal, are never shallow. The words are ever bittersweet, and the music finds timeless and complex beauty in a Viennese waltz, heartache in a simple song.

Based on a production originally conceived by Göran Järvefelt and Rennie Wright, this work comes with a magnificent cast and creative team. Conductor Andrew Litton brings his wide ranging experience of Strauss's works to Australia for the first time.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 1 October – 30 October
Duration: four hours and fifteen minutes including two twenty-five-minute intervals.

Prepare to be swept away when Opera Australia presents its first production of Bellini’s La sonnambula. Maestro Richard Bonynge conducts soprano Emma Matthews as the sleeping songbird Amina. In a remote hamlet in the foothills of the Alps a wedding is about to take place. Much to the innkeeper Lisa’s chagrin, Amina and Elvino are in love, and all looks set for a happy ending. But as the sun goes down Amina is discovered in the bed of another man. Will there still be a wedding? Will Amina be the bride? And could the mysterious stranger who has just arrived from afar solve the mystery?

Director Julie Edwardson brings a twentieth-century insight to this nineteenth-century tale as she pits the quaint superstitions of a rustic community against the uncharted realms of the subconscious. This elegant new production is inspired by the writings of Freud and Jung, the vibrant colours of German Expressionist art and, of course, Bellini’s exhilarating tumble of sweet melodies.

The dazzling coloratura of Amina’s show-stealing arias is one of the great challenges of the soprano repertoire. Under the leadership of Richard Bonynge, two of our own take the challenge, Emma Matthews and Hye Seoung Kwon. With Aldo Di Toro as Elvino, Lorina Gore as Lisa and Stephen Bennett as Count Rodolfo, it will be a performance to be treasured.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 05 - 25 Aug 10
Duration: approximately two hours and forty minutes including one twenty minute interval.

Figaro loves Susanna. The Countess thinks she still loves the Count. Cherubino loves anything in a skirt and as for the Count, love is not quite the right word for how he feels about Susanna. Confused? You will be in this crazy day of match-making and breaking. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro has been described as a near perfect opera. Words and music come together, brilliantly, in a comedy spiced with the politics of revolution. Don’t miss Teddy Tahu Rhodes in his role debut as Figaro.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 23 July – 23 October
Duration: three hours and twenty minutes including one twenty-minute interval.

Following sellout performances at Tristan Bates and the Tara Studion, One Mind Theatre Company present 'Eight' by Ella Hickson - Directed by Nick Ewans and Renu Arora.

A prostitute clinging to traditional values; a high flyer with his world blown apart; a trendy gallery owner with a suicidal lover; a single mum seeing a glimpse of middle class security; a teenager escaping to a world of secrets; a cheating and cheated lover; a traumatized soldier with unusual ‘friends’:  in monologues they reveal inner worlds.

In the male world of the Californian Gold Rush a single woman comes in for plenty of attention. Everyone is sweet on Minnie, and the Sheriff, Jack Rance, is prepared to pay good money for just a kiss. But although Minnie has steely nerves, she is a romantic at heart. She knows love will walk in through the door one day. It just hasn’t, yet. Then Dick Johnson, aka the dastardly bandit Ramerrez, arrives in town, and Minnie…Well,you can guess the rest.

Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West is an irresistible mixture of the Old World and New. The setting is the stuff of Hollywood westerns, the action has all the ingredients of Italian romantic opera, and the music has a startling originality. The orchestration is as finely-wrought as Debussy, the melodies span the grand drama with an almost Wagnerian intensity, and there is the emotional immediacy that is Puccini.

Internationally celebrated master of spectacle, Nigel Jamieson, makes his directorial debut for Opera Australia with a new production of Puccini’s Wild West opera, with set designs by Michael Scott-Mitchell. It is no small undertaking. He will direct a huge ensemble cast which includes Lisa Gasteen, Dennis O’Neill and John Wegner to create Puccini’s expansive web of characters in a visually rich evocation of frontier life. Chief Conductor of Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer, conducts Puccini’s expressive score.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 14 Jul 10 - 6 Aug 10
Duration: approximately three hours including two twenty minute intervals.

Three Swedish generations gather for a midsummer weekend in the country, suffused with the glow of a sun which never quite sets. Sigrid Thornton stars as Desirée Armfeldt in a musical which mixes action, words and music in equal parts.

The deliciously sophisticated A Little Night Music arrives in Sydney with a much-loved star of stage and screen, Australia's own Sigrid Thornton, as Desirée Armfeldt.

It is Desirée who sings the show s biggest hit, 'Send in the Clowns'. Although this unforgettable number was made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins it was written not for a singer but for an actress. Full of wise questions: isn't it rich? Are we a pair? and poignant answers: well maybe, next year... it is the dramatic turning point of a musical which mixes action, words and music in equal parts.

Director Stuart Maunder and designer Roger Kirk have created a dreamy, elegant production which brings together the finesse of Australia s national opera company with the flair and energy of great music theatre. Sigrid Thornton is joined by a heavenly quintet of high society ladies and gentlemen. Meanwhile, Nancye Hayes threatens to steal the show as the feisty matriarch, Madame Armfeldt.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 28 June – 13 July
Duration: approximately two hours and forty minutes including one twenty-minute interval.

Peter Carey’s darkly comic fable of ad-man Harry Joy inspires Brett Dean’s music, Amanda Holden’s words, Neil Armfield’s direction, and the electrifying stage presence of Peter Coleman-Wright, in a truly exciting world premiere.

"Harry Joy was to die three times, but it was his first death which was to have the greatest effect on him…"

Dangerous ideas abound in Peter Carey’s landmark first novel, Bliss. Is this reality or some kind of hilarious hell? What is true love? And why has an elephant sat on my car?

The lights go up on the world premiere of Bliss, a new opera by Brett Dean and Amanda Holden. Welcome back to the excesses of the 80s, where sex and drugs beat rock-n-roll. This much-anticipated work stars the electrifying Peter Coleman-Wright as Harry Joy, the blithe and savvy advertising executive who, after a close encounter with death, finds his world is not what it was.

Creative dynamite – the combination of director Neil Armfield, composer Brett Dean, librettist Amanda Holden, conductor Elgar Howarth, along with the brightest stars of Australian theatre design and choreography, will ignite the stage in a blaze of words, music and ideas.

You’ll love it if you follow the cutting edge of theatre and new Australian music.

Watch out for Brett Dean’s beautiful kaleidoscope of sound.

Performed in English with surtitles.

Please note: this opera contains coarse language, scenes of a graphic sexual nature and adult themes. It is not recommended for children.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 12 March – 30 March
Duration: Approximately two hours and forty minutes including one twenty-minute interval.

Violetta is the toast of Paris, and life is one long party. Love has no place in her life until the fateful day she meets Alfredo. Suddenly she finds herself wanting more, but can she leave her past behind? Verdi’s score fills the theatre with his thrilling arias, emotional duets and powerful choruses.

When the curtin goes up on the buzzing Parisian salon you might be forgiven for thinking you have travelled back in time. Michael Yeargan’s sets and Peter J Hall’s lavish period costumes are the perfect backdrop to the lush, sweeping melodies of Verdi’s magnificent La traviata.

It starts with champagne, it continues with song, but when the beautiful courtesan Violetta Valéry sets eyes on young Alfredo Germont her life of parties and paramours suddenly seems so empty. Will true love win out?

This memorable production is brought to life by an outstanding cast. Russian diva Elvira Fatykhova returns to play Violetta, Australian tenor Aldo Di Toro is the love of her life, and Jonathan Summers is his father. Hear them and weep.

You’ll love it if you’re after the ultimate romantic night out, perfect for first time opera goers.

Watch out for all the favourites – a great drinking chorus and Violetta’s spine-tingling aria, ‘Sempre libera’.

Performed in Italian with subtitles.

Venue: Opera Theatre
Dates: 22 January – 29 March
Duration: Two hours and fifty minutes including two twenty-minute intervals